Occurred on June 25, 2021 / Bhejane Nature Training Camp, Somkhanda Game Reserve, South Africa
Info from Licensor: "With the students a safe distance away, Dylan drives closer to the kitchen to get eyes on all the cats. It is quite unusual for the lions to come so close to the buildings - and not a place where we want them to get too comfortable. The female seems to be using the usually undesirable close proximity to humans and the buildings, to try and get the very horny male to leave her alone :) He seems quite determined however and decides to stick close to her to guard his mate. Male Lions have a small window of opportunity to successfully pass along their genes - so this is serious business and he won't give up too easily. Dylan eventually leaves the safety of his bakkie (Landcruiser pick up) to get into the kitchen. While he is joking about making a cup of coffee :) the aim is also to disturb the lions and get them to move off in order to get the camp safe for students, who are waiting outside to come in for coffee and breakfast. Many people are asking why there are no doors here and why Dylan is approaching the angry lion! Disturbing the lions is the only way to get them to move off - we can't have them occupy the main camp area all day, it will not be safe for students, so Dylan eventually goes closer to discourage them to back off and move away. Having observed them for quite some time on that morning, he was well aware that the male is only being protective of the female. He is not hunting for food, or looking for a fight - he is simply warning Dylan to stay away. This does not mean that there is no risk and that it was not a hairy situation - but Dylan understood the risk and acted accordingly - please keep in mind that Dylan is a trained professional with years of experience working and living in wild areas - DONT TRY THIS YOURSELF. Wild animals do NOT like human company for the most part and almost all animals can be shouted down or chased away with sufficient noise and standing your ground (this is true here in Africa at least). It is also true during daytime hours - if this was at night, we would not have allowed anyone to be on foot anywhere near them. Wild animals will only come into close proximity to humans of the benefit outweighs the risk for them - the elephants that leisurely come to drink from our water tanks are a good example of this. The female lions have moved through the camp a few times already - we are aware of each other, but mostly we leave them alone and they leave us alone. This is possibly also why the female in the clip is so relaxed while the male that does not easily come into the camp is more on guard. Dylan eventually made his coffee and after about 40 minutes managed to convince them to move off and leave the camp."
Location: Bhejane Nature Training Camp, Somkhanda Game Reserve, South Africa via viral hog
