Few safari moments match the first time you switch off the engine beside a pride of lions. To make the most of that moment, it helps to understand what you are actually looking at, and how to behave so that the encounter stays safe and undisturbed. Our guides grew up beside the parks of East Africa, and this is what they teach travellers about lion behaviour on safari.
Life in the Pride
Lions are the only truly social cats. A pride is built around a core of related females, usually two to a dozen, who are born into the group and stay for life. They raise cubs communally; lionesses will suckle each other’s young, and cubs of similar age grow up as a creche. One to four adult males hold tenure over the pride, defending it against rival males. Their reign is usually short, two to four years, before younger coalitions displace them. It is a hard system: incoming males often kill small cubs, which is why lionesses defend them so fiercely.
How Lions Hunt
Most hunting is done by the females, typically in the cooler hours around dusk, night and dawn. Lions are ambush hunters: they stalk to within thirty metres or so before a short, explosive charge that rarely lasts more than a few hundred metres. Cooperative hunts, with some lionesses driving prey towards others lying in wait, are common in open country. Even so, most hunts fail; success rates of roughly one in four are normal. Males hunt less often but join for large, dangerous prey such as buffalo, and at a kill the hierarchy is blunt: males eat first, cubs last.
Sleeping Machines
Do not be disappointed if your lions are flat on their backs. Lions rest up to twenty hours a day, conserving energy between hunts. A “boring” sleeping pride often becomes fascinating around sunset, which is why our guides plan lion time in the golden hours. In a few places lions have local habits worth travelling for, such as the famous tree-climbing lions of Ishasha in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park, which you can visit on our 10-day Uganda safari.
Lion Behaviour on Safari: How Lions See Your Vehicle
Lions in well-visited parks have grown up around vehicles and generally treat a car as a single large, uninteresting object, neither prey nor threat. That indifference is exactly what keeps sightings safe, and it depends on people behaving predictably:
- Stay seated and keep arms and heads inside the vehicle; standing up breaks the vehicle’s outline and can trigger interest.
- Keep quiet. Loud voices and sudden movements stress the animals and can end the sighting for everyone.
- Never call, whistle or throw anything to get a reaction.
- Switch off flash photography, especially at night.
- Keep respectful distance from mating pairs, kills and small cubs; your guide knows how close is close enough.
- On walking safaris, follow your armed ranger’s instructions exactly; never run.
Reading the Signals
A relaxed lion ignores you, yawns or rolls over. A lion that stops what it is doing to stare at you with ears forward, tail tip flicking, is telling you the vehicle is too close; a good guide backs away well before that point. Growling, crouching or mock charges mean the boundary has already been crossed, which almost never happens with a professional guide at the wheel.
Where to Watch Lions With Us
The Maasai Mara and Serengeti offer the classic big prides, especially during the migration months; Amboseli and Tarangire add drama with elephants sharing the stage; and Ishasha adds its tree-climbers. Compare our Kenya and Tanzania itineraries, or browse all small group safaris. With a maximum of eight travellers per vehicle, everyone has a window seat when the pride wakes up.