Attacked by a Lion

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Caught your attention with the title, didn’t I? Well it’s true – to a certain extent.  On my first experience to a game reserve in South Africa I was nearly attacked by a lion. Today’s tale was originally posted (on my old blog) on July 9th, 2007 after my first stay at a game reserve. Here’s what happened…

Our game reserve was located in Limpopo, which was about 3 hours from our hotel. It was in rural South Africa. Game reserves are a growing form of tourism for the country. In our case, the reserve was a former tobacco farm. As the price of tobacco dropped, the farmers were challenged with earning a profit. Instead, the land was converted into a game reserve.

What’s a game reserve? It’s a huge private piece of land that is fenced and stocked with animals (a la Jurassic Park, but without the dinosaurs). They range in amenities from camping in tents to being pampered in a wilderness spa – but I didn’t know that at the time.

Earlier in planning to go to South Africa, I looked at visiting a reserve near Botswana. The lodge I was going to stay in had open front cabins, no electricity or running water and a bucket shower (not sure what that was, but it didn’t sound glamorous). Preparing for this trip by our host, I expected to “rough it” a little bit. I even brought my own roll of toilet paper just in case. At our arrival I quickly realized that this lodge was much better than what we had researched ourselves. This is what I walked into…

Our lodge was a 5-star lodge. 5 stars! It was like something out of a travel magazine; One of those hotels that you remark about how beautiful it is, but how you’d never be able to afford it. Yeah, that was the kind of place that we stayed. We each had our own individual cabin with a thatched roof, stone floor, fireplace, bed with drapes on the edges and a private patio opening up to the savanna. I stepped on the patio and saw Zebra and Impala. Never have I stayed (or probably will again) at a place of this caliber. If you’d like to check it out, visit the Entabeni Safari Conservancy and Hanglip Mountain Lodge.

That evening we went on a game drive. We boarded an open-top Toyota Land Rover with seating for 9 plus our driver. On our evening drive we saw Impala, Zebra, a variety of birds and a pride of lions. Lions are very difficult to see. They hide in the grass and wait till prey come their way. Only if they move are you able to see them. I was a bit nervous since our jeep had no roof – but we were told that lions only see us as part of the jeep, and won’t attack the jeep. However, if we leave the jeep, they will attack. I hoped someone told that rule to the lions. We followed them through the grass. They were only several yards away.

That night I retired to my room under the moonlit night to the sounds of the bush whispering through the valley.

Around 3A.M. I awoke from my slumber from the warmth of my electric blanket. As I woke up I heard an animal call – a hippo. Excited at the possibility of spotting one, I stepped out of my bed onto the cold floor to peak out the window. There was a lake just outside my patio and sometimes the hippo comes ashore at night. I peared around and could not see anything. It might have been hiding in the grass.

I went back to bed and heard more grunting noises – these were different. Earlier that day, my host shared that in addition to roaring, lions also grunt. They grunt very loudly. I was hearing was lions! There I was in my bed, hearing lions – lions that were only just outside my doorstep. What do I do? As I laid in bed I saw that my window blind was slightly ajar. During my hippo-spotting I neglected to close it completely. I had to close the blinds, for if the lion were to step onto my patio it could see through the window and spot me – a tasty late-night snack.

But if I got up, it might see me move and come forward. Then for sure it would walk on my patio. What to do? I sat there petrified in fear for 5 minutes, building the courage to close the blinds. I crawled out of bed and snuck to the window, slithering on the floor in order to mask my movement from the fiercest predator on land.

Phew, blinds closed. But what if…the lion saw me close the blinds? What if it was curious as to the movement it saw in my cottage?

I returned to bed, wondering what to do. Perhaps the rangers heard it too and might call us to warn us to stay inside, turn off our lights, or do whatever you are supposed to do when lions are in the vicinity. I heard, what I thought was a ringing sound off in the distance. Alas, my wishes had been granted, the rangers were calling each cabin, one by one. Mine would surely come soon – but it didn’t.

What I thought was a phone ringing was only a mere hoot of an animal. Time for plan B. At the very least, I needed to find the phone number to the ranger – just in case of an emergency. 10 minutes later after building up the courage, I stepped out of my bed and hopped over to the dresser to find the guest book. I hunkered down in the bathroom and tried to read it by the moonlight passing through the blind.

From a different vantage point I peaked out this window and saw a…

Springbok (hoofed animal) dining on some leaves near the cabin. Finally some peace of mind. If this animal was near, than the lions couldn’t be that close. Otherwise this animal would be dead.

Nonetheless, I crawled back to bed and tried to resume my sleep to the sounds of the lions off in the distance. Morning couldn’t come soon enough.

When I relayed my story to the game driver the next day. She affirmed that lions were in the area and then took us to the one that was near to our retreat. So my encounter was closer than I cared to have, but not as close as I thought. I think it still makes for a good tale.

The Actual Lion

Each of us should have one of these stories in our lives; Stories that get better each time we tell them. Stories that capture the imagination and leave people on the edge of their seats. The Lion Story is my story. What’s yours? Leave your comment below or on my Facebook fan page here.

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