Some lion factoids:

1. Lion roars can be heard for several kilometers.
2. Lions are the only social animals of the feline family, and live in groups.
3. These big cats can cover 20kms in a single jaunt.
4. Like most animals, lions mark territory with their pee.
5. Lions can run 75-80 kmh.
6. The preferred hunting time for Leo is dawn.
7. Unlike domestic cats, lions love to swim.
8. Lions begin to roar at 4 years of age.
9. One way to distinguish Asiatic lions from African is that the Asian males carry a sparse mane … and a belly fold!
10. While originally found all over northern India and other parts of Asia, lions are now pretty much limited to this state of Gujarat, with conservation efforts in play to help the endangered animal survive.
11. Remember that sign at the hotel that said to mind your children? Well, a few weeks ago, a lion came to the hotel and hung out for a few hours. The warnings are real!

Also, just so you get a feel, this is what most of the day on a safari looks like:

While the naturalist we had on the morning safari was not very good, the driver we had going back to the hotel – Tashima – was: he picked up on our frustrations and during the drive gave us “the scoop.” Thanks to his intel, we made sure our afternoon drive took Route Six, which was supposed to be the good one.

Tashima also shared a recent story about a male lion in the park who hadn’t moved in a few days (they are tagged), so they had to search for him.  They found him: he was ill and taken to the hospital. However, he died, and everyone who works in the park was mourning.  It was nice to learn how the safari workers have this connection with the animals.

After eating and resting, we returned to the park, with Tashima as our driver again. The park is 28 miles from the Arabian Sea, which is why one feels the moisture in the air, and I smell the sea as we drive down the mountain. Already, the afternoon trip was off to a MUCH better start!

For this second leg of the safari, we had a much better naturalist: Harish. We started the tour at 4 o’clock. While this is lion naptime, it meant we would be in the thick of it between 5:30 and 7pm, a very active time. 

In the meantime, some photos and facts about the other animals in the park. How lucky was I to capture this blue, White-Breasted Kingfisher?!

Then there was this orange, White-Breasted Kingfisher!

My favorite, a Ghost tree

Samba Deer are usually quite elusive, but this one wasn’t spooked by us at all and continued munching on the leaves.

I saw these rock piles everywhere and learned they are there to mark the territory of various lions.

This is an Oriental Magpie-Robin, a common bird in the park.

I was thrilled to see this Indian Scope Owl. Check out his ears!

This is a Flying Ibis

There are 92, 000 spotted deer in Gir National Park, but it is always a joy to see them and take photos.  Such graceful animals.

Seeing a Red Wattled Lapwing was not a unique experience, but seeing one sitting on her nest of eggs was!

Peacocks, second only to monkeys as the squirrels of India, do not disappoint.  Yet again we got to see a dance, resulting in one of my best peacock photos.

Likewise, Wild Boars cooled off in the water after the heat of the day.  At first, I was excited to see one, then I saw two together, then we saw an entire group lounging!

This was a fun moment: both Zeeshan and I noticed an owl at the same time. I was looking at the one in the hole, and Zeeshan was looking at the one on the branch and then we realized we were looking at different owls and saw each other’s! What are the odds??

Lions will eat and kill larger animals like deer once a week, but small animals once a day.  This is a stark reminder that real animal life happens here.

OK…now for the amazing stuff: seeing lionesses and cubs! There were two special moments.

The first was seeing a group of lionesses with their 10 cubs resting in the shade, near one of the (manmade) water holes (spaced every kilometer and a half so they can drink during the dry summer).  The moms didn’t do much, although a few times one looked at us.  The kids were pretty quiet as well but were a tad bit more active.  Here I learned that cubs stay with their mothers for three years. Also interesting was seeing a peacock calmly walking around.  Since peacocks are not on the lion menu, they are free to wander!

WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE

Last – but not least, by far – I had one of those travel moments that hit your heart and stay with you forever.  As we drove, we came upon a female hanging around by herself, so we stopped.  Nonplussed by our presence, she started roaring, but nothing scary. It started off a little quiet, then became more insistent – but still, not scary. That’s when we saw grown cubs come running: mom was calling for the kids to come home!

Luckily, Zeeshan had the video going while I took still photos.  Even the guides were in awe of this moment and asked for our footage. Below, you see how the mom is lying on the ground and our convoy surrounds her. It is now when she roars, and the cubs arrive (the videos are after the photos).

What happened next was an incredible thing to witness. For the next 30-minutes, the family cuddled, they caressed, they cleaned…. It was extraordinary… and not caught on camera as we were transfixed.  There was no doubt in my mind: I was looking at love.

It got to the point where looking wasn’t enough. Their beauty, majesty and affection for each other was overwhelming. I wanted to go up to them, stroke them and join the cuddle-fest. It didn’t seem possible this loving pride could easily have me for lunch.

I did release my gaze towards the end when I got a few shots. 

We noticed one of the oldest cubs stayed off by himself; likely a male preparing to set off on his own soon.  These cubs are probably three years old, while the ones we saw earlier were around one year.

A patient mother….

Here, some of my favorite photos of the cubs:

This is the male who sat off by himself:

I will end this blog post with our happy faces.  The rest of the day and the trip to the airport will be in the next post.