Sarah wins the 2019 Comedy Wildlife Awards

We are delighted to announce some BIG news that Sarah has been awarded as the overall winner in the 2019 Comedy Wildlife Awards. Sarah was also awarded as the category winner of the ‘Creatures of the Land’ category. The image titled ‘Grab Life by The ….!” beat over 4000 images entered into the competition from 68 countries and so it is with delight that we announce this news! Since the news the images has become somewhat viral, making it’s way around the globe in print, online and also on the television. The image was taken with the Nikon D500 SLR with the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 500mm f/4E FL ED VR lens.

 

 

Here is what Sarah say’s about receiving the award

“I am absolutely delighted to be awarded as the overall winner in the Comedy Wildlife Awards. It certainly warms my heart to know that this image will spread some laughter and happiness around the world. I am happy to report that this lioness continues to thrive in the pride, having seen her again in late October 2019. I can only hope and encourage everyone, as a collective to each do our part in the conservation of all wildlife species. A responsibility that I believe we all have to ensure that the world’s wildlife can be allowed to flourish for many years to come. In order for future generations to enjoy in a way that I have been fortunate to have done during my career as a wildlife photographer. Long may lions walk the plains……….”

The Lion Cub

The cub in the image is a very special little character to us and she belongs to a pride that we have followed for many years and the pride is also featured in the National Geographic’s ‘Savage Kingdom’. We call this lion ‘Silver Eye’ and she is a member of the Marsh Pride in Savuti, Botswana. We have been fortunate to have followed her since she was a very young cub, born around August 2017. We named her Silver Eye due to the fact that she is blind in one eye. Which is visible in the images, something she had from a very early age. The cause of which is unknown, but as you will see later on has not stopped her becoming a key part of the pride and who has survived well.

So what happened at the sighting? 

Early one morning in November 2017 Andy and Sarah had been watching the younger members of the Savuti Marsh pride in Botswana frolic around with play with another sibling at one of the waterholes, known as ‘Pump Pan’. While the rest of the cubs, sub adults and the two pride males rested in the morning sun.

 

 

Despite the fact her sibling still wanted to play Silver Eye eventually ‘got bored’ of the cub play and they both started to make their way towards some of the other pride members who were resting not too far from the edge of the waterhole.

 

 

As the heat was starting to rise and taking advantage of a moment of cloudiness one of the two dominant adult males of the pride decided to move from his position and started to walk a few metres to go and drink, as the rest of the pride then followed. The male stood up and started walking off, Silver Eye then went bounding toward the male taking a big leap toward him. Rather than leaping onto his back as we expected, the cubs focus instead appeared to directed toward be the adult male’s nether regions, with claws fully protracted! Who knows if it was intentional or not, or perhaps a slightly misguided aim. Watching cubs play always fills us with happiness, but this added an extra special comedy element to the sighting! The male seemingly unaware that his ‘nether regions’ were under attack!

 

What happened next?

Many people are perhaps wandering exactly what happened next, Well, fortunately for the cub and the male he narrowly missed the pride males ‘crown jewels’ and the male walked on, with all body parts unscathed! You can see the next images in the sequence below as she missed her target.

 

 

The male continued to walk on toward the waterhole, totally unperturbed by the fact it had just been launched at by little Silver Eye. He made it to the waterhole, with his dignity and ‘private parts’ intact! Together with his brother and the rest of the pride they enjoyed a drink.

 

Just a few minutes afterwards Silver Eye and her sibling continued to play again at the side of the waterhole! It was truly a wonderful and very fun sighting!

What about Silver Eye now?

In both July and October 2019 we were lucky to have caught up with her again and to chart her progress. As you can see from the images she has now grown into a beautiful sub adult. Having witnessed her recent behaviour she is a very feisty, confident (and still cheeky) member of the pride. We hope she continues to flourish and we do hope that this year we have the opportunity to catch up with her again when we return back to the same region. We will keep you updated!

 

 

 

See more of the  images that were awarded in the Comedy Wildlife Awards in 2019