Customer Reviews

National Geographic's Lions of the African Night [VHS]

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This video's title is a little misleading. The video is not only about lions but other creatures of African night. It has interesting footage but a weak story. If you are interested in seeing a great lion documentary from the same region, watch "Lions of Darkness" instead.

This 1987 video follows an unusually large pride of 30 lionesses and cubs in Kruger National Park in South Africa. That said, only about 10-15 minutes of this 60 minute video actually show lion footage - and that footage is not terribly exciting.

The remaining three quarters of the video are worthwhile for a nature lover, if not for a lion lover - they cover mostly smaller creatures that one normally wouldn't think of making a video for. Memorable scenes include a small snake that catches and swallows a centipede larger than itself and a spider catching a frog.

If you're specifically looking for lions, though - especially if you want to see them in action as well as in their more common poses of relaxation - I would instead recommend one of the videos of Derek and Beverly Joubert, also from National Geographic. These include National Geographic's Lions of Darkness, as well as my personal favorite, National Geographic: Eternal Enemies - Lions and Hyenas, which despite the hyena on the cover has more about lions than hyenas.

The title is misleading as this video covers a lot of interesting animals in addition to lions, but its still a great show. The music, editing and Richard Kiley narration gives it the classic feel of a quality National Geographic production.

Most of the older National Geographic Specials are real treasures and this film is no different. The wonderful footage, the superb narration and the great soundtrack come together to make this video a really enjoyable experience.It may not be solely about lions like the title implies, but this is part of this film's charm. It explores all aspects related to the life that these lions lead and all of the creatures they have as neighbors.