African Wildlife And Environment Issue 73

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

and not inside, their silhouettes must have made a tempting target. I checked the tyres and realised why the lions were fixated on them. Earlier that day we had driven through some fresh lion dung which had splashed up on the tyres and chassis and this was from a neighbouring, potentially rival, pride. No wonder they wanted to chew the tyres - maybe they were not having a Good Year? When I had started the engine, one of the victims on the roof thought that he would chance a quick

watching the wheels turning and then they all started running after the vehicle as a united pride. I then put foot and accelerated away because their intention looked too much like they wanted to play with the ‘Toy’ in Toyota. After driving a safe distance, I stopped and got out to talk to our roof bait. All I saw was a wide-eyed, white-faced, wind-swept bunch, looking more like a collection of owl ornaments on a shelf than a happy trail group. Just for clarity you must remember that

photo. He then picked up the camera and rather than holding on, he was trying to focus to get a photo when I accelerated! His wife grabbed his shirt and held on for dear life as he abandoned the photo opportunity and grabbed the rails to steady himself. When they had asked to see a lion kill that morning while still in the trails camp, I for some reason do not think they were meaning one of their own group to be the sacrificial lamb! The mind boggled at the thought of a sweaty, biltong-like package with a camera at the ready being dumped in the midst of the lions while they chased after the vehicle. They would have had a field day! In 2008 and 2009, while still working at WESSA as the National Director of Conservation, I was offered the opportunity to take part in the Toyota-sponsored ‘Conservation Outreach’ into Africa for the first year,

half the group were sitting safely inside the vehicle and the other half were on the roof. The banter that followed cannot be repeated, but to say that roof rack crowd was angry was the understatement of the year. The insiders as wewill call them, were teasing them rotten with calls of ‘meals on wheels’ and suchlike, and it was only when they started recounting their tale, which I must say got more daring as time passed, did I realise they were really very scared. When the lions approached they were frozen with fear and dared not even look down. Knowing that they should not look down of course they all did, and they all agreed that the lions had that ‘finger-licking good’ glint in their eyes. The reality is that the lions do not easily make out the human form on a vehicle. However, because they were on the roof

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