Lions in the middle of the day are a lesson in patience, mostly theirs. The male was flat on his side in the grass, mane in the dust, doing the thing lions do for twenty of every twenty-four hours. The rest of the pride were arranged around him in various states of the same.
The lioness saved it. She got up and moved through the group with real purpose, head low, and for a minute there was an animal to photograph instead of a rug. Then she sat, and the afternoon went back to sleep.
All on the 135, ISO 200 to 800 as the light moved. With cats in the heat you find the one that is awake and work it, and let the others be the background they want to be.