I was driving a family of tourists from Switzerland in the Masai Mara and trying to spot a leopard for my guests. When I looked up at a tree, I thought I saw a leopard and drove towards it. When we got closer, were realized it was a lioness, not a leopard. This is very uncommon behavior with lions in the Mara but with my experience in the bush, I have two thoughts about this sighting:
1. It is the rainy season and the grasses are tall. Lions need higher lookouts to locate prey.
2. The tall grasses harbor flies. These flies cause much discomfort to lions.
When a lioness has to be above the grass, she usually climbs rocks or kopjes. (A kopje is a small knob or hill.) With no kopjes nearby, the lioness was forced to climb a tree. And here is the photo I took of her.
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