Kenya 2023: Chapter 20 – The Owino Pride

The rain let off as we headed northwest and by 7:15 we found a small pride of lionesses with several cubs along the side of the road, part of the Owino Pride. As they crossed the red clay Olare road, the group was intrigued by the scent of a strong male that had been sprayed on our truck the night before. The cubs gnawed on the front bumper, climbing up to see over the hood. At no point were we close to the lions and certainly not in danger of them climbing onto the truck. Long ago, some cheetahs learned to climb on the cars and use them as a lookout, but that gene has passed out of the pool.

The cubs played in the long wet grass and the cloudy morning made shooting conditions difficult as the cameras struggled to come up with crisp images that weren’t focused on blades of grass. Lenny joined in and grabbed our 500 mm as we shot with the 600 mm and the 200 mm.

Two kinds of grass are present in the Mara: Red oat grass (which is the most important), thatch grass, and sweet pitted grass. Flowering shrubs and other plants are typically found around the base of termite mounds or in the small clusters of forest.

Down the road we found four of the five males of the Owino Pride known as the Taliban. Once again, they were sleeping, but occasionally one would pop his head up to look around, giving us a good shot.

A few hundred feet beyond, we found the fifth male of the Taliban and he was on honeymoon. Lucky for us, Mr. and Mrs. were feeling rather frisky and put on quite a show, albeit rather short, before going back to sleep.

As the now sated couple rested again, a large bull elephant wandered up the road. Because of the potential for an interaction, Lenny backed the truck up a short ways to give the elephant space, but the pachyderm went across the road and away from the lions.