Baboon sightings in South Africa’s Kruger National Park are always entertaining, but visitors who spotted a particular troop of baboons had a lot more experience than they expected when they realized one of the baboons was clutching a small lion cub. , which was no more than four weeks old. The male baboon picked up the small cub, climbed a nearby tree, and groomed and stroked it as he would have done with a young member of his troop.

According to witnesses, the baboons were initially extremely excited by the cub’s presence. They fought over him for an extended period before the young male emerged victorious to play with his prize. It is a known fact that baboons are a potential threat to the offspring of most predators, including lions and leopards. Still, it is extremely unusual for these moments to be observed or photographed.

The photographs were captured by Kurt Schultz of Kurt Safari, who escaped from his company’s office in Hazyview to spend time with his camera in the Kruger National Park, unaware of the extraordinary experience that awaited him. He describes how in an area of ​​large granite hills and rocks known to be a favorite den site for lions and leopards, he encountered a troop of baboons and was informed by tourists in another vehicle that they believed there was a cub of baboons. lion among the baboons. .

He waited patiently until one of the baboons came out with the cub, which he initially believed was dead. When the male baboon carried him to the tree and moved from branch to branch, the cub became agitated and realized that he was alive, although weak and exhausted. Although Kurt did not detect any visible injuries, he does not rule out the possibility that the puppy had internal injuries. What surprised Kurt was how gentle the male baboon was with the cub and how he was grooming it. In his twenty years of experience as a guide, he has witnessed baboons killing leopard and lion cubs, but he has never seen them given care and attention.

Pragmatically, Kurt recognizes that the lion cub had no chance of surviving. At 8 a.m. m., the temperature was 30 degrees Celsius and such a young lion cub would quickly dehydrate, even if the baboons did not harm it further.

Says Kurt, “This will remain one of my most interesting sightings. Naturally, one cares about the lion cub and would like it to grow up and live a wild and free life, but nature has its own ways and we cannot get involved. “We need to keep Kruger simple and wild, true to Stevenson Hamilton’s wishes: let nature roam free and people stay in their vehicles.”

Kurt Safari offers one to five day safaris in the Kruger National Park, operating mainly in southern and central Kruger. Based in Hazyview and operating primarily with Umbhaba Eco Lodge, they provide their clients with quality and educational safaris. With top safari guides from the local Hazyview community and a modern fleet of 23 vehicles, the company is ranked #1 on TripAdvisor for Kruger Park safaris.