In the Kruger National Park, we awoke to a gloomy, overcast day with rain. After five days on safari in South Africa’s Ingwelala Private Game Reserve, it was Day Two of five in the Kruger National Park. One of the Big 5 that we had yet to discover and photograph was lions, so that was our goal for the day. Over the past week, there have been numerous further sightings of wildlife, including elephants, cape buffalo, and two more members of the Big 5. Rather than embarking on an official game drive from the reserve, Greg Parker and I left in our own car. This gave us the freedom to travel anywhere we pleased, at our own pace. Greg visited Kruger. We drove for approximately an hour before spotting a tiny cluster of four vehicles that had pulled over on the side of the road. A pride of lions, three females, two males, and three cubs, was hidden in the tall grass and among a few low-lying trees and shrubs. We photographed the pride for about two hours under the gloomy skies while the rain persisted. During this period, the females strolled the meadows or lain next to a male while the cubs played pretend attacks on each other and the males stayed apart, sparring only once.
