African Wildlife & Environment Issue 84 2023

WILDLIFE CHRONICALS

had first started this project, I had darted all of the adults and, to assist with identification, I had given each one a small hot brand consisting of a single bar which when healed, was unnoticeable to anyone not looking for it.The brand would be either on the rump or shoulder. According to the position of the brand, I initially recorded them as ‘LR’ (left rump) or ‘LS’ (left shoulder). But as I became more familiar with them, LR became ‘Lorn’ (my daughter) and ‘LS’ was ‘Lisa’ my niece. The girls were then still small enough (but old enough) to enjoy having a namesake among the lions! It was ‘Lisa’ who was fitted with the collar. She was always one of my favourite lions - one those who had a lovely benign face, and she was one of the more relaxed and tolerant lionesses. I sometimes felt I could get out and cuddle her! But of course, I never tried! On this first time out again, she was the first lion I tracked. I had two elderly ladies visiting me on that day. One was the mother of an academic at Wits University who worked regularly with us and the other was her friend from Australia. I had promised I would take them to see some lions. I had not seen Lisa for four months, and was particularly keen to check on her. As I was about to find out, a lot can happen in four months! I picked up the first signal from her collar just to the west of my camp. As we moved closer, I realized that the signal was coming from within the Sweni’s river bed. The intensity of the signal tells you when you are getting close – the soft ‘ping’ from the receiver takes on a harder, more urgent tone. We eventually came to a spot directly opposite the source of the signal. Looking towards the spot, it seemed to me that the reeds and sedges were grazed down fairly short. There had been no reaction from Lisa or any other lion and I began to wonder if she was actually there or not. I would have expected a warning growl or some other response indicating that she was aware of our close presence. Perhaps, in the time I had been away, her collar had come off? I moved up and down along the riverbank on foot, listening closely to the intensity of the signal until I felt I had pinpointed her position. There was still no reaction from her, and so eventually I convinced myself that the collar must have come off. I went to fetch my rifle from my truck and with it slung over my shoulder, I moved into the river bed still listening intently to the signal. I realised that the vegetation was taller than I had thought, and although I had a rifle on my shoulder, it was 30.06 calibre and fitted with a telescopic sight – not the ideal weapon for the situation! But as I was sure there were no lions there, I carried it more as a “comfort” than for defense!

I knew that I was very close and was looking around on the ground for the collar when Lisa suddenly stood up right in front of me. I got a terrific shock as I had not been expecting to find her there. But she simply turned and walked quietly away from me. I watched as she went but could not get a good view of her. I wanted to see what her physical condition was like and whether she had recently eaten in case there was a kill nearby, but my view of her was obscured by the vegetation. Right next to where I was standing was a large rock which projected out into the river bed, so I clambered onto it to get a better view of her. I also needed to see if there were any other lions there! I could see her quite well as she walked away, and I watched until she disappeared about 80 metres downstream. There were no other lions there but, to my absolute amazement, as I looked down I could see four tiny cubs right where she had been lying! I jumped down to look at them. They were still almost blind, little blue-grey eyes just opening. They were probably smaller than the average domestic cat. Having established there was no danger, I called the two ladies in, and we were able to admire them at close range. I did not want to touch them as I thought this might leave our scent on them and influence her reaction to them when she returned. I had no way of knowing that she had cubs. Gestation time for lions is three months, so while I had been away, she had mated, conceived and produced the cubs. Looking back on this incident, I can still not make much sense of what had happened. She had been lying there with her cubs, watching me as I walked around on the bank, and as I approached her and the cubs. She had at no stage alerted me to her presence or threatened me in any way. Whenever I think back on this now, I get a little chill considering what could (or perhaps should?) have happened. I was virtually defenseless as I could never have got my rifle cocked and up to my shoulder in time. The textbooks say I should not be here to write this. Why had she not attacked me in the defense of her cubs? Was it possible that after four months absence, she still remembered me from those earlier innocuous interactions? Was this enough to have engendered in her enough trust in me to understand that I posed no threat to her cubs? This all seems a little too melodramatic, but this is what happened. In retrospect I feel that this was perhaps the most profound experience of all my interactions with wild animals. I feel a deep sense of gratitude and pride that she had shown such trust in me that day.

19 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 84 (2023)