African safari visitors always hope to see the big five animals. The big five being; lion, elephant, cape buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros.
Not neccessarily the most spectacular or the largest of animals, they became classified as the big five because they were regarded as the most dangerous of all the African Safari animals, particularly for people on foot.
We saw many lions in the three best parks we visited, Amboseli National Park Sweetwater and Masai Mara. One one day we saw well over twenty lions, some very close indeed.
We were also fortunate to see many baby lions at all three parks, as well as a couple of lion kills at Masai Mara.
This big lion came right up to us, as in six inches away, totally unconcerned he barely acknowleged our presence. He did make eye contact a couple of times but it was clear we meant nothing to him. More pictures of this Masai Mara Lion right here.
The female lions here were part of a group of seven that we spotted at Lake Nakuru. Just a few feet from the track side, they remained completely hidden until one of them started shaking an ear.
You need good eyesight sometimes - and an awful lot of patience. It had actually taken us three hard, hot seven hour days to track this group down. The light was fading fast when we eventually found them - they finally revealed themselves to us.
Was it worth the effort? Oh, yes.
Four lions in that bottom picture. Got them?
