Wow... wow... wow... what a brilliant few hours...
Just done a photo shoot for Woburn Safari Park, they have a new male Lion called Kasanga, he is 2 years old and came from Holland, the last breeding male Lion at Woburn died of Cancer last year :o(
The Lion enclosure at Woburn Safari Park is bigger than all of London Zoo.. and Kasanga had the run of the whole area as all the other lions were locked up in the pen, they haven't met each other yet so need to slowly introduce them to each other else there will be some 'proper' trouble.
I spent my time in the passenger seat of a orange and black Landrover being driven by Craig, a very nice bloke and very knowledgeable.
The first 10 mins I was continually winding up my window very quickly as Kasanga was getting too close for comfort, he would run up looking straight at me as I sat with the window fully open taking pictures, he would get to a point that he could have leapt in the window if he wanted to.... panic...., Craig suggested that when the lion got that close he would drive off instead of me having to frantically wind the window up, "Good idea" I said, "although tell me when you do so I don't bounce my gear against the door frame", the price of a Canon 7D and 70-300mm telephoto makes me go cold when I think about it!
After a while of Kasanga chasing us about in the hope he would get some food, he sussed our game and started to wonder off on his own, so Craig would get out and wave his arms about shouting - ha ha, that worked.. until he got bored again.
He then picked up on the scent of the other Lions on a tree and starting getting very animated which was good to see but didn't make very good photos as he had his head under a log so all I could see was his backside.
We managed to get him up onto a frost covered bank, got some great shots of him here, although a lion in frost just doesn't look right, it should be dusty :o)
Once I had got 200+ shots we thought it was time for his treat, a nice big chunk of raw meat which he enjoyed and spent quite some time getting every last bit eaten.
We then drove back to the 'safe' area where my own Landrover was parked, the head keeper, Robert' asked me if I would like to see the other lions in the indoor pen, "damm right" I said, as we walked towards it I could hear the deep growls of the residents inside, once in I could see 10 lions, male and female, 8 in one area and 2 in another, I can't explain my disbelief in how big they are, I am 6' 3" and the biggest lion came up to just below my shoulder, I have seen these guys outside many times but never realised they were so big, and here I was the other side of a wire wall, millimetres away from then as they came up to the fence snarling and barring their teeth, absolutely amazing.
For the 'geeks' out there, the kit used was a Canon 5D MK II with a 24-105 L f/4 lens - used when he got very close, and a Canon 7D with a 70-300 telephoto lens for the safer distance shots.
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All images are copyright Woburn Safari Park and Rob Kelley, and may not be used without consent.
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