Last week, our lone lioness Sisilia and her four cubs were spotted in the area of our airstrip. After several days of unsuccessful hunts, she killed a big kudu bull, resulting in a successful feed. Two days after the kill, she was chased off by hyenas. The following morning, I saw her limping; her left front leg seeming to be the problem.

Sisilia and her cubs were still full from the kill, so it took me sometime to see that, whilst protecting the kill from the hyenas, she has been bitten on her foreleg. Fortunately, a few days later, the bite had healed, and she was no longer showing discomfort.

The other morning, I met TJ for an early drive, and while we were watching elephants on the way to the airstrip, TJ saw Sisilia climb up a narrow termite mound and look out over the floodplains. This in itself was an amazing act of balance and poise and luckily, I managed to capture wonderful pictures of her.

Suddenly, the cubs appeared and one of them attempted to climb up behind her. She bent down and growled, and the cub was left clinging on to the termite mound halfway up. Sisilia decided that this was not going to end well for her cubs and put her nose down and ran off the mound.

This is one of the best lion sightings I have had at Xigera.