The crater was still in shadow when we saw them: two lionesses, walking straight towards the vehicle along the edge of the track. Our guide switched off the engine. Nobody spoke.
They came closer than we expected, unhurried, eyes fixed on something far behind us. One paused to look directly into the lens — that look you see in the film on our home page — before both drifted past and out across the grass.
The art of waiting
We had been sitting there for almost forty minutes before they appeared. It would have been easy to move on. But our guide had read the signs: alarm calls from a herd of zebra, a jackal moving nervously, fresh tracks in the dust.
Most of a safari is patience. The rest is the moment that makes the patience worth it.
Later that morning we found the rest of the pride resting on a fallen tree, one lioness draped over the bark with her paw hanging down, utterly relaxed. Ngorongoro, at its best.
