A LOOK OF DESTINY
We had been following a pride of lions for almost 5 weeks. Watching the social dynamic play out through times of hardship and abundance, you begin to see individual characters emerge from the group. It had been days since their last successful hunt and the pride had been moving constantly throughout the whole day. As the sun started to descend, the pride approached an area of shrubland which was littered with abandoned termite mounds overgrown with grass. The females sought rest under a tree, whilst two young males hung back. They had spent the day biting each others tails, chasing one another and in general not taking life too seriously. As they caught up the first male followed suit and joined the females under the tree… but the second walked past them all and situated himself atop a grassy mound. As he settled down he turned to look out at the surrounding grassland. As he stared off into the distance I thought to myself… what was he thinking? At that moment he turned to face me, as if hearing the question in my head. A look of destiny in his eyes, he kept his gaze on me for what felt like forever. It was at that point we had to leave to return to camp. As we started the engine and drove off, he looked back out to the horizon. Something told me we wouldn’t have to wait long for a successful hunt.
We had been following a pride of lions for almost 5 weeks. Watching the social dynamic play out through times of hardship and abundance, you begin to see individual characters emerge from the group. It had been days since their last successful hunt and the pride had been moving constantly throughout the whole day. As the sun started to descend, the pride approached an area of shrubland which was littered with abandoned termite mounds overgrown with grass. The females sought rest under a tree, whilst two young males hung back. They had spent the day biting each others tails, chasing one another and in general not taking life too seriously. As they caught up the first male followed suit and joined the females under the tree… but the second walked past them all and situated himself atop a grassy mound. As he settled down he turned to look out at the surrounding grassland. As he stared off into the distance I thought to myself… what was he thinking? At that moment he turned to face me, as if hearing the question in my head. A look of destiny in his eyes, he kept his gaze on me for what felt like forever. It was at that point we had to leave to return to camp. As we started the engine and drove off, he looked back out to the horizon. Something told me we wouldn’t have to wait long for a successful hunt.
We had been following a pride of lions for almost 5 weeks. Watching the social dynamic play out through times of hardship and abundance, you begin to see individual characters emerge from the group. It had been days since their last successful hunt and the pride had been moving constantly throughout the whole day. As the sun started to descend, the pride approached an area of shrubland which was littered with abandoned termite mounds overgrown with grass. The females sought rest under a tree, whilst two young males hung back. They had spent the day biting each others tails, chasing one another and in general not taking life too seriously. As they caught up the first male followed suit and joined the females under the tree… but the second walked past them all and situated himself atop a grassy mound. As he settled down he turned to look out at the surrounding grassland. As he stared off into the distance I thought to myself… what was he thinking? At that moment he turned to face me, as if hearing the question in my head. A look of destiny in his eyes, he kept his gaze on me for what felt like forever. It was at that point we had to leave to return to camp. As we started the engine and drove off, he looked back out to the horizon. Something told me we wouldn’t have to wait long for a successful hunt.