Did you know …

The ‘king of the jungle’ is just an expression as lions actually live in grasslands and plains.

The roar of a lion can be heard up to 8kms (5 miles) away.

A lion can run at 50 mph but only for short distances and can leap as far as 36 feet.

When it walks, a lion’s heels don’t touch the ground.

Lions are the only big cats to live in family groups, known as prides.

The reason lions spend up to 20 hours a day resting and sleeping is because their bodies have very few sweat glands so it is easier for them to be active in the cool of the night.

Lions’ eyes are six times more sensitive to light than human eyes, which means they have excellent night vision.

The darker the mane, the older the lion, and lionesses seem to prefer males with darker manes.

My photographs of lions were taken on the Serengeti Plains and in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania in 2014, at the end of a week-long trip with The Giving Lens, an organisation that combines photography workshops with mentoring, media and financial support for local NGOs.