African Lioness stalking
African lioness stalking me, that is not the first time, but the very first time that an African lion comes that close in a stalking mode with such a pungent look, which went through my whole body and bones. Wow! The story behind the lioness is stalking me from one of my trips.
Arriving at a waterhole, I was settling down for a few hours, accompanied by a pride of African lions dozing in the shade. As Wildlife Photographer, I need to bring a bit of patience along to stay several hours at a waterhole. The lion youngsters, more or less “swallowed” by the high grass, were hardly visible. The two bosses, the male lions of this pride, further up in the back, sleeping deep. I am sure I heard them snoring! Since an African lion can sleep 23/24hours a day, I was hoping that something will happen, or at least bring the youngsters a bit in order! Oh well, as usual, nothing happened, just nothing, oh wait a tail went up a few times, and that was it! Where are my apples and biltong? Snack time is on.
On the other side of the waterhole, a few Springboks came in to drink, always on alert. Yeah, something happening. If one made a fast move, all Springboks jumped back and run a few meters in safety direction. Well, I would be too on alert, when I see a lion pride on the other side of the waterhole hanging around like a bunch of sleepers waiting for ‘that’ wake up call!
The lioness is stalking through the high grass. To purchase this lion photograph as a photo print or license, click on it. Explore more of our lion photography on our website.
Patience is needed
Anyway, after watching animals come to drink and go, in between a very tired lion pride doing just nothing. Indeed, I needed to find some distraction. Had a snack already, so I started to clean my lens of dust, Africa is a tad dusty in some areas! And while I did one camera, the second camera with a lens should have a clean as well. I just put down the lens blower when the movement was seen between the lion pride.
A lioness was checking me out through the high grass. The head went up, down again, nothing new that an animal looks sometimes, but this lioness had a tad different look! Not the usual “being bored” look, let me sleep look, no this look was wide awake, a sharp, focused look! There she was already within 1-2 seconds, standing up, her “viewfinder locked” on me tight. I am sure that at this moment, my name was added to the dinner menu! Looking through the lens, I could even “feel” this pungent look. The lioness started stalking me, my name written on the dinner menu, African lion pride! Hello, me, I do not taste good. I love chilly. It will be pretty spicy! Indeed, I am not suitable for you!
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Added to the dinner menu by lioness
No matter what, the lioness stalking through the high grass without even taking her penetrating eyes of me. Undoubtedly, the feeling was not anymore, like any other animal looking at me. The atmosphere was, this is a predator, you better watch out and close the window when it is time to do so. Hoping that the window will close fast enough. When the window is closed, I probably have 1-2 seconds to jump to the passenger’s seat. When the lioness jumps against the window, I am sure the window will break! From there, hmmm…. brainstorming there are a few ways, of course.
Up to 2-3m to my jeep was this lioness stalking me. When she was about 5-6m close, I closed the window, moved my camera aside just in case I needed to move to a “better safer place”!
It was tricky to capture that lioness stalking
Through the high grass, it was quite a bit tricky to capture the lioness stalking with her penetrating eyes. The tall grass in front of her face made it difficult. The closer she came, the more grass was in her face. When she was too close, I watched her if she is serious about the African lion pride dinner menu! When she was at my jeep, she had a very close look at me. After 1-2 min examining me, I saw my name disappearing from the African dinner menu. The lioness went back to her pride, let herself fall on the ground, and hit the dreamy land again.
This lioness stalking photo is available to buy as canvas art prints or on different materials from my African predators’ portfolio or to buy a stock photo license. Any questions or requests for buying prints or wildlife stock photographs, please contact me. See what clients have to say in their Testimonials.
The opposite of climate, winter in Japan! Ade Photography has invited me to be a guest nature and wildlife photographer for the upcoming winter 2016 in Japan. Details for the Japan Photography Tour 18-28 February 2016.