The lioness

We had been to see the giraffes, monkeys and various other small animals and the bears. We were cold and hungry and at the top of a hill. We had come out of a building that housed various small animals and venturing down the road we came upon an enclosure that had thick glass separating us from the animals inside. There was a little alcove where we could stand, look at the lions and be out of the wind. As we looked at the lions, one of them got off her rock (I was told that it is a heated rock) and came towards where we were standing.

Here she begins her journey towards us. If you will notice, she is in the stalking mode. What other reason, in 30 degree weather, would she leave her warm rock? We watched her come towards the window at a slow crouching pace. She would stop every few seconds like she was checking her prey. Then move forward again. Her approach was very slow and calculating. And so interesting to watch.

She is close to the window and very intent on something. We, Jeffrey, Jordan and I were watching her, little did we know that she was stalking us.
Yip, she came directly towards us and stopped just a couple of feet from the window.Here, she is looking at where Jordan is standing.

I took this picture while she was still approaching the window. She is certainly a beautiful animal.

Back to her stalking. When she got close to the window, we noticed that when Jordan moved, her gaze followed him. The window was about 10 feet wide and if he moved to one end of it, she kept him in her line of vision, when he moved to the other side, her gazed followed him. Jeffrey and I moved around but she just kept looking at Jordan. When she got within a foot or two of the window, she stood for a few minutes then she lay down in the "ready to spring" position. I didn't take any pictures of her in this position, it didn't really dawn on us that... She was stalking Jordan!

Oh what a day we had!  So want to go back.