Rare photos show Serengeti lions napping in a tree
by David Storage
GRIND TV
Lions climb a tree in Serengeti to avoid insects. Photo: Bobby-Jo Clow/Caters
Australian Bobby-Jo Clow was leading a photographic safari in the Moru Kopjes area of Central Serengeti, Tanzania, when the tour came upon a very unusual sight: a tree full of lions taking naps.
The group had been photographing thousands of wildebeests and zebras that were part of the Great Migration when the lions were spotted in a sausage tree about one meter away.
“Our guide informed us that it is not common to see lions in trees, especially 15 of them at once and this was indeed a special sighting,” Clow wrote in a post on Africa Geographic. “When your guide gets his camera out and starts taking photos – then you know.”
The safari group got so close they could hear the lions snoring. Photo: Bobby-Jo Clow/Caters
The lions were clumsy since they lack the climbing skills of a leopard. Photo: Bobby-Jo Clow/Caters News
There were about 25 lions in the pride. The tourists managed to get close enough to obtain amazing photos, and even hear some of the lions snoring.
Clow said it was comical to watch the lions reposition themselves “as they are very clumsy and lack the leopards’ climbing skills.”
So why were the lions in the tree? Like humans, they don’t like insects.
“Our amazing guide Firoz informed us that due to the recent rains the grass was quite long in the Serengeti and that lions climb the trees to escape the insects that thrive in the long grass,” Clow explained.
h/t to People
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