Farewell to the Kings
November 8, 2022
If you are going to print an image in a large format it needs to emotionally connect with the viewer. It needs to draw the viewer back for multiple views. It needs to tell a story that is worth telling multiple times. It needs emotional energy as well as visual appeal.
From a personal standpoint, this is the most emotional picture I've ever taken.
A few months after taking this picture, Bob Jr. and Marley, the Lion Kings of the Serengeti for over seven years, were killed in March 2023, by a coalition of rival males trying to take over their pride.
There was an outpouring of grief from all over the world as word of the deaths spread to park visitors and photographers who had the joy of encountering the lions in person, and many more who knew them only from their images.
Bob Jr. and Marley were African, Black Maned Lions whose sire was the famous, original Bob Marley. The brothers formed a coalition that shared a large pride of females and many cubs. Bob Jr. had a much darker mane, many scars, and very dark eyes. He always looked angry (and hungry) except when he was nuzzling his brother. Their home range was the Central Area of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania near Namiri Plains. They were without question the two most strikingly photogenic lions I have ever encountered.
They were old for lions in the wild, and were no longer at the peak of their strength. Bob Jr. walked with his head down in a hunched position, and when we saw them, was letting Marley take the lead.
The savannah in the Central Serengeti area where we were following the lions had been burned over in a controlled burn a few weeks prior. The burn extended over a sizeable fraction of the entire national park. This clearly had an effect on the lions. Most of the game had deserted the area, and the lions were visibly affected. You could count every rib. There was also a strong breeze that was blowing ash and dust into the lions' eyes, and their nictitating membranes were halfway up, making their gaze that much more striking as the lions wandered in and out of the limited available shade.
Every time I look at the picture, I feel the emotion of the moment all over again. We will never see the like of these magnificent brothers again.
A special thanks to our Namiri Plains guide Anderson Mwampashe for spending all day with me, and on into the evening tracking the brothers for the perfect shot.
I took the image with a Canon EOS R6 with an EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM extender lens, hand-held. The exposure settings were 1/1250 sec at f/4, ISO 1600, 400 mm. Taken November 8, 2022.
