PETALING JAYA, April 17 — A pride of lions in South Africa’s Kruger National Park decided to take full advantage of the country’s lockdown by having a relaxing snooze on the empty tarmac road.

The road — normally busy with tourist vehicles — has been quiet ever since the park stopped welcoming visitors on March 25 under South Africa’s nationwide lockdown to contain Covid-19.

Park ranger Richard Sowry was patrolling the grounds on Wednesday when he spotted the big cats having their afternoon siesta, BBC reported.

He stopped his vehicle a safe five metres away to observe the unusual sight and quickly snapped some photos on his mobile phone.

"Lions are used to people in vehicles. All animals have much more of an instinctive fear of people on foot, so if I had walked up they would never have allowed me to get so close,” he explained.

As a park ranger, Sowry is classified as an essential worker and he checks on the park’s wildlife daily to protect them from poachers.

 

He explained that lions normally choose to sleep on the park’s roads during the winter as the tar can retain the day's warmth well into the night.

However, he expressed some concerns about the animals assuming that the roads are completely safe to be on just because tourist vehicles are gone for the time being.

Lions have started exploring the now-empty golf course within the park. — Picture via Twitter/SANParksKNP

Lions and wild dogs have also been spotted in a golf course within the park but Sowry said that it’s too soon to say if the lockdown has made a major impact on the animals’ behaviour and movement.

"Kruger is a very wild place. It has been wild and it is still wild.”

Kruger National Park media officer Isaac Phaala added that the lions have been "enjoying the freedom of the park” as they roam around on the roads which are now free of traffic.

When asked why the pride prefers sleeping on the tarmac instead of the soft grass, Phaala explained that it had rained on Tuesday night and much like domesticated cats, lions aren’t huge fans of water.

"The tar was drier than the grass at the time — big cats and water don't mix.”