I see these vids of safaris where lions, cheetahs etc are out hunting and people are sitting in open roof cars. Is that not just a free meal waiting to happen for the lion?
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It has a better view. Typically the safari guide is armed and just the discharge of the weapon will scare off most anything. Also it is rare that predators try and take down anything larger than itself.
Nature is not “red in tooth and claw” as we have been led to believe by various documentaries and shows. In reality, preditors are extremely cautious about what they hunt – taking on an animal too hastily can cause injury or death, both of which are quite bad for the animal. Preditors tend to only hunt a small selection of animals, and even then only when they are relatively sure that they will be successful in the kill.
Humans are not part of their daily diet, and being of similar size they pose a significant threat to the preditor should they attack. As a result, the best course of action is to simply leave the human be unless the animal is desperate or threatened.
The open roof allows for much better view. The roll cage is much smaller then the pillars keeping the roof up, assuming there is even a roll cage. And the missing roof allows you to stand up for a better view. A lot of these safari cars even have raised seats which would not be possible with a roof.
Wild animals generally do not attack cars unless they feel very threataned. And the safari guides are good at keeping their distance to not disturb the animals and read the animals behavior for any signs of agression. If the guides feel that the situation is not safe they will drive away, the safari cars can easily outpace any animal. A lot of safaris also take place on reservations where the animals are used to the humans. They might be raised in captivity, at least partially. So they do not see humans as a threat or as pray.
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Lions and cheetahs live alongside large animals like the elephant and rhinoceros. When they see a car full of people, they generally see it as a large animal, and unless they feel threatened or are very, very hungry, they’ll leave it alone. If one of the people leaves the car, that person might be seen as a new kind of animal, but they’ll still be wary, because new animals can be predators, too.
The big problems happen when the person acts in a way that the lion thinks is aggressive (which includes most things people do, like approaching, smiling, and even eye contact.) Predators who meet in the wild will usually fight just a bit, to determine which one gets to stay in that area. People aren’t built to withstand that kind of thing with lions, and if the lion figures out that the human is prey, the game is over.
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