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The lion is the biggest African cat with a shoulder height from 100 – 120 cm. Big males can weigh up to 220 kg. For many people lions are one of the main reasons to go on safari (a perception I can’t deny :-) !). Lions typically inhabit savannah and grassland. They are unusually social compared to other cats and live in prides of five to ten (sometimes even twenty) animals consisting of related females, offspring and a small number of adult males.

 

Groups of female lions typically hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates. Dominant males normally feed first after a kill. Lions are apex predators, although they will scavenge if the opportunity arises. While lions do not typically hunt humans selectively, some have been known to become man-eaters (like in Tsavo or Selous) although many of the rumours that were afloat couldn’t be verified. Lions are lazy creatures spending 20 hours of any given day at rest and can easily be found asleep in Africa’s protected reserves.

 

Lions live for around 10–14 years in the wild. Males seldom live longer than ten years, as rivalry among them is intense and takeover battles end up in bad injuries or deaths. Mature male lions are unique among the cat species for the thick mane of brown or black hair encircling their head. These manes are very different in size depending on habitat, temperature and genetic aspects. The manes from lions in open grassland areas like the Mara or Serengeti are generally bigger than manes from lions in thicket areas like Ruaha or the Luangwa Valley. Tsavo’s lions lack the mane completely what’s still controversially discussed by research. However shaggy manes definitely seem to attract females. The lion’s bloodcurdling roar is a sound which can be heard as far as 8 km away.

These areas are lion country and chances are good to spot some of these magnificent creatures:

- Ruaha National Park, Tanzania
- Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya
- Katavi National Park, Tanzania
- Amboseli National Park, Kenya
- Etosha National Park, Namibia
- Kafue National Park (Busanga Plains), Zambia
- Queen Elizabeth National Park (Ishasha Area), Uganda