At this point there was a pretty heavy mist rolling along the riverbed in waves, I looked across the river bed through the mist these three.....



... were just visible... !!

We had a short scramble from the fire pit area, this was right next to my hut so I ducked in and grabbed my camera and RIFE Boet let Sarah know and I snapped off a few pics. As it all unfolded we think that the big cat in the middle (probably the mother of the other two, had been teaching them to hunt, we/the camp were what she was hunting. It also explains the commotion being made by the baboons all bloody night.

We had a couple of quick chats about the what ifs and when etc as they lingered at the tree line for a little. Basically if they hit the sand they would get the first shot across the bow At the edge of the trees there they were 109yds away.

This is that first pic with a little photoshoppery to clear it up..



Once she started moving forward things seemed as though they may get a little more interesting....



Sarah appeared with an under/over 12ga and some rounds (No8 skeet loads). As if possible we would prefer to just send them on their way. Directly below us (in a small pond on the river) were a couple of buff heads (mine and another) plus my Kudu and Warthog heads. They place them here under wire and small fish strip the flesh and crud off ASAP. If the cats when to these they were guaranteed some No8s !!!

Watching them I got a lesson or two in lion behaviour... I was also told to keep watching her while she kept her back hips "cocked" as in the pic below as from here she could be up and away towards us easily...



As I watched the cats through the lens and binos it was apparent that they were watching EVERY movement in our camp (by now all the staff were well wound up and milling near the kitchen). Bearing in mind several of them have done a runner back into camp having come across these cats in the last few weeks out on the tracks. I knew that they had told me the cats had been in and around the camp during the night before, but I did think maybe they had overplayed this a bit (for safety reasons etc). While watching them I saw all three heads slowly turn and follow something, with out taking the camera them I asked who was walking down the path... Sarah (standing just behind me and a little freaked out) said it was Boet going to his quarters. They followed every step he took !

Some teeth...







... you can tell how young they is by the little biters...

So when SHE started to come forward again to "the sand line"...



...we started think she was still considering having a go..!!