Although most African lions are known to have an aversion to getting wet, a particular group was seen having a fun family outing in the Sand River on MalaMala.
This unusual encounter was captured and shared to Latest Sightings by Mike Kirkman who is a head ranger at MalaMala Game Reserve in Greater Kruger.
Picture: Unsplash/Eelco Böhtlingk
Kirkman had followed a lioness to a thicket where she called her cubs who were hidden.
Once they came out, they headed to the river where they lay down in the water.
The cubs later moved on to where their mother and two male lions had killed a buffalo.
The following day, Kirkman found the lions at the same carcass. He uncovered that the male lions had also decided to join in the water fun this time around, as the cubs ran around in the area and played in the river.
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According to the head ranger, the encounter was a surprising one. While this particular pride of lions (Charleston) was known to lay in shallow water, these lions he had spotted were in relatively deep water and evidently enjoyed being cooled off.
The cubs obviously thought this was completely normal and so just carried on.
Kirkman further expressed that he had not seen anything like this rare sighting in his 15 years of guiding, nor does he expect to ever see it again.
‘I have no idea why these lions don’t have a dislike to the water like most lions do,’ he expressed.
After they had feasted on their buffalo, the lions eventually moved off. Watch how it all unfolded, courtesy of Latest Sightings.
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