Released 2009-06-01

Panthera leo

Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania is advertised as the only place where one can see tree-climbing lions. Apparently someone forgot to mention this to these lionesses, who were happily exploring a tree in the Ngorongoro Crater. Though not as deft among the branches as leopards, lions do ocassionally seek the shelter from bugs that the extra height of the trees provide.

Unlike most of our sightings of lions, which were accompanied by near silence, this particular encounter was screechingly noisy: the tree nearest this one was full of baboons who had fled the first, and were voicing their disapproval of their new neighbors. The lionesses watched them closely, but seemed to know that a chase would be fruitless, for they made no move toward the other tree. That did not, however, stop them from using their new vantage point to assess us closely.

This is a limited edition photograph with a total of 500 photos printed across all sizes, as noted