Flight to Makanyi was with the same pilot we have had for three years now. Paul who is a ton of fun. Only 13 minutes in the air. This is a beautiful lodge. Lunch was great. Then off we went in search of lions.

We went to the large lake and all the hippos were sunbathing on the island in the middle of the lake. Neat to see them out of the water and there were small babies. A hippo on another part of the lake I guess sounded the alarm and was a stampede of hippos hitting the water. While we were watching the hippos we saw the lions on the opposite bank. Suddenly a large hippo comes out of the water and chases the lions up the river bank to the road. That was a wow moment.

We came around to the lions and found a single female lion calling. Our ranger said she was the mother of the three month old cubs. So we followed her as he thought she would lead us to the cubs. There was no response from the cubs. Our ranger thought another female may have taken the cubs to the pride. That is exactly what had happened.

The lions had a kill and when we went to the kill the tiny cubs were there. Cubs aged 10 to 3 months old, did not count but about 12 of them. At least four females, two sub adult males and the large male in his prime. So much activity I cannot describe it all. Best lion sighting we have ever had, totally thrilling. Nice thing about Makanyi is that we are able to stay as long as we like as we are the only lodge here so no need to make room for other vehicles. We were with them all afternoon. Leaving we saw a single elephant at the lake. A total LION day.




Dwarf Mongoose.