![\"\"](\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-OBwynDUcU9g\/U3kJFmWkZiI\/AAAAAAAAYLU\/W701w_CgqXg\/s1600\/lion_drinking_1_Etosha_2013.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/a>The pride was clearly getting ready for their nightly foray of hunting. Their bellies weren’t full or bulging at all, and with about 9 adult lions to cater for they would need to hunt regularly. The sun was just setting, and the tension was palpable. All the other animals that had come to drink could sense the lions were not just lying around…<\/p>\n Much like on a morning only a year earlier (read THIS post for that story), my wife made the prediction that they would make a kill during the night. Boy, would she be right…but that’s what you’re reading this story for, so I will carry on.<\/p>\n We eventually had to leave the pride where they were, as the camp gate time was beckoning. I have a gripe against Etosha gate times in general…as they work on the exact time of sunset and sunrise, and often the best light and sightings happen before sunrise or shortly after sunset. At least in the summer months in the Kalahari and Kruger you get some good leeway either side of sunrise and sunset for those epic moments!<\/p>\n The next morning, I was up early and ready to go out. My wife waved me on, as the kids were having a rare morning of still being asleep (usually they were up way before we want to leave for game drive), and she decided to rest a little too (she was minding them every day in the back of the vehicle, after all). I was first out the gate on a cloudy morning, and also the only one from Namutoni heading out for Klein Namutoni that morning, which is about 4km from camp. All the other vehicles going out on an early game drive seemed to turn right out of the camp towards the Chudop triangle…not a bad decision given the open setting and density of predators in this area…but it was a bad decision for them on this morning!<\/p>\n No sooner had I turned into the gravel road leading up to Klein Namutoni, when I spotted 2 of the young males of the pride we sat with the previous evening on a serious trot. Now, if you’ve spent any good amount of time observing the behaviour of lions, you’ll know that they only ever run or trot like this for 2 main reasons – to get to food or to get to a competitor and fight. As I came around the next bend I saw the reason for their brisk pace: a large and old Giraffe bull was ambling up the main road, trying to run but obviously dog tired! The pride must have been chasing him for hours during the night, as his hind legs were dragging (but he was as yet not wounded). I kept a reasonable distance and allowed the chase to go its natural way. As always with these kinds of sightings, a part of you hopes the prey will find a way to escape, while another part of you (the avid action photographer) wants it all to go down in a spot where you can take some photos of it!<\/p>\n