Impressive black-maned lion in the Serengeti

We saw a large pride of lions early one morning as we were driving around the area which the guides have nicknamed "Rock City". There were several lionesses in the pride as well as cubs and younger lions of various ages. Our guides, Michael and Jololo, had told us that most of the big male lions were presently living on the Kenyan side of the Mara river, but they thought that there was one big, black-maned lion around, and a few immature lions that had been pushed out of their prides. Indeed we saw a beautiful immature lion the previous day which Michael and Gerard said was very promising for the future, as so many had been lost to poachers.

On this morning we were lucky, but perhaps it was more skill than luck, because Jololo seemed to know where they lived and where they preferred to lie up during the day. In any case he spotted the pride from about 500 metres away, seemingly draped over the top of a rock, but hidden under the shade of the overhanging bushes, and fairly high up in this particular outcrop.

Michael stopped so we could take in the first part of this scene and then slowly drove up between some of the rocks. There we saw this big male, tucked between the boulders so he had a view in various directions but was keeping himself largely obscured. This behaviour is almost certainly one of the reasons why he has lived so long. Closer inspection of some of my photos shows that he has many scars around his head, presumably the consequences of his battles to retain such a large family. We estimated that there were at least fifteen in this pride.