It was Day 3 of our Masai Mara safari. We had seen two cheetahs within minutes of landing at the Kichwa Tembo airstrip. The previous morning, the first lioness we saw walked past us, just a few feet away. By the end of that day, we had seen nearly fifteen lions. Some of my colleagues even saw a lioness kill and eat a warthog. Wow! A warthog? What kind of a boring kill is that? some of us said to console ourselves for having missed the action. In any case, we had seen four of the Big 5 (barring the leopard) by then.
Back to Day 3. Ten of us were the earliest to leave the camp that morning with our naturalist, Alice. A few minutes later we saw a pride of ten lions and lionesses sitting on a mound of earth, very close to our lodge. We had spent a lot of time the previous evening with five of them and it felt like we were meeting old friends. As we approached them, we were wondering if we should stop for more shots or move on for more interesting stuff. (Two days in the Masai Mara can do that to you!)
However, when the vehicle stopped near them, we felt something was different. Instead of just lying down lazily (like earlier), many of the lions appeared alert and looking towards a particular spot.
Sure enough, the lead lioness (known as the Striker) and another adult lioness stepped of the mound and entered the grass. The male lion, sitting by himself, and the juveniles, waited.
We pleaded with Alice to get us close to the zebra so that we could get a better / closer view, but she refused. Any movement from our side would disturb the scene. We had to stay there and see what was happening. While my 400mm f/2.8 was giving me a reasonably good view, it wouldn't be sufficient to get in close with the zebra. I decided to sacrifice one stop on the aperture (and superb auto-focusing) for the additional focal length that a 1.4X teleconverter would provide me. Now I was at 560mm f/4. Also, the action was happening on the other side of my vehicle - so I had to lean across to take my shots - some with a bean-bag, some hand-held!
Within seconds, they were almost lost in the grass, as they walked / crawled straight ahead, waiting for the unsuspecting zebra.
The rest of the pride sat alert, trusting the seniors to do their job.
Soon, the Striker was very close to the line of the zebra path. And she was so well camouflaged that we could barely spot her (even with the benefit of height and awareness).
She was in no hurry - she did not want to rush headlong as the first zebra crossed her. Alice told us that she would wait to attack the last one, particularly if it was separated from the rest. Note that zebras can be strong and brave, with a powerful back-kick; about ten of them can together ward off a predator's attack.
Just what the lionesses were waiting for - two of the zebra fell slightly behind as they cuddled a bit and waited under a tree. Had they spotted the lioness and were waiting for the rest of the herd behind them to catch up, or were they just being slow movers?
While we were expecting the Striker to wait for those two zebra, she stood up and started walking towards her left - to the zebra that had gone past her. Maybe she felt that waiting for the two stragglers was not worth it... The other lioness started walking backwards - maybe she would try and round them up from the other side.
The Striker ran a few steps ahead and waited. Meanwhile, some of the juveniles got off the mound of earth and started moving forward. Alice remarked that the young ones had probably blown the chance by making their move too soon.
But maybe luck was on the lions' side - perhaps the zebra spotted these 2-3 lions walking towards them, so they suddenly scrambled and ran backwards -- exactly towards where the lionesses were waiting.
One of the zebra almost slipped and ran right at the Striker. She was upon the zebra in a flash, even as her partner watched.
The Striker gave chase!
As the target ran ahead, she increased her pace...
There was no doubt which of the two was faster and more determined. The gap began to reduce.
Within 7 seconds of the chase, she was within striking distance...
The next second, the Striker used her full might to lunge forward!
This deserves a closer look, don't you agree?
All the other zebra had just come to halt as they saw what was happening, one of theirs under attack. The lion's paws were on the zebra's back, apparently its weak spot.
As the target slowed down, the lioness got a firmer grip on its back.
A second later, it was down...
The Kill was now done.