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Cecilia Lim | all galleries >> animals >> the wildlife of kenya > Predator Or Prey
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Predator Or Prey

Lions may be fearsome predators, but humans may infact be the bigger predator. Two lions have been hunted down by a huge flock of human-ferrying vans which obviously has become a daily affair for the lions. These two lions seem to sit unperturbed - one below the tree on the edge of a dry riverbank to the right of my image, and the second one somewhere in the middle of the dried riverbed. I only managed to take this brilliantly funny pic when our driver suggested to drive to the opposite side to get an unobstructed view. Funnily though, our van broke down and we all had to get down to do a push-start from this spot, just hundreds of meters away from these lions. Whether the lion was the predator or prey, we weren't keen to hang around outside the van long enough to find out, and we thankfully managed to get the van started.


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Phil Douglis17-Dec-2005 04:00
A fantastic image, revealing the sad truth behind what has become a victim of its own success. So much of Africa has been reduced to a tourism package. The bored lions here are so small they can hardly be seen. But the traffic jam of minivans that have come to see them remain front and center. This image is striking in its incongruity, and pretty much defines what the word "safari" has come to represent in today's Kenya. Ironically, your own presence here is very much a part of this same story. In our search for understanding, all of us have become predators in a way. I wish you could have posted this image in a much larger size to bring up the ironic difference between animal and human scale.