Inside the Serengeti Pride: What I Learned About Hierarchy and Reciprocity from My Tanzania Safari
Inside the Serengeti Pride
The first time I went on safari in Tanzania, I remember sitting quietly in the Land Cruiser, watching a lion and lioness resting under the shade of an acacia tree. The air was crisp, and the light shimmered over the dry grass. It was obvious, the lions had just made their kill, a zebra, half-eaten, lay nearby.
“You see,” Will, our guide turned back and said quietly, “The male is guarding the zebra. The females hunt, but he enjoys the meal first.”
Wait! What?
I was stunned. Growing up with The Lion King, I had always imagined the lion king as the hunter doing all the chasing and roaring. I also felt a spark of indignation. I questioned Will, “Didn’t she do the hunting? Why is he eating first?”
He smiled, almost expecting the question. “Well,” he said, “that’s how the lion world works. The males defend, the females provide, and everyone has their place.”
To be honest, I never knew I was into Safari (call me crazy, I know) but at that moment, it wasn’t just about seeing African wildlife anymore, it was about watching a society, with its own rules, hierarchies, and unspoken contracts.
How a Pride Works
Over the next few days, I kept asking Will more questions about the lions (he was very patient!)! I learned that a lion’s pride is like a family, but with a rhythm shaped by survival rather than sentiment. A pride usually consists of several related females: mothers, sisters, daughters, along with one or a few dominant males who hold the territory.
The lionesses are the foundation. They stay together for life, hunting and raising cubs cooperatively. The males come and go, often in small coalitions of brothers who fight for the right to lead a pride. When new males take over, they defend the group fiercely, but their rule rarely lasts more than a few years before new challengers arrive.
It’s a fragile balance: cooperation among the females, competition among the males, and survival for everyone in between.
Roles Written by Nature
The more I asked and observed, the more the logic began to make sense. Lionesses are lighter, faster, and more agile, built for stealth and endurance. They hunt in coordinated teams, fanning out across the grasslands, reading each other’s body language in near silence.
When the kill is made, it’s the males who eat first. It still feels unfair to me. Why does the hunter wait while the male feasts! But in reality, Will explained to us, it’s actually not about privilege for privilege’s sake. The males’ strength is what keeps the pride safe. They defend the territory, fend off rival males, and protect cubs from threats, including other predators. Feeding first ensures that they stay strong enough to defend the pride, so keeping their strength up is essential.
It may not be the kind of fairness I have in mind, but it’s the law of the wild. I guess it’s nature’s way of reminding us that everyone has a role to play, and nature plays no favorites.
The Hierarchy of the Pride
The more time you spend watching lions, the more you see the subtle politics at play. Feeding order isn’t the only hierarchy. Cubs learn their place through gentle tussles, swats, and playful dominance games. Females groom each other to strengthen bonds. Males roar, a deep, resonant sound that carries up to five miles, not just to announce presence, but to assert ownership.
And then there are the takeovers. When new males win control of a pride, they often kill the existing cubs, a harsh but evolutionary tactic that brings the females back into heat sooner. I couldn’t help but think, so The Lion King really skipped that part!
It’s brutal to witness, but it’s how lion society resets itself. In their world, strength and timing are everything. Lions don’t make moral choices. They follow instincts shaped by evolution, not ethics.
The Morning Light and What It Revealed
The morning before we left Serengeti, as the sun rose up the Serengeti, I saw a pride gathered close together, cubs tumbling over each other, females grooming, the male resting nearby with half-closed eyes. The golden light caught in his mane, and for a moment, everything was still.
I realized I’d been asking the wrong question all week. Not “Why does he eat first?” but rather “What makes this exchange hold?“
There’s practical wisdom and social intelligence in their system: the need for cooperation, the acceptance of roles, and the delicate balance between dominance and care. The key, I think, is reciprocity. The male eats first because he defends. The lionesses hunt because he protects. Each depends on the other to survive. When a male stops defending, the pride is exposed, and a new one steps in, often killing the cubs. When the lionesses fail to hunt, no one eats. It’s harsh, but the system holds because the exchange is essential and mutual.
It made me wonder about our own structures. We, too, organize ourselves into groups with specialized roles. We, too, rely on some people for stability and others for leadership. We, too, form coalitions, defend territories, and navigate hierarchies.
The difference is, in our world, we’ve separated those things. We’ve created systems where people can eat first without defending. Where they can hold power without responsibility. Where they can enjoy the benefits of the pride without protecting it. What would it look like if we reconnected them? If leadership meant you were the first to take the hit, not the first to take the reward? If eating first meant you were accountable for keeping everyone fed?
The lions may not be able to philosophize about this. We can.
What the Savannah Taught Me: Three Practical Insights
Watching the lions, I came away with insights I’ve applied to my own work and life:
Reciprocity Is Everything
In any group, whether a family, team, or organization, ask yourself: Is there genuine reciprocity? Are people receiving value proportional to what they contribute? The lion system works because the exchange is real. When it’s not, resentment builds and systems collapse.
Actionable takeaway: In your next team project, explicitly map contributions and rewards. Are they aligned? If not, name it and address it.
Stability and Change Both Matter
The pride needs both the lionesses’ continuity and the males’ periodic renewal. Too much stability breeds stagnation. Too much change creates chaos. The key is knowing which elements should endure and which should evolve.
Actionable takeaway: When facing organizational change, identify your “lionesses”, the people and practices that hold institutional knowledge. Protect those even as leadership shifts.
Social Intelligence Is as Valuable as Technical Skill
The lions taught me that reading the room, building alliances, and understanding power dynamics are essential. The best hunters still need to navigate the pride’s social structure.
Actionable takeaway: Invest as much in understanding people and relationships as you do in developing expertise. Both matter.
A Glimpse Ahead: Other Social Architects of Africa
Once you start noticing these dynamics, you begin to see them everywhere. Hyenas live in matriarchal societies where females lead and males occupy lower ranks. Wild dogs share food cooperatively with injured and sick pack members. Elephants are guided by matriarchs who carry generations of memory and lead with remarkable emotional intelligence. Each species has evolved different solutions to the same problems: How do we organize? How do we distribute resources? How do we balance stability with adaptation?
That day in Tanzania, watching the lioness wait for her turn, I felt both sadness and awe. Nature isn’t always “fair,” but it is deeply balanced. It’s a tested structure with accountability, with reciprocity, with the ability to evolve.
So here’s what I’m sitting with, and what I want to ask you: What pride are you in right now?
If this story awakened something in you about witnessing nature’s raw power and complex societies firsthand, explore our safari itineraries. Whether it’s your first adventure or your tenth, we’ll craft a journey that goes deeper, not just into the wild, but into what awakens something primal in all of us. Contact us to start planning your wild adventure!
[Check Out The Ultimate Guide to the Serengeti National Park]