They say that Lions can sleep between 18 and 20 hours per day. Spotting Lions therefore does not guarantee good Lion images, unless you are satisfied that half asleep Lions laying around doing pretty much nothing. It can be very tempting to follow their example and dose off too. After all, on safari, you are awake well before sunrise and you get to bed late (at least when you safari in the summer with it's long days). We too get tired. Yet, we have to stay ready because we never know what may happen. A cub might be more energetic and attack an adult or two cubs might start to spar. How do we stay ready?

• If the guide informs you that you are now going to an important citing, check your camera's battery and memory card levels. You don't want to get to a kill only to find either your battery empty or your card full. Exchanging those items at the scene may mean missing the action. So, if needed, change them out before you get there.

• The guides communicate with each other in their local languages so we don't know what is being said on the radio. In my experience, guides do not often tell you up front where they are headed. But their driving style reveals a lot. You will know when they are just driving around scouting or whether they are on their way to something exciting. They drive much faster and more purposeful on their way to something great. When you notice this, get ready - whether they announce anything or not.

• Check you camera settings. Your settings may have been changed for a special situation that may not apply now. For example, you may have set your lens focus limiter because you were shooting a bird that was right next to the vehicle. That bird may have been static and so you may have your camera on a slower shutter speed. Set your camera up for action and if you encounter action you will be ready. If you don't encounter action, no problem, you will have time to adjust.

• Learn about animal behavior. The better you know the animals the more accurately you can anticipate action.

• Make yourself comfortable. Sometimes we have to keep looking through the viewfinder forever before something happens. If you are not comfortable you will not be able to keep watching for long. Before long, you will have to change your position. Or perhaps the lens starts to get heavy. As Mr. Murphy (Google Murphy's law) would have it, that animal is waiting for the very moment when you are repositioning yourself before it will do something exciting. The more comfortable you are the longer you can stay ready.

• Use support systems. A bean bag or something to place the camera and lens on can make a world of difference in saving your arms from torture.

• BE PATIENT. Just wait and watch.

This pride of Lions just lay there on the rocks. They did nothing, and for that they had all day to do it in. The flies started to bother this female until she had enough of them. She turned her head and moved her facial muscles to chase the flies away. These scenes started without warning and ended equally abruptly. You literally have a second or two. You only get these kind of images by staying ready, looking through the viewfinder, and by being alert. Now this may not be the best Lion picture on Earth, but it sure beats any picture of this Lion taken a few seconds before or after this moment. She was looking away from the camera and just laying there. This one moment livened up the image and made it more interesting. If you were not ready, you would have missed it.

          Stay ready because nature does not wait for you to get ready.