2017/09 Part 4 Serengeti - Thu pm Lions & the crocodile |
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It was time for lunch and this was our distant view of the other side of the valley. Those bumps under the tree were lions and they were also scanning the valley. Between us and the lions was the Seronera River, mostly hidden by shrubs.
This is what became known as the story of the Lions and the Crocodile. While we were eating lunch, close to the Seronera River, a couple of lionesses came down to a rocky area closer to the river.
Eventually they left their perch and came towards us along the riverbank. One of the lionesses was wearing a radio collar.
The other was moving in and out of the reeds and shrubs, invisible for much of the time.
Small groups of elephants dotted the hillside. There were herds of zebra, wildebeest, and gazelles all around the river, some coming down for a drink. The lionesses hid in the bushes around the river and waited for someone to make a mistake.
Many times zebras would come down close to the lions and then seem to catch a whiff of lion scent and gallop away to safety.
Four more lionesses came down to help with the hunt and some of them managed to get down wind of the zebra herds.
A lioness burst out of the bushes and charged a group of Tommies (Thomson’s gazelles). The 
Tommies scattered and the lioness gave up. The Tommies regrouped but looked to be in shock.
After tens of minutes of not seeing a lion these charges only last seconds, so catching them with the camera is unlikely, but we were ready for the next one a few minutes later. Another lioness charged a group of zebras and everything disappeared in the dust as they panicked and ran.
This was another failure for photography as the lioness is somewhere in that dust. It looked to be a failure for the lions too, as by now every animal in the valley had to be on alert. We thought the show was over but another pair of lionesses had taken advantage of the confusion to take down one of the zebras on the river bank. When we got close one lioness had the zebra’s neck in a choke hold and the other was opening up the other end. The zebra’s legs waggled a few times and then went limp.
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One of the lionesses set off up the hill, probably to invite the rest of the pride to the meal.
Another couple of lionesses came out of hiding and joined the meal. After a minute or two of enthusiastic chewing, something caught their eye.
Amazingly, a large Nile crocodile came lunging open-mouthed out of the river and challenged the lionesses for the kill.
Crocodiles can move very fast.
And before the lions could stop it, the croc got its teeth into the zebra carcass.
But watch the lion at the back that’s close to the croc’s front leg.
I think that open mouth is the croc language for “Ouch!” or maybe “I’m gonna get you for that!”, because its next move was to lunge at the lion.
The other lions took this opportunity to drag the zebra carcass away from the river, and, annoyingly for us, behind some bushes. Another lioness set off up the hill, maybe to ask for help.
The croc went in again. It disappeared into the bushes and all we could see was its tail.
The bird next to the croc is an Egyptian Goose, unworried by all the activity, but that wasn’t true for the elephants.
The separate groups had come together and formed a defensive circle with the calves safely inside.
Back at the zebra, the lions were feeding messily and apparently ignoring the croc.
There was a dusty tug of war going on behind the bushes, with the crocodile trying to pull the carcass into the river, where it could do its usual revolving trick to tear the carcass into bits it could swallow.
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It looked like a stalemate but now the rest of the pride, lionesses and cubs, were arriving.
Most of the zebra disappeared under a pile of lions, but if you look to the right, the croc is still there!
The lions would jostle the croc but it wasn’t letting go. It looked to be a stand-off, but finally help arrived, a male lion.
The male lion, large and assertive, went straight to the crocodile and attacked it. The dust was flying and we could see the lion’s mane repeatedly lunging and the
crocodile’s teeth snapping. We think one of the lionesses was also biting the croc’s legs.
After about four lunges, the crocodile appeared to give up 
and make a run for it.
The croc wasn’t finished though as it made a lightning turn …and then a lunge at the male lion.
The lunge missed but the lions backed off. They didn’t need to kill the croc, just chase it off the kill.
The croc backed up away from the carcass and the male lion 
sat down with his back to the croc, perhaps a deliberate insult? Meanwhile the pride fed on the carcass undisturbed. Ayoub thought the male must have been full already to be letting the rest of the pride eat before him.
The croc gave up completely at this point and slunk down the bank into the river. One of the smaller lions came over to look down on it and roar lion insults from its safe position.
More lions were still coming down to the kill. There was no rush; it was likely that there was enough
prey in the valley to keep them all well fed.
And so ended the story of the lions and the crocodile.
There was a similar traffic jam on our other side. We were hemmed in from the time we spotted the lions on the zebra, but we’d had no desire to leave our pole position. 
We didn’t see much else during this but a white crowned shrike came to visit.
We continued along the road and saw even more lions in groups under the trees. One of them, a lioness, jumped into a large tree and proceeded to climb up three forks and into the canopy, where she snuggled down like a leopard. I only caught one picture of her on the way up. Once into the canopy she’s hard to see so I’ve added an 
arrow pointing to her tail. Bear this in mind; if being chased by a lion, climbing a tree just puts you in the larder! This climbing behavior is supposed to be unique to the Serengeti’s lions, but I wouldn’t bank on that!
We were making our way back to the lodge when we started to feel bites. “Tsetse flies”, said Ayoub. I asked if they carried sleeping sickness, but he said they didn’t in the Serengeti. He asked if we wanted to stop and pull the roof panel down, but we said no as we were enjoying the breeze. This was a big mistake! We soon had dozens inside. They are large and bite like a horsefly. Whacking them doesn’t work as they quickly recover and bite somewhere else. You have to chop them in half with your fingernail. We were slightly better off than Ayoub as our clothes had been treated, but none of us had bug spray on our skin. Eventually we left the fly zone, something to do with the boggy ground we thought.
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We came to this sad sight, a buffalo calf lying in the mud. It looks dead in the picture, but it was still moving feebly. You feel like you should do something but of course it’s against the rules. Even if we could haul it out, it would probably just collapse. There was also a chance that one ton of mama buffalo might be close by and misunderstand our intentions.