Hoedspruit based wildlife photographer Kevin MacLaughlin spent an afternoon with a lioness pride that has been spotted on Pridelands Conservancy for the past few days.

The pride of three impressive lionesses had eight, very playful cubs of around six to eight months of age.

“They were very chilled with our vehicle,” said MacLaughlin. “Once they started moving as the sun went down, the cubs surrounded the vehicle and were very curious!”

Lions spend the majority of their lives resting, and can do so for up to 20 hours per day! They do this to recuperate from intense periods of patrolling and hunting. If you are lucky to find them during the day, as Kevin did, they may appear comatose, when in fact, they are extremely alert and can spring into action in seconds if needed.

This pride of females with their cubs were quite relaxed with Kevin, which allowed him to capture these great images below.