Sleeping Lions/SCREENGRAB
A foreign tourist sparked controversy online after posting a video of sleeping lions during his visit to an unverified Kenyan park, drawing a flurry of sharp, witty, and sarcastic reactions from Kenyans on social media.
The video, shared on TikTok, has since gone viral with more than 340,000 likes and 18,000 comments, but not for the reasons the tourist may have intended.
The clip begins with the visitor posing inside a safari vehicle before cutting to scenes of lions resting under trees and on the road.
One lion is seen lying on its back under a tree, its paws stretched in the air, apparently deep in slumber. Another appears in the middle of the road, seated but with eyes closed as though napping.
The footage then shifts to three lionesses sprawled under shrubs, also seemingly asleep.
The tourist captioned the video: “Go to Kenya, you will see lions. They sleep, eat, and repeat. I am getting a cat.”
The remarks, however, rubbed many Kenyans the wrong way, with TikTok users flooding the comments section to push back against what they saw as a dismissive take on the country’s famed wildlife.
“You expected them to roar and tell you ‘hakuna matata’?” one user quipped, mocking the tourist’s expectations.
Another sarcastically suggested, “Step out of the safari jeep, I guarantee you’ll get a premium experience,” implying that an up-close encounter might have quickly changed his view of the sleepy cats.
Others turned to humor with cultural references.
“Did you want Simba and Nala to perform a dance? You expected Mufasa, huh?” one wrote, poking fun with a nod to the popular Lion King film.
Another joked, “You only paid the park fee. Next time, ask for the entertainment package.”
The comments section soon became a creative exchange of memes, jokes, and witty retorts.
“Our lions don’t chase, they attract,” wrote one Kenyan, flipping the narrative with a touch of national pride.
Another, less amused, posted: “Na kwani kila mtu aliamka vibaya?” with a crying emoji.
Lions, like most big cats, spend the majority of their day resting and conserving energy.
On average, lions sleep between 16 and 20 hours a day—a natural behavior crucial for their survival. Seeing them asleep in the wild is therefore not unusual but a true reflection of their life cycle.
Whether or not the tourist expected more, the online backlash underscored one reality: in Kenya, even the lions are entitled to their nap time—and woe unto the visitor who dares to complain about it.
