Firstly Happy new year everyone, I know I haven't posted a blog in a while, but one of my new years resolutions is to write more this year, and this morning mother nature gave me my first story and welcomed me to the new year with a bang!
Yesterday one of our guides Lorence came back from drive say he thinks one of the lionesses has cubs and a kill on River lodge property, this is fantastic news as I didn't even know any of the lionesses were pregnant. But that made me doubt that there was cubs, he had mentioned he thought he saw tracks for them but wasn't sure and that he had smelt a kill in the area. My thinking was that if there was a kill surely the lioness wouldn't have new born cubs there as its too much risk with scavengers and any other predator that may come in for the kill and pose a threat to the cubs.
So with my doubts I set out this morning to go and have a look for myself and see what was going on. Driving down our access road I arrived at the spot where the guys found tracks for the lioness and sure enough there were more fresh tracks, so I followed them they headed up a drainage line so it was relatively easy tracking with a good field of view. I didn't see any cub tracks or a sign of a kill. Once the lioness tracks left the drainage line I climbed some nearby rocks to get a good view from higher ground. At first I didn't see or hear anything and was now really beginning to doubt that there was anything and perhaps the lioness had moved off and it was a small kill that she had.
How wrong I was. Whilst standing on the rocks I felt my legs becoming incredibly itchy when I looked down I discovered I must have walked through a nest of tiny pepper ticks and they had covered my legs. I stupidly let my guard down to remove the ticks from my legs, whilst busy I heard a rustle in the bushes just below the rock i was on and when I looked to see what it was, to my surprise stood 2 tiny lion cubs. I immediately thought oh S@#T!! and then another cub appeared a little distance away, my thoughts then turned to where is mom? I crouched down on the rock and remained dead still hoping the cubs would move off and I could get away before their mother found me. This thought quickly left me when mom appeared about 20m from me. She hadn't seen me and was actually looking the other way but I knew the stakes had dramatically increased and I had gotten myself into a very very tight spot. Now the 2 cubs where still wondering around below me and I was hoping with all I had that mom wouldn't come to get them, but again my hopes were dashed when she started moving in my direction. The only thing on my side was that she hadn't seen me, but the closer she got the worse it got for me. I was basically between her and her cubs. it got to a point where she was now so close that I lost sight of her as she moved below the rock I was on. I kept thinking how I am now in an impossible situation and was hoping I wouldn't be discovered. For what felt like hours I remained dead still and when I could no longer hear the rustling bushes of the cubs I thought perhaps she had collected them and moved off, so I peered down over the edge of the rock only to be met with the deathly stare of the mother lion, as we locked eyes she snarled and let out a deep menacing growl that made me weak. I stood up and shouted and she ran off fortunately, but quickly turned and charged me, cubs scattered everywhere, I stood my ground and again shouted at her to which she turned and ran off again, I took this moment to make my escape and move out of the area. I could hear her growling until I was far enough away to no longer be a threat.
Once I arrived back to the safety of my vehicle i got the chance to reflect on what had just happened. Such mixed emotions. the joy of finding cubs and the fear of almost getting taken out. After being in the bush for so long one tends to become a bit complacent, and a valuable lesson was learnt today, you can never take your eyes and mind out of the game, rather stay focused and even more so than usual because you really do never know what can happen, and when things happen they happen so quickly, that situation went from nothing to crazy in an instant. I do not blame the lioness for her behavior as I unknowingly encroached into her private life and just like human mothers would protect their babies should an intruder arrive so did she. I was lucky and definitely gained valuable respect for these animals.
Written by: Greg McCall-Peat
