Highlights From Photo Safaris

FROM PHOTO SAFARIS WITH EDWARD SELFE In this series, we publish extracts from trip reports of photo safaris led by Edward Selfe in the South Luangwa. The full Highlightsreports, with many more photos, can be found at www.edwardselfephotosafaris.com The following is taken from the middle of a long report of a 10-night trip in South Luangwa in June 2019, while guiding a group of four photographers from the incredible Lion Camp.

Early on in the morning drive, I picked up the smell of lion droppings which I thought I had driven over with one of the wheels. After confirming this—with an inspection of the tyre!—I was on high alert and soon after we found one of the ‘Nomads’, a group of four young, but big, male lions who took up residence in the Lion Camp area last year. They were very aggressive in 2018, challenging the females on kills and causing a lot of injuries, but they seem to have settled with the Hollywood Pride during the rainy season.

We followed the young male as he met with one of his three coalition partners and they sniffed the air repeatedly. Eventually they led us to a lagoon where there was a dead hippo floating in the shallows. They appeared very interested in this free meal, but made no attempt to enter the water, perhaps because there were many crocodiles waiting to feed. We were really excited that this might turn into a ‘story’ which we could follow over the coming days.

In the dry season, hippos die regularly from injuries caused by social compression in diminishing water habitat, or nutritional compression from lack of forage. Those that die are a huge food source that can sustain an array of scavengers for days on end. Strangely, the young males moved on without attempting to feed—perhaps they knew that the carcass was still complete and they would not be able to break it open—and we stayed to photograph the waterbirds in the shallows of the lagoon.

We now had to guess when the hippo carcass would decompose sufficiently to allow the crocodiles and other scavengers to access it. The period immediately after the carcass opens up is when there will be the most competition between predators, and the time when a possibility of interaction between them is highest. We were fortunate this moment came during an afternoon safari when we were able to witness it!

We arrived on the scene to find an old lioness resting near the carcass. She had picked up the smell and approached, hopeful of a free meal. But she was not confident of her ability to break open the carcass and fight off the crocodiles…so she waited. While we watched, baboon barks advised us of the arrival of another lioness (a prime female from the Hollywood Pride who has cubs nearby). The new arrival observed the situation for a while