Lion cubs growl at each other over fair share of mother's milk

With the Wildlife and Safari Tourism industry still on its knees, self-drive safaris in South Africa have recently been allowed again. We took the opportunity and headed straight to the Kruger National Park to explore the great African wilderness. Majority of visitors to the park are normally in search of the ever popular ‘big five’ animals that include buffalo, elephant, rhino, leopard and lion.

Out of all the ‘big five’ animals, the African lion is at the top of the list for most. Finding the biggest cat in Africa can be relatively easy on some days, where on other times they will disappear for days or even weeks. Finding a pride of lions in the wild is already a memorable experience on its own. Finding a whole pride with a lioness suckling her cubs in the wild is a once in a lifetime experience. We couldn’t believe our luck when we found the large pride of lions sleeping in the shade next to a deserted road. We were totally stunned when we realized there were also six lion cubs present. We decided to switch off the vehicle and spend time with the lion pride and their cubs. Majority of the pride were fast asleep besides three specific lion cubs that decided it was time for a drink of mommy’s milk, all at once.

The tired lioness was still half asleep but allowed her youngsters to start drinking. Initially things were a little cramped and unorganized for the lion cubs. It was adorable to watch the three cubs moaning about finding space to get their fair share of mommy’s milk. The cute little growling, snarling and moaning sounds made by the cubs was just incredible to hear while witnessing this precious moment. The lioness eventually responded to the moans and growls by lifting her one leg up in the air, opening up more space for the cubs to get comfortable and to stop moaning. It was such an amazing moment to see each cub happy with its own place to drink. When each lion cub had a mammary gland in its mouth, everything became peaceful again and remained like that for quite some time. We left the pride in peace and moved on. We had a big smile on our faces while feeling overwhelmed by our rarely seen moment in the African wild.