August 2007, the top end of the Maura River, Chewore South: Two lionesses with cubs take offence to being disturbed on a kill by our merry group of hunters. One of the cats in particular becomes fairly enraged.


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David, very nice sequence. thanks. Had to be exciting!

Wow! Great photos.

Excellent pictures, David

Looks like you kept a steady hand. Nicely done.

That is REALLY cool thanks for sharing!

David,

Nice pics! You have way too much fun. I will be calling for that whiskey quite soon. We will be all over during our safari but will definitely be on the Save 6-10 Oct.

Mark

Wow. David - what was the distance?

Mom doesn't look like she puts up with too much crap, does she?

Gentlemen and Ladies

Allow me to explain a little. We were in the vehicle, thank the good Lord. Ray Vandever and PH Richard Tabor were up front, whilst I was in the rear with trackers Taengwa and Oriah, and a gamescout. We were just cruising around, doing our leopard bait run, when we came on the fresh lion kill (young buffalo). A lioness and cub streaked off into the bush, and we naturally stopped, to try and get a couple of pictures.
The first picture is the first one I took, of the two lionesses crouched low to the ground, about twenty yards off. The cat in the rear is the one that charged. But I was already zooming in on the one in the foreground, as you can see from the second picture. Unbeknown to me, the other lioness was working her way around some scrub to our left, getting behind us. I only realized her position when she let out a low snarl, just before she came. I shifted my angle of focus to the left and then she charged, emitting that frightening grunt as she came. BOH, BOH, BOH - hard to put it in writing but those that know it will understand. Of course, I was trying my utmost to take pictures, but had to fight my way past the Parks gamescout who was trying to climb over me and get in through Rich tabor's window! Ha ha - later he said he had been going for his AK! I laugh but it was most frightening, there is something about that sound that will make the stoutest souls quiver. Anyway, i was upended by the gamescout and almost fell from the vehicle. That may have been a disaster! I am pretty fortunate in these type situations as I only think pictures. Also I trust the PH's I work with completely, and I already knew that PH Tabor had his handgun in one hand and his other hand on the door handle. I was also aware that this lioness was only defending her terriotory (dinner and babies), and that she would stop, hopefully. Still, not one man amongst us didn't feel extremely vulnerable, no matter that we were in the vehicle. She did stop, about 7 paces from the truck. You can see how she suddenly bacomes magnified in the sequence. Yes, it's true, I wasn't thinking zoom at that stage! Then she swished her tail about, appearing disinterested momentarily, before turning and stalking off back towards her buddy. And then she came again - same terrible grunting, same spectacular speed, and this time I was even less prepared, thinking she'd had enough and we would be moving off. I got only a couple of pictures from the second burst. When she stopped the second time, PH Tabor wisely dropped clutch and we were out of there! Ray also took a few good pictures from the front. All I could think of afterwards was that awesome speed and power, and that spine-tingling grunting of course. I thought of how, if she had decided to follow through, that cat could have been in the back of the truck in seconds and torn men to pieces

PHEW!!!!

David,

Thanks for posting those great photos.

Very worthwhile!

Great sequence and story. Thanks

Coolness under fire!!! Great photos!!! I wish I was there and lived to tell about it!!!

Great pics, I think I could have put her down at that range with my 450 #2 double....

David, Thank you for sharing that memorable moment. How do you hold the camera so steady?

Excellent photo's David. And yes, their total vocabulary is hard to put into words. But we never forget!

Great photos David!!!!


Phil

For those of you who don't know David Hulme personally, let me say to you that David is an amazing human being. I am not a hunter but went on safari with my family just for the experience. After spending just a few days with David he opened my eyes. The hunt is a soulful experience that connects you to your primative instincts, it is a beautiful thing. I will most certainly be a participating hunter on my next trip. Thank you David Hulme you changed my life!

Welcome to AR Goddess of the Flat Rock. I think you have discovered that in the end, the Hunter hunts themself.
Good hunting to you!
David K.

Grace under pressure! Congratulations on a truly fantastic sequence.

Crumbs David. We are impressed. Grace under pressure is right!!!! You need to get us one of them big bulls on camera now.

Hi David, thanks for the great pics, indeed, great steady hands under pressure, especially when having to flick swithches to change camera settings to get things right! It is amazing how you can miss a perfect shot/shots when it happens, because you havent anticipated it. Yes, I am sure that feeling of relief must be great, not a situation you want to stumble into on foot, especially without a rifle!

In the Okovango delta (where they are not allowed to carry rifles when guiding as far as I know), I remember one of the guides telling me his experience of walking into sleeping lions on his way back to camp on foot (without a rifle). A big male charged him, roaring very loudly, stopping just in front of him, very enraged. Lucky for him, he did not run, and the lion backed off, but he then came thundering towards him again, stopping, roaring and snarling just in front of him. He still sounded very traumatised just by relating the story, especially when he was immitating the noises the lion had made and his facial contortions! He kept backing off very, very slowly and the lion charged a third time, and cant remember if it charged again, but it obviously eventually didnt feel threatened and slinked off. I think the euphoria of walking away unscathed from something like that must be quite something. The urge to want to run too must be very great, and am sure it was a long walk back to camp with wobbly-legs!

yes David it is difficult to describe the situation it happened to me in march. it was an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

it was funny how your senses doubles up in strenght you hear smell and see better all of a sudden and when that lion stares at you it feels as if he looks right through you.