“A lioness is not submissive. She merely let you be the king as long as it pleases her!” – Author Unknown
Its that time of the month for another trip to Tsavo. Its a dawn of a new month. Its the beginning of November (2018). One thing I really look forward in my trips to Tsavo is you never know what you are going to see. The sense of mystery and adventure!
Tsavo being the largest park in East Africa is home to quite a few lions. But spotting one is always a challenge. I have been very lucky in almost all my visits to Tsavo I have spotted a lion or a cheetah at least once. But its on very rare case you get to see them without spending hours roaming around! And this trip was such a lucky trip.
80% of my trips to Tsavo has been with my safari buddy Kamran. If it was not for him, I would have not been bitten by the Safari BUG! As usual we entered the park from the Bachuma gate and headed towards Ashnil Lodge where we were staying. Its 45km drive from the gate to the lodge which usually is uneventful. This time as well, it was the same.
As we getting closer to Ashnil, we saw a tour van parked. Like a lion going for the kill we moved towards the van. To our amazement, there were two lions by the side of the road sitting near a bush, chilling away. When we looked closer, it was male and a female! What does this mean? Usually a couple would move away from the pride for some lone time!! This was a mating pair!! Best part was it was the middle of the day and it was unlikely these two lions would move from where they were. And the better part was that we were not even 2 minutes from the lodge!
So, what did we do. After spending nearly an hour with these two, we realized that they were not going anywhere in this scorching heat! Thus we decided to head towards the lodge to check in and have our lunch! After a quality buffet, we chilled for another hour and we went towards our mating couple again. What an evening it was! We spent nearly three ours parked next to these two lions, photographing them mating, pooping and yawning!
Best part of being so close to the lodge was that we could spend more time with these two lions as the sun began to set. It was a treat to be so close to these lions and as the light began to fade, the two lions decided to move forward and walked gracefully towards the sunset!
What an evening it was! I had never before seen lions mating! Well I guess there is the first for everything! This was too easy! We barely moved from the lodge! It was a trip which gave us lions on a silver platter!
Next day morning we rush towards the same spot where we spent hours with the lions. Just like that they were gone! Not a single trace of them! And that was it! We roamed around looking for more lions but that was it! Lady luck decided that was it! As we left the park I still couldn’t believe what we had witnessed. Another weekend well spent! Think about it we were extremely lucky! But what is luck?
“Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity!” – Lucius Annaeus
AND WE SEIZED THE OPPORTUNITY!
Lalindra De Silva 
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