This is a great photo! I would like to see a little more contrast between the lion and the back ground, but that is just my personal taste. Didi you try ti crop in on his face at all. there seems to be some nice dappled light from his front paw to the tip of his head.
Cool shot. Increasing the color saturation would have really helped though by making the plants more green and the lion slightly more...er...liony colored.
The colours look a bit blown up. Also the lion is a bit soft. Maybe it was too early to catch nice, rich and warm colours of the lion. Evening light is far more flattering usually. I like cat expression.