Jesse and Uyai struck gold again yesterday and got our guests an amazing up-close sighting of our stunning male lion.
They were following lion tracks for around 45 minutes, passing hippos, and giraffes along the way, until they found their jackpot: three lionesses and the male. In the Safari world, it doesn’t get much better than this. The pride was spotted in the Esam Open Area of our 36,000 acre reserve.
The sighting in question involved a mating ritual of sorts, the mating ritual in lions involves a lot of physical rubbing and presenting leading up to the copulation event. The male usually initiates copulation with a mating snarl which is intended to excite the female. The females however, would not have any of it this morning. The male lion tried to lick her neck, back and shoulders in an attempt to get the lionesses to comply. His failed attempts were met by female growls as they defended themselves against his advances. The females are not in heat at the time and therefore it is quite common for them to turn males down. Next time! 😉
Male lion
Trying his luck with the ladies …
