#81- Lioness at Serengeti by Robert Bateman

"The Serengeti Plains are probably the last great place on the planet to see the world as it was when man was simply a small part of the ecological scheme of things . . . in other words, as it was in the Garden of Eden. The whole planet was like this for almost all of its history. Nature had a varied and complex system which changed very slowly, more in terms of thousands of years than decades. The coming of agriculture and the cities changed all that. In East Africa, the Masai tribe held sway over thousands of square miles of grassland and savanna for thousands of years. They herded cattle, but seldom hunted, and so lived in harmony with the wildlife. The key thing was that they kept out the farmers who had eliminated wildlife in most of the rest of the world. In the early 20th century, the colonial powers saw the value of this so-called 'big game country' and preserved it in part. It is possible in Serengeti Park to stand on a hill and see thousands of antelope and zebra as far as the horizon during migration time. The lions, of course, follow these herds. This lioness is shown at rest, satisfied by the magnificent world she lives in. Let us hope that it stays that way forever." - Robert Bateman
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