This camping couple was so surprised to finally see the lions they’d been tracking the whole day show up right at their campsite.
Esther Boshoff and Ruvan Grobler were the lucky couple at Satara Rest Camp in who were visited by the lions. Esther shared her story and footage from the unexpected sighting with LatestSightings.com.
“We had been driving the roads around the Satara the entire afternoon. We were on the lookout for a lioness and cubs that had been spotted in the area. After many hours with no success, we finally decided it was time we headed back to camp and settled in for the night.”
“We had a campsite right on the fence line. With our chairs facing the setting sun and our fire crackling away behind us, the mood was set for a perfect evening. Then suddenly the calmness was disrupted—a lion roaring! It didn’t sound very far away. Ruvan and I both jokingly said, wouldn’t it be amazing if the lions we tried so hard to find passed by our campsite?”
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“With our words barely out of our mouths, we heard what sounded like a sneeze, not too far away. We quickly grabbed our phones and hit record and were glued to the fence. The lioness we had been searching for appeared, followed by her cubs. We could not believe our eyes. An entire pride of lions was walking only meters from us whilst we sat on our chairs! They walked past our tents in a matter of seconds. After she had passed, we sat for a short while before we decided to try and follow her.”
“We cautiously got up from our chairs and walked in the direction she went. As we came around the corner, there she was staring at us. Our instant reaction was to slowly retreat and give her space. Even though there was a fence between us, we did not want to upset a mummy lion who had her precious cubs with her.”
“As we made it back to our chairs, Ruvan glanced at the fence where she had passed moments ago. And there standing in plain sight was a male lion! This was just unreal. He didn’t seem to be bothered by us and just walked without even really looking our way.”
“My curiosity at this point got the better of me. I decided that I wanted to see if mummy lioness was still around or if she had moved on. She did not! As I rounded the corner again, she was standing there. She let out a growl while staring into my soul, which shook me to the core! I always wondered what my reaction would be to a lion growling at me, but screaming in lowercase was something I never thought would happen.”