The 2021 Africa Journals, Ch. 28: In Which We Visit a Maternity Ward or Two or Three

 

Chapter 28:

In Which We Visit a Maternity Ward or Two or Three

 

All my life I'd longed for adventure, but I'd done so without realizing it was almost always a consequence of carefully laid plans going badly wrong.... --Verne Albright, author of Horseback across Three Americas

 

Late one afternoon we followed a lioness.   She led us directly to a spot where she had hidden her very young cubs.  Deep in the brush, in a depression in the rocky mound, the cubs were very hard to see and the light was poor.

The photo at left shows her looking at us through the brush.

The photo below shows you what I could see--the color of lions, but no definition.

 

 

While trying to see something that looked like a cub, I turned to see this sausage tree lit up in gold at sunset. 

 

 

 

We moved away from the cubs and I photographed another sausage tree in the sunset. 

 

 

Below are the fruit of the sausage tree.   Although poisonous to humans, the fruit is used to treat various medical maladies.    Giraffes. elephants, baboons, bats and birds also eat them. 

 

 

 ***

Morning in the Mara.

 

On another day, the guides took us back to the cubs.   We would, they said, park away from the den and only one vehicle at a time would go to the only spot where the cubs could be seen.  That vehicle could spend a SHORT time and then leave so another could take its place.

That sounded wonderful to me, especially after the debacle with the serval cats the day before.

This time, we saw the cubs.   Their eyes are open, so that makes them at least ten days old.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We each took our turns and then drove away.   In the distance, we saw a lioness on a rock ledge.   It would make a nice photo if we could get there in time before she moved.

 

We couldn't.   She was on the move, and we followed her. 

 

She led us right to a brushy gully.   Our vehicle was the first one there but as we attempted to move into position, a large vehicle full of tourists beat us to the one and only place they could be seen.   And stayed and stayed and stayed.   The grumbling from our vehicle might have been loud enough for them to hear.

Eventually several vehicles were lined up and the big truck finally gave way, coming right at us us the trail from the shallow gully.

 A vehicle right behind the big truck followed it into the best spot.    They, at least, didn't stay long and we finally got our turn.

 

  

 

And there they were, about the same age as the first litter.  

 

The little ones went exploring on wobbly legs.   Mum kept rounding them up, trying to keep them in one place.

 ****

 That wasn't the end of lion cubs that day.    We wandered around and the guides spotted a single lioness so they drove near by.   Imagine my surprise when I looked down to see infant cubs beside me.    We lingered only a few moments and left them alone.

Neither lioness showed any indication of  being upset by our company.   In fact, Mum lion went to sleep.

 

 And away we went.   Three litters of baby lions in one day.   Friend who came several days later reported seeing five litters of small cubs!

NEXT:    The whole zoo around Enkewa camp in the Maasai Mara.