James Walker, Lion Specific Volunteer, and his Lion Sighting
The Date: Friday, May 3, 2013
The Time: Afternoon Drive
The Objective: Locate the lions (Panthera leo)
James, Lion
Specific volunteer, gives you a blow-by-blow of his lion encounter from this
week:
Due to
unrelated issues, afternoon drive started late. Kaggie, our driver, rushed to
get the car ready and told us that we were going to make a B-line up to the
Lions (Panthera leo). The sun is going down, so the hope is we
get there before sunset to get some good photos. Sure enough, 30 seconds out of
base and we have to stop to take prey data! Which is fine, its what we are here
for but the chance to see the Lions in the daylight is whats on everyones mind.
Data taken, we
make our way north. Enjoying the scenery as Kaggie races to where the Lions
were last seen. To make a change, they aren’t hanging out at the Boma, which is
nice.
Upon arrival
at the last sighting spot we call in to the drive who had them sighted and ask
for a description of the location. Its unhelpful as there seems to be a lot of
static. Being this far north thats unsuprising. There’s no sight of them here
so Matt, one of the other Volunteers, begins to T-lem for Zero, the dominate
Male, and Kaggie goes on a wander to looks for tracks, little does she know but
they are just around the next bush!
They’re
asleep. So we pull up along side, just as Maggie awakes. She looks straight at
me and yawns! The Teeth on her are beyond massive!! The metal sidebars between
me and her begin to feel like tooth picks! And when Lisa awakes, we become
silent. These beast have that effect on you when they are awake and staring
straight at you. Scenes from Jurassic Park come to mind, minus the 30ft T-rex.
But still.
The two
females then pass us by within 1metre of the back of the truck. I’m meant to be
taking data on their position and behaviour but more important things are
happening. Zero is waking and I am freaking out! The tension is palpable. He’s
looking for breakfast at 5pm and he stares straight us. A beast woken from his
slumber, we hold our breaths, excited as to what he does next. He sits up and
with one almighty effort... he yawns! Three Times! When you’re along side these
Kings of Africa, you forget that they are just big cats! Sorry, Massive
Cats! The two girls have gone now and Zero follows them. He appears to
be having an issue with something in his mouth but we assume, as he is a cat,
that it is a fur ball. He takes his leave of us and goes about doing his
business scent marking the surrounding area and the like.
Kaggie asks us
what we want to do, and its a resounding “stay with Zero”. We take off after
him and follow him for over 1km as he walks along the road, taking short cuts
through the bush with Kaggie putting her foot down and rushing around the next
bend to get there before him.
The sun is
beginning to set now, and we are having to spot light him to get some photos.
All of a sudden, he stops. He begins convulsing. We know that he is an old King
but he seems to be in trouble. The convulsions get bigger and more regular,
until finally, he vomits!! Its bright green! A massive eww sounds from the back
of the truck. Without a second thought, Zero continues on.
A gasp of
excitement and we look forward. 50 metres in front of Zero is eye shine
reflecting from the spotlight. Which means there is an animal on the road right
in front of Zero. We all strain to see what it is playing chicken with Zero. A
Porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) and her Porcupette (Baby
Porcupine)! This is gonna be interesting. Getting to see a Porcupine showing
off its quills and Zero growling at them is gonna be cool. The moment comes
when Zero is within distance of them. We get cameras at the ready for the
face-off. And Zero walks straight past them without even glancing. Slightly
disappointing. Even Kaggie, who has been here for two and a half years is
disappointed with Zero. He doesnt even flinch, make the porcupine jump, or even
look it’s way. Nothing. We are not even sure if Zero saw them! Just goes to
show how lions truly rule out here and they don’t get phased by almost
anything, even a pissed off porcupine a meter away.
The sun is
down now, and with that the opportunity to take photos of the wildlife goes. As
Zero disappears into a bush, we sit back and ponder the events that have just
taken place before us. 45 minutes have gone by since we found the Lions. It was
a great sighting the weather was fantastic as well. This is the time when I
turn to Kaggie and tell her that I need to take data on where we found them!
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