Lions will not share: Video

At last the rains arrived and they arrived big!
Manyari and her 2 boys were on the move at sunset, getting in an early start. Did they know something we didn’t?

They had moved south and were already on Banyini as darkness fell. A strong wind came blustering across the open area as the sky darkened not only with nightfall but now it was filled with dark threatening clouds surging in from the south. In the low light we could just make out a herd of zebra galloping around playfully in the strong winds, obviously excited at the promise of rain.
The lions focussed in on them, but didn’t take into account the wind direction and soon their cover was blown. The zebra took off into the surrounding woodland. But a large herd of impala remained oblivious to the oncoming danger. It was dark now and Manyari was perfectly in place. The wind was in her favour and also covered for any sound she might make. It was looking great. A few more stalks and she’d be in range. But she lost her nerve and charged in at about 50m. She didn’t have a chance at that distance.
Manyari kept moving. She seemed aware of the advantage the approaching storm would give her when on the stalk.
In the mopanie woodland a small herd of impala had taken refuge from the heavy winds. A bad move. The thick cover and windy conditions provided the ideal situation for the lions. A stalk was hardly needed it was so easy. And shortly Manyari had caught a male impala. Chahwihwi and Sjambok were immediately onto her. There was no sharing at this dinner table, each one for himself. And waste energy they did. Definitely expending more energy fighting each other than actually making the kill themselves. Far more!
Just as they’d split with their share of the pie, the rain came. It started gently. We moved away to get our covers up, but I’d only planned on putting mine up temporarily. Big mistake, which very quickly became apparent as the gentle drizzle turned into a massive downpour. I just managed to cover all my equipment and the girls in time before the heavens opened. There was no point staying out and we headed home.
The rains continued all night. Good soaking rains. Really great stuff for the bush.
At daybreak it was still raining and continued on for most of the day.
A lone tortoise had come out of hiding for the last few months and was really trying desperately to overdose itself on water. The last water it would have seen would have been nearly 10months ago.