The count is in. Over the last three weeks, the African Impact team has seen thirty different individual lions here in Naboisho Conservancy! That number really makes me sit back, take a deep breath, and realize again how special this experience is.
“Leo, tuta pata simba,” we said before we headed out last night. “Today, we will see a lion.”
We definitely did. Twelve of the lions on that list of thirty we saw yesterday, during our game count drive and evening drive. It was a good day for lions. And these were not just any old lions, either.
Really. They weren’t any old lions. They were all sub-adults, except for one big male known as Simiren. Scientifically, sub-adult lions are between the ages of eighteen months and three years. They are the teenagers of the lion world, too old to be with their mothers, but too young to have established their own place in the pride. These teens hang out with other teens…and we were fortunate enough to run across three different groups of them in one day.
Now, seeing a sub-adult is not like seeing a full grown lion. Sub-adults don’t generally have names yet. The females are relatively small, and can’t have cubs. The males aren’t old enough to mate, and don’t even have full manes. The group doesn’t interact like a normal pride, because, of course, they’re not. Although seeing any lion is special, if I were completely honest, just last week I would have admitted (in hushed tones or a REALLY tiny font) that seeing a sub-adult felt slightly…less special.
Boy, was I dumb.
As we sat there, watching the sub-adults watching us, I realized something. We are watching the next generation of Maasai Mara lions grow up. These guys are going to be the big males and the good mothers that tourists flock to see, that mate and have cubs of their own, and ensure that lions will be in the Mara for another generation. They’re not there yet, but, and I am dead serious, you can see the potential in their eyes.
These lions are the offspring of adult lions that DO have names. I’ve seen the full-grown males and mature females who gave birth to these teenagers, and heard all about them. I know their names, and we know that they were able to successfully raise a family here in the Mara. The staff can tell which cubs have their mother’s coloring, and remember who their father is.
Whether in groups of two or four or five, these teenagers are a force to be reckoned with, and getting to see so many of them is definitely a highlight of my trip.
Sometimes, I really like being wrong.
“Leo, tuta pata simba,” we said before we headed out last night. “Today, we will see a lion.”
We definitely did. Twelve of the lions on that list of thirty we saw yesterday, during our game count drive and evening drive. It was a good day for lions. And these were not just any old lions, either.
Really. They weren’t any old lions. They were all sub-adults, except for one big male known as Simiren. Scientifically, sub-adult lions are between the ages of eighteen months and three years. They are the teenagers of the lion world, too old to be with their mothers, but too young to have established their own place in the pride. These teens hang out with other teens…and we were fortunate enough to run across three different groups of them in one day.
Now, seeing a sub-adult is not like seeing a full grown lion. Sub-adults don’t generally have names yet. The females are relatively small, and can’t have cubs. The males aren’t old enough to mate, and don’t even have full manes. The group doesn’t interact like a normal pride, because, of course, they’re not. Although seeing any lion is special, if I were completely honest, just last week I would have admitted (in hushed tones or a REALLY tiny font) that seeing a sub-adult felt slightly…less special.
Boy, was I dumb.
As we sat there, watching the sub-adults watching us, I realized something. We are watching the next generation of Maasai Mara lions grow up. These guys are going to be the big males and the good mothers that tourists flock to see, that mate and have cubs of their own, and ensure that lions will be in the Mara for another generation. They’re not there yet, but, and I am dead serious, you can see the potential in their eyes.
These lions are the offspring of adult lions that DO have names. I’ve seen the full-grown males and mature females who gave birth to these teenagers, and heard all about them. I know their names, and we know that they were able to successfully raise a family here in the Mara. The staff can tell which cubs have their mother’s coloring, and remember who their father is.
Whether in groups of two or four or five, these teenagers are a force to be reckoned with, and getting to see so many of them is definitely a highlight of my trip.
Sometimes, I really like being wrong.