A television crew recently witnessed (and presumably filmed) a remarkable confrontation in the Maasai Mara National Park in Kenya. A pride of lions was circling a pair of black rhino and a small calf, obviously looking for an opening.
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The rhinos took exception and charged the lions, which backed off just a little. It was then that a small herd of elephants, including a calf, arrived on the scene and there was some altercation between them and the rhinos.
The lions began circling again, seeing the calves in both groups as potential lunch. There was a general kicking up of dust by both rhinos and elephants, but it was the lions which first decided to look elsewhere for a meal, and having made their point, both the black rhino and the elephants withdrew to a respectful distance.*
We had a similar experience, not quite so dramatic, in the Serengeti in Tanzania. We were travelling with an excellent Tanzanian guide and we spotted a pair of cheetah creeping up on a small group of Thompson’s gazelles.
They eventually brought one down and were enjoying the fruits of their labour when we saw a pair of spotted hyenas heading for the party. They soon chased off the cheetah and settled down to the ‘Tommy’.
It was then that Paul, looking over his other shoulder, said quietly ‘Simba!’ – and there towards us loping across the plain with a distinct limp, was a huge male lion, heading for the increasingly popular scene. He saw off the hyenas in no time and settled down to the ‘Tommy’, but by then, after the cheetah and the hyenas had had their go at it, there was very little left for the obviously not-quite-‘King-of-the-Jungle’.
Ours was not really a game drive as such, but we certainly had a great opportunity to see the fabled Serengeti from one side to the other. That was somewhat special, but we have been on game drives elsewhere in East Africa and throughout southern Africa, and one certainly meets some odd birds on the back of a Land Rover.
I can remember years ago being on a game drive somewhere, could have been anywhere. Anyway, we were joined on the Landie by an American couple. She was wearing a pith helmet, a traditional topee. This one was somewhat different though – on the top was a really small built-in solar panel and in the underside of the brim at the front was a little fan directed straight onto her face. How very clever, how very practical, how very American.
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I had a pith helmet, it was the first thing my parents bought me when we arrived in this country (I was 12). I assumed that when in Africa one wore a pith helmet. It eventually fell to pieces, I have another one now, but you’ll be pleased to hear that I only wear it in the courtyard when I am braaiing, never in public.
*Save the Elephants News Service.
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