When I journeyed to Africa I had a lot of hopes. Not expectations, just hopes. One of the greatest of them was to see the almighty lion. The Kings of Africa.

I'll never forget the first time we saw them. We went on afternoon drive after we hadn't found anything during morning drive. I was on telemetry which meant that I was responsible for honing in on the signal given off by the radio collar worn by one of the adult females, Thika. As we drew closer, the frequency dropped from a +2 down to a -5. At a -2.5 you must sit down in the vehicle because you're within view of the animals. At a -5 you're nearly on top of them and everyone in the Mahindra is searching madly through the scrub for any sign or movement to indicate the pride.

As the frequency reached a thumping -5, I held the aerial of the telemetry high above my head. As I spun it around, searching for a stronger signal in any direction, it became clear that it was strong in all directions, meaning they were very close to us. Adrenaline was coursing through me and I was more excited than I can remember feeling in a long time. At that moment Kim whispered, "Holy shit, they're right behind us!!" I froze. I don't know if I thought they'd eat me if I moved, or if I was just in shock with the thought that a pride of wild lions sat just behind our truck. I slowly lowered the aerial and turned. Tears came to my eyes instantly as my breath caught in my throat. There they were; beautiful, stoic, and wild. We had found the pride.

The pride is six deep and is led by a massive boy named Blade. The two adult sisters, Thika and Pikanin are responsible for the majority of the hunting. Three cubs were born a little over a year ago--they have not yet been named.

The pride wanders continuously, searching the woodland savannah for their next meal. They hunt in the cool of night, and sleep through the intense heat of the day. They typically need to eat every 2-4 days.

Always watchful, their curiosity is mingled with caution.

The cubs are always more restless and eager to play.

I couldn't stop taking pictures of this little girl.

She's curled up for the afternoon next to her aunt Pikanin.

This is the mark of an Apex predator. Blade hardly even opened his eyes upon our arrival. He simply slept, undaunted by our presence.

The male cub is showing early signs of an impending mane. While it begins sparse and fair, it will soon grow into the same thick, full mane that his father bears.

As his mane grows in, his father will begin to see him as competition and he will eventually have to leave the pride.

In the mean time, he'll enjoy the same protection and comfort of the pride that his sisters do.

As sweet and cuddly as they look, I constantly had to remind myself that these are wild lions. They look docile, but even a movement as simple as standing up in the truck could reap havoc.

This is my favorite picture. This is one of the female cubs who happens to be the most curious. She could never seem to let us go. She was always the last one to watch us.

Blade's role in the pride is simple; procreate and dominate. His territory is his to protect, and along with that, his pride. He doesn't typically do the hunting, that's left up to the females. He will fight for his territory if necessary, which in turn protects his pride.

Every now and again he will separate himself from the pride and wander off on his own. During this time he typically won't eat as he doesn't hunt unless necessary. It's believed that he is looking for other mates and establishing his territory. It is during these periods that we can hear Blade on the reserve, up to 5 miles away, roaring somewhere in the darkness. He gives four short grunts followed by one longer roar. The shorter roars are communicative; he's calling out to his pride. The longer roar is territorial, establishing his home and that which he'll fight to protect. It's an amazing sound, one that rumbles in your bones like thunder and drives to the surface that long forgotten primal fear.
One early morning, around 4 am, I woke up to the exciting and terrifying sound of Blade's night chorus. He was really close, that much was clear by the sheer volume of his roars. Susan, one of the staff, ran out with the telemetry and picked him up on a -5. He was in camp, wandering through in search of his pride. I've never felt a feeling like that, exhilaration paired with pure fear. It was glorious and I lay in my bed holding as still as I could so as to hear every sound of this beastie.

Here Blade's testing the air, probably picking up our scent.

The insisors of a male adult lion can reach four inches in length. Here he is mid-yawn.

Such a pretty boy.

One day while we were driving across the reserve to visit a bird hide, we encountered an elephant on the dusty road just ahead of us. As we drew near, one elephant became two, and before long two became four. We brought the vehicle to a stop as we realized we were in the middle of a heard of 30-40 elephants.
The heard, led by a matriarch ranges in age but consists mostly of females. Only young bulls who are still being reared remain with the heard. Adult bull elephants roam alone in search of possible mates.
The adult females work together to raise their young. They're intelligent and have an old soul feel about them.

Their offspring are fiercely protected by the entire heard.

An adult female feeding.

The secretion at this elephant's temple is hormonal.

Sitting amongst such intelligent, symbolic animals was one of the greatest honors I've known.

About two weeks into the expedition we were given the opportunity to experience the mountains of South Africa. We went for three nights and four days into the vast peaks of lush forest, situated about three hours from base camp. The camp itself is called Leshiba and is teaming with wildlife that roams freely, right down to the infamous dung beetles and multitudes of pepper ticks.

We took morning hikes daily. Here I'm perched on a precarious rock on one such hike.

Once there, we settled into our camp which hosts several huts. We were the only lucky souls there so we actually could have enjoyed our own huts if we preferred. Kim, Jen and I decided that our preference was to share. We bunked in our hut quite happily.

Our little compound :)

Naturally, diplomacy is not only encouraged but crucial for foreign relations.

Just beyond the patio of our kitchen lay a pond or watering hole. Each day we would find that visitors would swing by to take a bath, grab a drink, or just roll in the muddy banks. Such visits would usually be announced with a crash through the brush, followed by the heavy lumbering steps of our friend, a white (or square-lipped) rhino.

Here's our girl. We didn't know this, but she gave birth to a calf only two days after we left.

One particular night we were standing out in the yard enjoying a beer and watching the starry sky when we heard a "crash" coming through. We quickly took our beer to the patio just in time to see a large male rhino walk only 60 feet from where we stood. It was astonishing and humbling to say the least.

A group of rhinos is actually called a crash. It's easy to imagine why.

White Rhino Print

Leshiba is home to a great number of giraffe. You literally can't go anywhere without encountering at least a couple of them. One morning we were fortunate enough to get to walk in on them. The perspective of standing on your own two feet only yards away from such an enormous animal is breath taking. They're shy creatures with a curiosity that has them watching you just as much as you watch them. They are earth's tallest animal. They have wonderful eyesight and their name is derived from an Arabic word that means swift-moving.

And of course, they're simply beautiful.

We also had daily visits from a family of warthogs. They too came to indulge in the waterhole.

This is a skink. It is a lizard like creature that dwells in the crags and cracks of rocks. They are brilliantly colored little guys.

Another common inhabitant of the forests and the bush of South Africa is the golden orb web spider. It is a large species that builds its webs between trees. The web itself is the strongest of any spider.

The mountains are a little piece of paradise...minus the ticks maybe.