Treetop pride male

To see a 400+ lb (full bellied) pride male lion climb vertically 15 ft and sit high up in a tree is a very rare and special treat! In all my 35 years photographing African wildlfe, this is only the 2nd such time I've had the privilege to witness.
It's not uncommon to find lionesses and sub adult males resting in trees, but to see a large male is quite a sight!
For once this was an opportune time to have a flat tyre, as we waited for all other vehicles to leave the area so as not to spoil this occasion:w3, when all of a sudden this male decided it was time to climb, his motivation was a female a little higher up and to the left out of frame that did not descend,
he had love on his mind and wanted to be closer to her. She didn't reciprocate and virtually ignored him and continued to snooze. :t3
Cranking up my D5's ISO to 14400 and maxed @ f/4 enabling me with just enough s/s firing multiple frames for a sharp image to capture this story.
We fixed the flat tyre without disturbing this amazing scene and left running late back to camp.
An amazing sight, which became solely ours was an event to cherish!!!

Moru- Serengeti NP, TZ. Bean bag front pax seat, slight crop, curves, levels, TK adj's in ACR & PS CC'17.

Nikon D5
Nikkor 400 f/2.8E FL VR + 1.4tcIII
1/640s
f/4
ISO14400

Cheers
Marc

Hi Marc -- That is some Natural history moment to witness and on top that capturing on camera as well. A lovely scene indeed , to see a big male do something like that is indeed a rarity. High iso has definitely affected the IQ but it is better to capture a sharp frame rather than worry abt the noise, the comp is also quite good .
I really enjoyed viewing this image .

TFS !

Hi Marc - What a great sighting and you did well in the conditions. It must have been a huge tree because it actually dwarfs the lion a bit. I like the bit of light hitting his eye. It looks like he visited the hairdresser for the image, his mane is so full.

TFS,
Rachel

What awesome sighting, Marc!

Just like Haseeb, you are full of surprises, and I keep wondering what's next - looks like an exciting month for us here on BPN Wildlife:bg3:

Beautiful male lion and what a wonderful scene overall, nice HA and I really like the composition. Happy with this as presented and pleased to see the D5 performed so well in poor lighting conditions.

Super capture Marc, congratulations! Aren't you glad you had that flat tyre:t3

Kind regards,

Marc have enjoyed viewing this and reading your account on getting this lovely shot,great looking male Lion framed by the tree it all worked out beautifully.

Keith.

I was entertained by the narrative and I really like the image, I think the light and colours in the lion look very distinctive.
Perhaps a little NR on the background would improve?

Beautiful Mark, this is so different from the regular lion portraits, and so much better for it. I love the lighting on him and he's given you a lovely head angle to boot. Excellent work.

Mike

Hi Marc ... what a great frame .
You really got lucky with the flat tyre :w3, love the comp and the overall image content.
Nice work .
TFS Andreas