Lions Everywhere - Pilanesberg National Park
If you ever forget where humans fit into the food chain all you need to do is to stare into the piercing eyes of a lion! During our latest trip to Pilanesberg National Park we were lucky enough to stumble onto a pride of lions that made us hold our breath as they passed within feet of our car!
Pilanesberg National Park
Pilanesberg National Park is situated in the North West Province of South Africa and is the 4th largest national park in South Africa. This Big 5 park is malaria free and is perched on the remains of an extinct volcano that erupted some 1,200 million years ago - amazing!
Manyane Gate
Manyane Gate is located in the east of Pilanesberg and is our favourite gate as Tilodi Dam, the prime Big Cat viewing spot, is just a few hundred metres from the gate. On the last morning of our most recent trip we were bumping along the gravel road at around 06:15am when out the corner of my eye I spotted a huge male lion making his way towards the road. We positioned ourselves perfectly for some photos conscious of the high ISO required as there was very little light. After rattling off a few dozen frames he crossed the road and melted into the long grass on the edge of the road.
My wife and I smiled at each other thankful of the “present” the park had just offered us almost as a farewell gift.
Tilodi
After frantically checking the images on the back of our cameras we slowly continued our journey along the gravel road. We were enjoying the fresh morning air as both windows were down when all of a sudden I noticed the headlights of a car shining at us around the next bend. Excitedly I the turned the corner only to be face to face with a parked safari vehicle from one of the lodges that are scattered around Pilanesberg. The ranger was looking at something behind her with the aid of her side-mirror so I quickly positioned myself to the right and that is when we spotted the most beautiful lioness just lying in the road.
We were enjoying taking photos of her when all of a sudden the female ranger caught our attention with some hand signals - we soon figured out that this lioness was not alone!
My wife was eager to see what the ranger was pointing at behind us so she swung around to look through the rear windscreen and that is when she spotted them - 2 beautiful lioness’ making their way towards us.
We sat deadly silent and waited - within seconds we were blessed to witness the lioness’ walking right past our car - just a few feet away from us!!!! We quickly checked before taking more photos of the 3 lioness’ that were rubbing against each other as they do as a form of greeting.
A few minutes later 2 more lioness’ emerged from the long grass right next to the other 3 - this was AMAZING!!!
After almost filling a memory card worth of images I sat back quite exhausted as the adrenaline was slowing down - all of a sudden the female ranger sat up straight whist staring down the road behind us.
I found myself watching her every movement trying to figure out what was going on when all of a sudden she frantically signaled to us that more lions were on their way.
I joined my wife this time and swung around to look through the rear window - it was not only more lions but TWO HUGE male lions!!!!! They silently passed within feet of our vehicle, but feel it important to mention that at no time did we feel in danger as we always conduct ourselves correctly at sightings and are 100% of the time respectful to all animals!
We grabbed our cameras and pressed the shutter button hoping we still had enough space on our memory cards!
What a way to end the trip off - right in the middle of a pride of lions!!!!!
Pilanesberg 100% deserves it’s title as The Gem - if you haven’t visited before I suggest you start making plans right now!
Till next time…