BEHIND THE SHOT: WILD BOYS

One of my favourite places on earth is Savuti in Botswana. It is wild and untouched, which is exactly what gets me excited about a destination. We hadn’t seen lions for a few days and were starting to feel despondent when we heard from fellow campers they had seen lions that morning. We immediately set off to find them and were successful.

Once you know the movements and understand the behaviour of lions, or any wild animal for that matter, it is easier to relocate them again and again. We set off the next morning and found them easily, the entire pride of females, cubs and males resting out on the marsh. We were alone, no other vehicles in sight and enjoyed our time with these amazing cats. They were unfortunately quite far from us on the marsh and no off-road driving is allowed in the park.

So we sat and waited for them to move, knowing it would eventually get too hot for the lions out in the open. There was a dense patch of trees on the one side of the marsh, as well as a small pool of water, so we decided to take our chances and go park there – even though we then had no visual of the lions.

Eventually our patience paid off –the lionesses and cubs came straight towards us to the water – playfully tackling each other as they walked. We had the best view of them drinking and eventually they moved off into the thicket. We knew the males would also come eventually so we waited.

And then it happened. These two majestic male lions got up and walked straight towards us – pausing for a drink and walking within touching distance of the car – it was incredible and my heart was racing with excitement. Every time I look at this series of images, it makes me happy.