When you’re sat on by a large male lion you would consider yourself lucky just to escape unscathed.
But this feisty jackal appears so angry at the indignity that it attacks the king of the beasts.
The amazing sequence of pictures showing the unique encounter was captured next to a waterhole in the Ongava Game Reserve in Namibia.
Co-founder and Director of Research at Ongava Research Centre, Dr Ken Stratford told how this sort of behaviour by a jackal has never been seen before.

Sharing a drink: The jackal strolls by the lion as it bends down to sip water from a watering hole at the the Ongava Game Reserve in Namibia

Oops! The enormous lion leans back and accidentally sits on the tiny jackal which yelps with surprise, throws its ears back and wriggles free from the tight squeeze

Dr Stratford said: ‘The tail end of the dry season is a time of year when the waterholes in Ongava Game Reserve are particularly busy. But no one in my team ever dreamed of seeing this.
‘One of our camera-traps had fired off a sequence of 10 shots revealing a black-backed jackal attacking a young adult male lion – in broad daylight.
‘Not only do cat and canine typically frequent waterholes at night rather than by day, we found no previous record of a jackal being so aggressive towards a lion.’
Describing the sequence of ten pictures, British-born Dr Stratford said: ‘A large but young adult male lion is taking a drink at the waterhole as a black-backed jackal passes by and as the jackal gets closer, the two animals seem to be ignoring each other.
‘The lion has sat down, presumably inadvertently squashing the passing jackal. Unhurt, the jackal squeezes out from under the lion and rounds on him, furious at the indignity.

You’re not getting away with that! The plucky jackal rears up onto its hind legs and bares its sharp teeth at the surprised lion, starting a David and Goliath showdown

The fight is on: The brave jackal refuses to be intimidated by the size of the lion and moves in close enough to grab the predator’s beard in its teeth

‘The feisty jackal leaps towards the lion’s face risking a side-swipe from the big cat’s enormous and deadly paw before continuing to prance around the lion like an irritating wasp.
‘Ominously, the lion rises to his feet, perhaps nearing the end of his patience, towering over the jackal and it is then that the jackal appears to consider the prudence of continuing the assault.
‘Wisely, the jackal decides that the lion has learned his lesson and continues his journey around the waterhole.’

Mozambique and Malawi December 2004

Baboon’s Pass March 2003

Hope she goes to a good home , and not some pavement crawler

Below is a reply I had from LRSA when enquiring about running the new Puma on anything other than 50 ppm diesel .What is not made clear , but I did confirm it later , is that you will now be required to do a oil change every 5000 km .

50ppm is an indicator of the quantity of sulphur in the diesel fuel, and is governed by local legislation. Fuel specification EN590 / SANS342:2006 stipulates a maximum of 200ppm, this is the specification the vehicle has been manufactured to for ROW markets, this for our market dictates a reduced oil change interval at 6 months.

This sulphur component will as a result of the environment inside the motor and combustion processes develop into sulphuric acid. The higher the count the higher the conversion into acidic elements and so the snow ball effect keeps building.

To counteract these elements inside the motor the engineers have suggested an oil service routine which must be adhered to avoid risks from the acidic elements building up. this should suffice for use of the higher sulphur content fuel – note limits apply! The fuel must comply to either EN590 or SANS 342:2006 which defines maximum sulpher at 200ppm.

If higher sulphur level fuel is used as anticipated by the client then he will need to know that the engine oil changes will need to be more frequent – this preventative maintenance is not covered by Careplan. Please do inform the client of the increased service requirements whilst the vehicle operates in arduous enviroments

If the vehicle is equipped with DPF (currently not specified for SA) then you are limited to fuel with 50ppm and less as the sulphur components will block the DPF. Use of high sulphur fuel alone will not impact the warranty, not completing preventative maintenance will impact the warranty if damages is related to non compliant fuel and no preventative maintenance.

Best regards,

Kelvin Winter

Origin unkown

Just saving this here for myself

Namibia Wildlife Resorts Central Reservations Office:
E-mail: reservations@nwr.com.na
Tel: +264 61 285 7200
Fax: +264 61 224 900
Private Bag 13378, Windhoek, Namibia

Swakopmund Office:
E-mail: sw.bookings@nwr.com.na
Tel: +264 64 402172
Fax: +264 64 402 796
Private Bag 5018, Swakopmund, Namibia

Cape Town Office:
E-mail: ct.bookings@nwr.com.na
Tel: +27 21 4223761
Fax: +27 21 4225148
Pinnacle Building, Ground Floor, Burg Street, Cape Town

The bar is set higher and higher for awesome African game shots that we are priveleged to see.

Clinging on for dear life to the side of a vertical cliff, the tiny lion cub cries out pitifully for help.
His mother arrives at the edge of the precipice with three other lionesses and a male. The females start to clamber down together but turn back daunted by the sheer drop.
Eventually one single factor determines which of them will risk her life to save the youngster – motherly love.

The drama begins: The mother arrives at the edge of the cliff as her son cries out for rescue after being trapped when he slipped

On the brink: Four lionesses look over the edge before aborting their rescue mission because of the sheer drop
Slowly, agonisingly, the big cat edges her way down towards her terrified son, using her powerful claws to grip the crumbling cliff side.
One slip from her and both animals could end up dead at the bottom of the ravine.

Just as the exhausted cub seems about to fall, his mother circles beneath him and he is snatched up in her jaws.
She then begins the equally perilous journey back to the top. Minutes later, they arrive and she gives the frightened creature a consoling lick on the head.
The dramatic rescue, captured by wildlife photographer Jean-Francois Largot, was played out in Kenya’s Masai Mara game reserve.
Despite the presence of wardens to deter poachers, day-to-day life for the lions is not without its dangers … as the cub learned the hard way.

Rescue mission: The mother inches her way down the cliff face to rescue the terrified cub before locking him in her jaws and making her way back up the cliff face

Motherly love: The mother gives her son a lick to say that all is well in the pride following the drama

A total lunar eclipse took place on June 15, 2011. It was the first of two such eclipses in 2011. The second will occur on December 10, 2011.

This was a relatively rare central lunar eclipse, in which the center point of Earth’s shadow passes across the Moon. The last time a lunar eclipse was closer to the center of the earth’s shadow was on July 16, 2000. The next central total lunar eclipse will be on July 27, 2018.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2011_lunar_eclipse