The picture below was supposedly taken when National Geographic was filming their recent movie, Roar: Lions of the Kalahari. How normal is it to be able to ride up up on a wild lion and take pictures like this without him trying to run and escape? Were they able to do it because they were in vehicle and the lion didn't sense the normal fear of man or are they ordinarily just that bold?

Was this photo take inside a national park? I would guess that it was.

Mature male lions subject to any hunting pressure at all do not sit still for photos or anything else, for that matter. As one of my PH's said of male lions, "They are chickensh*t!" And for very good reason!

Females are a different story and we have taken many photographs of them, this one at ten yards.



The trade-off is that, although females are more approachable, they are also very much more aggressive. We have had to back off of males we were tracking a few times because the females accompanying them circled back and began stalking us.

Edited to add:

It occurs to me that Botswana lions have been protected from hunting for some time, until very recently, so this photo may have been taken of a lion outside a park that had never been hunted. Generally, females are either nonchalant or agressive in hunting or protecting the other members of their pride--that is probably also true of males who haven't had to endure any hunting pressure.

Truly wild males who have been hunted would rather run, and do run, unless they are wounded and/or pressed to the point where they get angry enough to charge.

Vic,

Ngorongoro Crater was essentially the same. As long as the humans stayed in the vehicle the lions and the other animals don't tkae much notice.

Lions in general in my experience are rather an insulant bunch. Running like scared rabbits at the hint of danger does not seem to be in their make up.

Regards,

Mark

Lions in a park are very used to seeing just a vehicle with a torso sticking up.

Get out of the truck, and that would probably get the lions attention. Stay in the truck and i would think you could get that close to a "park lion."

This is very typical behavior for a park lion.

DC300

There are few things that compare to seeing a wild lion, especially when on foot.

Except for one male "ghost lion" that only came around at night, the lions I saw in the Luangwa Valley last year were not particularly skittish, although nothing like the one in the first picture. I suppose this was because many were from the National Park across the river, and the season was closed for a few years in Zambia. The concession was thick with lions, especially females and young. Just like in the documentaries, we watched a small pride hunt impala, following them in the truck as the they stalked the herd. It was pretty cool.

This is a cropped pict that I posted before of a youngish male that was feeding on one of our baits. He'd watch us from the edge of the bush, but as was stated, as soon as we stepped out of the truck, off he went.

Since this documentary was made by National Geographic was about lions in the Kalahari, I thought that they would only find wild lions there. Is there a spot there where they are protected enough to lose that normal fear of man like you see in some parks in Tanzania?

Are those springbuck in the background? If so this may be from Etosha park (N. Namibia).

I've been on a couple of photo safaris and the cats aren't afraid of the vehicles. They sometimes seem annoyed but not afraid. On one game drive we literally almost ran over a lions foot. He was asleep on the side of the road and as we drove past he didn't even get up. He did lift his head and look at us and then laid back down. Amazing stuff.

You can't get real close to the plains game and if you do get close enough for pictures they don't hang around very long.



The lion was 10 meters away and totally ignored the vehicle I was in.

Same with the leopard at 8 meters.



The buff was 10.5 meters and wasn't bothered by us at all.



If the photos don't work, here are links.
http://www.pbase.com/cjw/image/42473014
http://www.pbase.com/cjw/image/39546673
http://www.pbase.com/cjw/image/42471679

CJW,
Those photos are fabulous. Nice job.

Taken by a film camera. Now in the days of electronically stabilised digital telephoto lenses I can't wait to get back to take more.

Spring

In the Maasai Mara we sighted a big maned lion walking down a hill on the grassed plain. We merely stopped our vehicle in his path and he walked right past us without changing his angle one bit.

A different question. Many good hunting concessions border these National Parks. How ethical is it to shoot such a lion as this ?? Completely unafraid of vehicles ??

Cindy

as always great pictures.

quote:

A different question. Many good hunting concessions border these National Parks. How ethical is it to shoot such a lion as this ?? Completely unafraid of vehicles ??

I think it is VERY unsporting to shoot a lion from a vehicle, under any circumstance. Again, even the seemingly tame Park lions are likely a different beast when you are on foot and out of the truck. I'm sure in the remote concessions in Tanzania where they are not pressured hard, they are the same way. I for one spent 25 days hunting lion before taking one...any wild lion is a great challenge when hunted via tracking or using bait and a blind.

Awesome pictures CJW! Where were these taken?

In 2001 I was finishing a hunt in the Garokwe (sp?) camp a couple of hours outside Maun, Botswana. We came across an MGM Lion resting under a tree. We drove to within 10 yards and filmed him. He could have cared less with us being so close.

It makes me wonder how challenging the $100,000+ Bots Lion hunts will be? It would seem there reactions are based solely on hunting pressure or lack there of.

quote:

Originally posted by crane:
Are those springbuck in the background? If so this may be from Etosha park (N. Namibia).

According to the link to the Nat.Geographic website, the picture is from Botswana. It looks like lots of areas in the Central Kalahari Nat.Park. The area near Piper Pans etc. is just like in the picture. There are lots of Springbok there. Or it could be in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Nat. Park which is also connected to the Mabuasehube park. These places are also very simular.

All the lions we've seen in various countrys have never been bothered by our vehicle, or when we have been sitting in other peoples open vehicles. Some of the lions have been so close that I could have litterally touched them. Which I obviously didn't! However, I'm sure that had we stepped out of the vehicle it would have been a differant matter, and the lions might have wanted to touch me! In a bad way!

Bill - I was at MalaMala in SA. The camp borders Krueger Park and was a hunting camp from the 1930's until 1960. The trophies and elephant tusks in the lodge and all the hunting photos in the bar are really cool.

quote:

I think it is VERY unsporting to shoot a lion from a vehicle, under any circumstance.

Its very unsporting to shoot anything from or near a vehicle.

Vic,

There are places where lions are hunted and they are still fairly brazen. I think it depends on how hard they are hammered. In both Chewore in Zim and Kisigo in Tanzanaia we have stopped in the vehicle to watch shooter male lions that didn't seem to be too concerned about us. Now getting those lions to come to a bait in shooting light or let you stalk close enough for a shot may be a completely different matter.

The lion I mentioned in Kisigo would have been a nice shooter anywhere else but you know the TGTS policy. Anyway he was about a 100 yd. away and our scent was going right to him. We opened the gut bucket and he started right for the vehicle. He was coming for lunch. Yes! We left
hastily.

Regards,

Mark

quote:

We opened the gut bucket and he started right for the vehicle. He was coming for lunch.

Mark

Remind me to bring my own lunch box with sandwiches in it if I hunt with you.

(PS only joking )

The bottom line for me is, park animals, including lions, have lost their natural dignity. They are tame, professional posers and while I do appreciate that when I'm behind the camera, it does make me sad.

To a park, or unhunted lion, I am just a big monkey with a stick. (I guess the same is true for my wife, but lets not pursue that.) Or what's worse, a Japanese four wheeled weasel. Wild animals fear their betters, their predators. Tame ones do not.

I guess maybe I just don't appreciate being thought of as a big monkey with a stick--or a Toyota.

Hello everyone

The lion in the Nat Geo picture was defintely taken in Botswana, the Landie is also Botswana registered.

Trust me that park lions are just as wild as anything else in a sense of you will become lunch if you step out of the vehicle !!!! they are only human tolerant whilst assiciation with the vehicle is maintained.

I regularly do safaris in the Kalahari, and we have found the males in the remote parts will actually challenge the vehcile is we come too close, but hoses growing up with the tourist pressure, do not bother at all. Except when [IMG:left]Kalahari Male Lion.jpg[/IMG]some idiot honks at them to get then to move for a better picture

Ok

I am techno plegic how do I post a picture with the message

Wild Lions will lay around and watch a hunter just like park Lions, I have seen this many times in the Selous, Mayowashi and Masai Steepe...Sometimes Lions just put the old give a s---ter in neutral and dare you to challange them...

I have shot a Lion from a vehicle, but then the was Lion himself was also in the vehicle, so I thought duty took precidence to sportsmanship..apparantly he had been injured by whatever and had a festering wound in his guts and took exception to our interupting his suffering.

On a game drive in Botswana last year at about 11:00 PM we came upon a big male lion eating a young giraffe while a younger male watched. After about an hour he let the other join in – (he crawled in on his back with much growling from both). Then a third came in and meekly waited his chance. Meanwhile about 6 or 7 hyenas circled waiting for the skin and bones. We were parked about 6 feet from the kill in an open vehicle – no sides & no doors - using one big spotlight and several flashlights. They totally ignored us. After a couple of hours I suggested (why, I have no idea) that we shut off all the lights and see if our eyes could get accustomed to the dark. Much to my surprise the guide agreed and the 5 of us sat there in the dark amidst the crunching and growling but it was too dark too see anything – dead of night. The others tourists – taking their lead from the guide I suppose - were oblivious to any danger. I wasn’t so sure. Every minute or so someone (usually me) would flick on a light just to make sure the diners were all still seated and the glowing eyes of the hyenas were still off in the distance. In retrospect, I think it was pretty stupid.

Walter,
Good to see another PH I have hunted with post here. Welcome to AR!

Russell
Victoria, Texas

Seq

That does not sound like a comfortable situation you described. I've experienced something similiar at night several times from a machan 15 feet in the air and 50-75 yards from the lions but 6 feet from them in a vehicle? Not for me!

Regards,

Mark

Mark, I know. It sounds nuts. I remember mentioning at the time that if I stepped out of the Rover I could have grabbed one of the lion’s tails while still holding onto the vehicle, so we were damned close. It was just one of those spectacular African nights, full of sounds and stars, and we were all talking and drinking and had gotten a little bored watching for so long. The others were getting a real charge out of it – it became kind of a game of chicken to see how long we could go without turning on a light, but as time wore on, I started getting pretty nervous.
I found a pretty good picture of the lion, but am not set up to post it.
S.

Test pic.

Last year on tribal lands near Chizz park in Zimbabwwe we drove up on eight lions including two young males that just layed down and watched us. Two of the females got up ran off and killed a baboon and brought it back and fought over it within sixty yards of the landcruiser. There was one larger male that wouldnt give us a good look and stayed about 100 yards away. There was a permit available for both the male and one of the females but I passed them up. I could afford the trophy fee but not the taxidermy. One good lion is enough for me.

Seq

Spectacular photo and what a lion!

Mark

I'm not much of a photogrpaher but I took this photo in the Savuti area of Botswana in 1998 while on a photo safari. We were headed back to camp at night and drove right into the middle of a pride. That got everyone's attention!



-Bob F.

Bob

A lion barely seen in the dark is much more intimidating that one in broad daylight.

Especially the girls you can't see!