Meat in the kitchen and lions in the camp
Gordon Bailey worked in conservation with some giants in his field, including Dr Ian Player, Nick Steele and Graham Root. ‘Game Ranging, A Life Worth Living’, is his colourful account of his career (from 1962 to 1975) and the fascinating people and incidents he, his colleagues and family experienced at the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park WHEN the meat ration was delivered in the afternoon to the Qikiyane guard camp, the guards were still out on patrol so the ration was hung in its usual place in the shade of the tree, near the rondavel that served as a kitchen. Exposed as it was in this manner, the light winds blowing were free to advertise its presence.
Some distance away a pride of five lions were stirring. A fully grown lioness rose from the ground, stretched her powerful body and then stood, lifting her head.
There was something out there, her nostrils searched the breeze and found what she had been searching for.
She checked it several times to lock onto the source and when she was sure she moved off. The three males and another female rose and followed after her.
The four game guards returned to camp an hour before sunset. They saw their meat ration and one of the guards took out his knife and cut a small piece from it, which he gave to the camp cat.
The guards then set about their evening ablutions and, once clean and changed, they took down their meat ration.
It was a back leg and rib cage of a blue wildebeest, plus the heart, liver and some intestines. This they took into the kitchen, where the central cooking fire had been started, and proceeded to cut it up. The camp cat had followed them into the kitchen hoping for an extra morsel.
One of the guards threw him a piece and the cat started eating it. There was good conversation going on between the guards when the cat suddenly stopped eating and walked slowly away from its meat towards the upper entrance of the kitchen.
The cat looked out into the night and it’s body arched and stiffened, and it started backing off slowly from the doorway. All the guards stopped what they were doing and, as they did so, a low growl signalled the presence of other company in their camp.
The camp comprised of five rondavels. Four of them were in a straight line, possibly three metres apart, the doorways all facing the Black iMfolozi River below, these being the living quarters of the game guards.
About four metres in front of these was the kitchen rondavel, which had two doorways. The doorways were directly opposite each other, one facing the line of rondavels just slightly above them and the other facing the river. The guards closed the doors and the cat disappeared behind a small cupboard.
The meat they had cut up, now hung from metal hooks attached to the thatched roof supports above them, other portions were being cooked over the fire around which these men sat. They were in a predicament – the lions knew the meat was in the hut the guards occupied and the rifle was in one of the top rondavels. There was one torch in the kitchen and a game guard used it to see where and how many lions were in the camp.
One of the lions was lying directly between the kitchen and the hut in which the rifle was kept.
Two others were lying just right of the door that exited to the river and he saw another two pacing around the camp.
He was not sure if there were others out there as well. They discussed the matter and all agreed that they had to get the rifle.
The presence of the lions in their camp indicated two things; they wanted the meat ration and were not the least concerned about the presence of human beings. The fact that it was night added another dimension – darkness gave lions the sight advantage.
The game guards had a real situation on their hands. It is in circumstances such as these that you get to really appreciate the physical presence and power of a lion.
A prime full grown male will top the scales at sometimes over 273kg and a mature female will weigh in at 182kg. If lions behave in a manner that indicates that human presence is not an issue, then the fear factor which dominates to the benefit of human beings on most occasions is no longer there. It was dark and the situation was obvious – the lions wanted the meat, the men wanted to stay alive.
The men in the kitchen had to firstly move the lion from its position between them and the rifle.
One guard opened the door and, with much shouting, threw a large enamel basin at the lion near the door. The basin landed on its rim and rolled in an arc towards the lion who simply lifted his head out the way and watched the basin as it rolled past.
The second item did not bother the lion either but when they threw a burning ember from the fire at the lion it had the desired effect.
Using more embers in this manner the guards were able to hold the lions at bay and get the rifle and extra ammunition into the kitchen with them.
Despite firing several rounds into the air they could not disperse the lions and had to shoot three of the pride to finally get them to move off.
This is an edited excerpt from Game Ranging: A Life Worth Living. To buy a copy, email gordonandmollybailey@gmail.com or call 072 237 3358.