Stories from the field...the lion cubs of Ngala

Prior to my trip to the Ngala Private Game Reserve I had seen on social media that there were newly born lion clubs. I was excited. But at the same time I was realistic. I knew that my 3 nights at the reserve would leave a limited chance of seeing these cubs. 

On the very first drive, our field guide decided to try and locate the cubs. We got very lucky and when driving down the Timbavati river bed we came across the den site. However, we were quiet far from the sighting. This is when as wildlife photographers we are sometimes confronted with the reality of good reserve management versus getting the perfect shot. So the dilemma faced; with newly born cubs, the field guide didn't want to go closer and cause stress to the mother or the cubs. The flip side of that argument is that the cubs only become habituated with vehicle presence if you gently break them in with your presence. It was a shame we couldn't just creep forward even a further 10 meters to the sighting, but bottom line was, we were staying put in the river bed tracks. It was one of those times when I regretted having my go to lens, the 70-200 f2.8. Even with a 1.4X teleconverter I didn't have the focal length required to do the lion cubs justice. For the first time in the Sabi Sands region (I know Ngala is not Sabi Sands) I was wishing for my 120-300 f2.8 with a 1.4X or 2X converter. I will admit I was frustrated.

These are not the best photos I have taken due to the crop and subsequent lack of sharpness.

We sat and watched this scene as the cubs suckled on Mom...

You can see that even with the cubs not feeding, Mom is more than relaxed with the situation (we could have squeezed that extra 10 meters closer!).

After a few minutes watching this scene I heard noises and could see some form of movement further back on the bank. The bush was pretty thick, and it was difficult to see. Its funny because as I pointed out this disturbance in the bush, no body else in the vehicle would confirm it!

Then Mom sat up...

She was no longer as relaxed. Her ears were now pointing backwards and forwards to give a full 360 "radar" of what was around her. At this point I could start to make out that an Elephant was grazing on the other side of the bush but out of view of the lioness. 

At this point there was enough of a disturbance for Mom to start to make a move. She started to patrol both sides of the bush with the cubs trying to keep up, but from time to time a couple were having a hard time keeping pace...

You can see from this image that the cubs were only a few weeks old - hence the reason why I wished I had a longer focal length lens with me.

Mom doubled back to make sure all cubs were accounted for before deciding to make a stand and defend her territory. No more back and forth for this lioness...

The final image tells the whole story of "hide and seek" like a wildlife pantomime, I wanted to shout "he's behind you"! This image goes to prove that despite their size and often brutish destruction of trees and branches, this elephant had tip toed to within meters of this lion cub den. 

So even though this wasn't an ideal sighting in terms of distance and focal length that I had with me, the fact I spotted movement early on and anticipated that something was coming in and around the den, allowed me to anticipate a series of shots that tell the story. Sure, they are not the most technically perfect shots I have taken. I have had to crop these to get a little closer in on the subjects and this is at the expense of sharpness and clarity. But irrespective of that, in 6 photos I've developed a very concise story of the way events unfolded. And I think this series of 6 photos does the story of the lioness, her cubs and her natural instinct of defence (fight or flight) real justice. 

The photographic learning is to always work with what you've got. You are not in control. The sooner you realise that at a sighting the better you will work creatively with your camera and lens to tell the story. Stories are not always about close up portraits. I will admit, I don't have any close up portraits of cute lion cubs and I would have loved to have captured some in my portfolio. The point here was to quickly realise it wasn't going to happen, get over it and move on. I think there is a business acronym that is in the same vain: S.U.M.O - shut up and move on!

Jon