Lion Chase at Lebala Camp, Botswana - March 2020

06:10 - Roaring Begins
13:00 - Final Sprint

Two resident dominant males (Old Gun and Sebastian) chase away three intruders (from nearby Selinda Camp, details below) who have been battling them for territory. Two of the three intruders were limping prior to the chase, and escaped in another direction. The healthy intruder led Old Gun and Sebastian on a long chase over the course of about an hour, covering roughly 2 miles.

12/22/2020 - it was brought to my attention by Hassan Mohammed that the three intruder males are most likely residents of Selinda Camp, which is a bit to the south of Lebala Camp. They spend their time in between the two areas, and have skirmishes with the Lebala males. See comments below from Hassan for more details. Thank you Hassan!

1/4/2021 - Why didn't the lions attack the humans? So far this has been the most frequent comment / question. There are several reasons. First, many lions like these are used to, or habituated to, humans. They've grown up with safari trucks watching them from the time they were cubs. But they didn't grow up eating people, so we don't fit their normal idea of food. Some guides have told me that the lions don't recognize people as individuals inside the truck - instead they see the truck as one big blob. I don't *completely* believe that, I think they do see us in some way (they often look me in the eye). I think they ignore us because they're just not interested. Even so, it's not a good idea to stand up, or move around in such a way that you clearly separate yourself from the truck. Is there some risk involved in being in one of these trucks? Yes definitely, but it's hard to say how much. Throughout Botswana and South Africa there are probably hundreds of trucks just like these going out on morning and evening safari drives, every single day of the year. I don't remember ever hearing about someone being attacked by a lion while in one of these trucks. Finally, the guides are often familiar with particular lions, and they know which ones are calm and which ones aren't. One time I had a guide find tracks of two lions that he knew were aggressive and had charged the trucks in the past, and he told us we would not try to follow them. So you are putting trust in the guides to do their best to keep you safe, while being aware that wildlife is unpredictable and anything could happen.

More details about the chase on my blog post: https://www.mikewillisphotography.com/posts/440/lion-chase-at-lebala-camp/

Видео Lion Chase at Lebala Camp, Botswana - March 2020 канала Michael Willis