Nature is a weird and strange place that is completely unpredictable. And photographers Evan Schiller and Lisa Holzwarth captured this first hand during a safari in northern Botswana’s Selinda Camp.
The scene they were able to photograph was something straight out of a soap opera or Disney movie.
It began on their game drive with them watching a large group of baboons charging through the way.
“There was a troop of 30-40 baboons heading in our general direction making a lot of noise,” Lisa recalls on her blog.
The baboons began to panic and sought shelter.
That’s when two large lionesses appeared and then two more. While most of the baboons were able to escape, one of the females in the troop wasn’t as lucky.
“As the third baboon lay dying on the ground, we noticed a little baby (less than a month old) slowly disengaging from its mother’s dying body,” writes Lisa. “Despite its young age, I was amazed to see how instinct so quickly kicked in that it immediately tried to find safety in a tree.”
The baby baboon attempted to seek shelter from the lionesses in the tree but failed and one of the lionesses spotted him.
That’s when something strange happened.
Rather than devour the little baboon whole, the lioness started to bat it around a bit.
“Finally the lioness carried the baby in its mouth (really at that moment she could have swallowed it whole without a blink of an eye) and put it down on the ground in front of her,” Lisa said. “What happened next blew our minds.”
The scared and fatigued baby baboon gripped the lioness’ chest and tried to suckle as if she was his own mother.
The lioness then picked up the baby and carried it off. That’s when two male lions tried to make advances toward the lionesses who were NOT having it.
In a twist of events, the baby’s father appeared. He had been scheming on trying to save his son the entire time and finally had his chance now that the lioness was distracted. He grabbed his baby and ran up a tree with him to safety.
“After watching these human-like emotions and actions, it’s pretty hard to doubt Mr. Darwin and his theories,” Lisa writes.
The little baby survived the ordeal and left Lisa with a philosophical lesson.
“No matter what, he remains an inspiration to me – and a reminder, that life is fragile and no matter how much I fight to control its outcome, I am at the mercy of the universe,” she wrote. “All we can do is live in the moment.”
True that Lisa… true that!
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