Due to current world health events, many areas that used to host hundreds of visitors daily had to be temporarily closed. Such is the case with the Kruger National Park in South Africa. As the once vehicle-filled tar toads of the park are now empty, a pride of lions decided to enjoy the absence of tourists to the fullest and lounge in the sun to their hearts’ content. The pride was seen by a ranger that decided to take photographs of this unusual sight and share them with the world.

Lions lying in the middle of a road at Kruger National Park — Lions are Enjoying the Absence of Tourists in Closed Kruger National Park

An Unusual Sight in Kruger Park

With all traffic gone from the area, a pride of lions was spotted sleeping on the tar road in the park. Usually, this road would be filled with cars taking a tour of the park, and animals wouldn’t be found sleeping on it. What makes this sighting of the lion pride more unlikely is that they normally reside on Kempiana Contractual Park, which isn’t an area visitors normally see. Section ranger Richard Sowry was the one to see the pride lounging on the road and he took these remarkable pictures of the big cats.

A lion closeup — Lions are Enjoying the Absence of Tourists in Closed Kruger National Park

There’s More to See Besides Lounging Lions

With mountains, tropical forests, and bush plains all being part of its landscape, the Kruger Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. Although it was temporarily closed to the public on the 25th of March this year, there are a series of live-streamed wildlife safari drives that all those who are interested can join and observe. The live streams will be held from andBeyond Ngala Private Game Reserve and Djuma Private Game Reserve, and each live-stream will last around three hours. Among the continent’s iconic species that can be seen here are lions, elephants, cheetahs, leopards, giraffes, hippos, zebras, and many others. The bush fields are also home to over 500 bird species and 137 mammals.