For one heart-stopping moment, this giant Simba was 7 feet away, had his eyes fixed upon me, and was walking right toward me in my open-sided safari vehicle. My pulse went through the roof, but at the last possible second, he turned aside and walked around our vehicle.
Originally posted: https://steemit.com/animalphotography/@hansmast/king-of-africa-at-sunset
What an encounter. I would be horrified and amazed all at once.
99% of the time, it's quite easy and natural to trust the guides' oft-stated confidence that predatory animals see the whole vehicle as one large animal they can't hope to take down (elephant on steroids), but this was the only time that that trust wavered. Thanks for the upvote!