Lion & Hyenas Face-Off Over a Kill: Satara Night Drive

My favorite of the set... Sorry it's such bad quality, but I was holding the flashlight in one hand, the camera in the other, and it was just a normal point and shoot and it was pitch black out.

The young male lion, striken with TB, was so desperate to eat, he was willing to tolerate the company of the hyenas. And they were smart enough not to mess with him and risk getting the disease themselves. Still, tensions were high over this young giraffe kill.

I wrote about the experience of taking your first night drive in the Kruger and seeing a kill. You can read about it at The Kill - A Night Drive in Kruger National Park, South Africa.

(Kruger National Park, Day 3) These are just some candids from my digital point and shoot camera, often taken from the car while it was moving, etc. You'll see dirty windshields, terrible lighting, dirty lenses... You know, what it's really like. ;)

For my "real" (read: way nicer) nature photography from this trip, please check out my African Field Notes on Naturally Speaking.

Both the lion and the hyena are on the IUCN List of endangered species.