10/15/2019
We crossed a water channel in the Okavango Delta near Duba Plains (Great Plains Conservation), anticipating what lay ahead: lions. Now, our eyes were peeled. At any moment, we could stumble across a lion. Many people don't realize how endangered lions are. We often hear about elephant and rhino conservation, but not about the conservation of some other iconic species. Some predict lion populations will be extinct by 2020, and lions are already extinct in 7 African countries. They've lost more than 80% of their historic habitat. Lion populations are down to about 20,000 from 200,000 in 1970 and what is believed to be more than 500,000 in the 1940's. Every time I see a lion, my breath is taken away. How could these beautiful, powerful creatures be going extinct and we're not hearing more about it? Maybe that's why I'm so passionate about photographing lions. Maybe it's because Botswana is one of the lion's most important strongholds, holding roughly 3,000 lions (about 10% of Africa's lion population). Maybe it's a mix of both. It certainly takes a lot of patience to photograph them... lions can sleep the majority of the day! After a bit of searching, KB located the two adolescent males. Thankfully, they were awake.
