Face to Face With a Maned Lion

The engine cuts and the quiet rushes in. Then you realise the lion is looking straight at you.

Not at the vehicle. Not at the driver. At you.

He is standing in short green grass, so close you could almost count his whiskers. A maned lion. The biggest cat you have ever seen. His front legs are planted. His head is up. And his mouth is open.

Nobody moves. Nobody breathes.

You hear the hot engine ticking. A bird somewhere behind you. The tiny click of your own camera, which suddenly sounds very loud.

Now look at that mane.

From a distance it looks gold. Up close it is dozens of colours at once. Honey, sand, pale gold, a little darker towards the roots, all thick and heavy and moving slightly in the breeze. It frames his whole face like a lion in a children's book. Except this one is real, and he is right there.

His eyes are calm and steady. They do not blink.

He turns his head and you see him side on. That huge shaggy mane falling over his shoulders. The strong nose. The mouth still open, a flash of pink and teeth. He looks like the king of everything, and he knows it.

Then he lies down in the grass.

And from there, he roars.

It starts low, somewhere deep in his chest. You feel it before you hear it. It rolls across the grass, through the floor of the vehicle, into your seat, into your ribs. The hair on your arms stands up.

Then it stops. Just like that.

He settles. The grass goes still. And everyone in the vehicle lets out the breath they did not know they were holding.

You came all this way to see a lion.

You never expected a lion to see you.

So why does this photo stop people in their tracks?

Eye contact. Pure and simple. When an animal looks straight down the lens, it looks straight at whoever is standing in front of the print. Your eye goes to his eyes first. Then the open mouth. Then that great golden mane. The soft green grass behind him keeps everything calm, so the lion does all the talking.

It is a picture with real presence. The kind that owns a room.

Imagine it huge, behind the front desk of a safari lodge or a boutique hotel, greeting every guest who walks in. Imagine it on the wall of a steakhouse or a smart bar. Imagine it in a boardroom, where it says confidence and leadership without a single word. Or on the cover of a travel campaign, with one bold line underneath.

And if this is the closest you have been to a wild lion, it does not have to be. Go on safari in East Africa. Sit in the quiet with the engine off. Wait.

One day a lion will look at you like this.

You will never forget it.

Hotels, lodges and travel brands: license this lion for your walls or your next campaign.

If words like these are what your brand is missing, hire Paul to write for you.