It happened on the 15th of January near Satara. The camp gates opened at 4:30 am sharp, but Chris overslept a bit and ended up leaving just before 5 am. As it turned out, on that particular morning, leaving late may have been a blessing.
Most of the safari-goers had left the camp as soon as the gates were open. However, it was still quite dark at half past four in the morning, so nearly everyone missed the lion sighting just outside the camp.
Chris left only a few minutes later, but there was noticeably more light at that time, and with Chris’ keen eye for sightings, he easily spotted the famous white lion, Casper with his pride. Chris arrived alongside another vehicle, and they both turned off their engines to quietly enjoy the moment.
Finding lions first thing in the morning is a dream for anyone visiting Kruger. And with three playful cubs around, things were only bound to get even better for Chris. Of the three cubs, one was male, and the other two were female.
It was the bigger female cub who was looking to cause the most trouble this morning. She was jumping around on mom, and just being the cutest menace possible. But when her attention shifted onto Casper, her dad, well that’s when the highlight of the sighting began to take shape.
The big white puffball at the end of Casper’s tail was too much of a temptation for the little lioness. So, the cub ran right up to her dad, who was now flicking his tail, which made it even more irresistible.
The cub initially grabbed the tail gently, which was enough to get her sleeping father’s attention. It was clearly not Casper’s first rodeo; he knew exactly what was happening and let out a few warning growls!
The cub seemed to take notice of the growls, even pulling back slightly. But as she retreated, the end of Casper’s tail just happened to fall in the perfect snapping position for the cub…
It was now the experience of getting into trouble vs instinct, and being a little lioness, it took the cub all but a split second to choose instinct. The cub chomped right her dad’s tail and made a quick dash for it!
Casper reacted immediately, springing up with a growl. However, the cub had already put her exit strategy into place, so there was no chance of catching her. Once he was sure the little rascal was gone, Casper flopped back down to relax again.
