Asian Lioness

[Nancy Bell]

The last strong hold of the Asian Lion is in the Gir Forest in Gujarat, India. One is limited to traveling through the forest in government jeeps on the established roads. If one is lucky you see a lion. In this case, I felt very lucky indeed as this lioness was very close to the road and just waking up from her afternoon nap. I was also lucky when she briefly turned her head towards my jeep.

Canon 7D, Canon EF400 mm f4 DO IS + 1.4x, resting on bean bag, ISO 400, 1/100, f6.3, exp. comp. +1/3

C & C most welcome.

[Harshad Barve]

When this was taken Nancy , and which parks of India did you visit , hoping to see some Tigers from you too

Excellent pose here with nice details , I see some color cast here , here is RP , hope you don't mind it
TFS

[Hilary Hann]

I prefer the colour in the repost. She looks like she has weathered some storms and you have captured her beautiful eyes. Background is very nice.

[Nancy Bell]

Harshad, thanks for correcting the color cast. I thought the purplish color in my post was odd but was not sure what more to do. I was in the Gujarat area for the first 2 1/2 weeks in February. I visited The Great Rann of Kutch, the Little Rann of Kutch, the Gir Lion Sanctuary and Valavador National Park. Next year will be tigers and I will be calling on you to help me plan that part of my trip .

And thank you Hilary for your comments. We were told this lioness has 2 cubs this year. They must have been hiding somewhere.

[Harshad Barve]

You must have tons of birds on tour HD now , Will be happy to help you for Tigers

[Kirk Adams]

Lovely re-post by Harshad, the GIR lions are special. The Indian Govt should be proud that they have continued to protect/preserve the King of beasts that has existed on this planet for millions of years......

[Marc Mol]

Harshad's repost has fixed the colour cast, good lighting and clean BG Nancy.
The ears appear a little smaller on this Indian compared to African species? Would that be correct?
TFS

[Ken Watkins]

Nice to see thes I have not been there for years and years, it may interest people to know that a recent census indicates that the population has increased slightly and is now claimed to be in excesss of 400.
A remarkably high density for such a small area but I doubt that the Indian Government is reponsible.

[Harshad Barve]

A remarkably high density for such a small area but I doubt that the Indian Government is responsible.

Unfortunately except Gir , we don't have any area which can support lions and dont have Tigers ,

[Ken Watkins]

Harshad,

But of course they were only in the North West in the first place, if you can believe the researchers?

[Dumay de Boulle]

Lovely pose and nice to see a Asiatic Lion...the repost looks great

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Nancy, nice head angle, and ears just perked up enough to show some interest. Also like the BG, and colour in her eyes. You did a good job in what was obviously quite low light. Well done. Repost looks good.
grant

[Morkel Erasmus]

always nice to see Asiatic lions on the forum Nancy! Harshad's repost sorted out the cast I saw in the OP as well. good details all round.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Lovely repost . A very good 'in your face' image !!

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you everyone for your comments. The big cats are incredible to photograph!