11 Feb New lion cubs in the pride

We had known that there were new cubs in the pride but for the first little while their location is guarded as a well kept secret by their mother. Once a little older, lion cubs start to venture out more and join the rest of the pride on adventures. We were on one of our herbivore research routes when the call came over the radio that a lioness had been spotted with youngsters. We raced to the area to find female ‘Intombi’ with 3 small cubs that we estimated to be around 8 weeks old. Lion cubs are great to watch, they are always curious and these 3 were no different. They rolled around and chewed sticks on the game path before mum stood up, gave a call and started walking away.

We drove around the road and met them again on the other side, just as she was bringing them out to cross. It was stunning to watch as the 3 little ones came over right in front of our vehicle. Heading round the road again Intombi brought the youngsters to a nearby water hole where we watched in awe as each little one made themselves as long as possible to  reach the water alongside mum. After a drink mum sat down but there’s no rest to be had with 3 young cubs in tow; her peace was short lived as the cubs ran over and started jumping on her wanting to play. Eventually she had enough and walked off into the bush with the cubs following behind. This truly was a magical sighting and a great chance for some awesome photos too. For some video action from the sighting click this link https://youtu.be/9bCO5ZuyeJk