Night Pride In Kenya

First of all, let me first say that I have been fascinated and obsessed with lions all my life. And that is not an exaggeration. When I was maybe three or four I saw Born Free. I think it must have been on TV because it came out I think the year I was born. But I remember being obsessed with Elsa the lion afterward. I remember going to the bookstore and getting my first "grown up book" which was Born Free. I remember the couple that owned the bookstore (at that early age I was one of their best customers and would be taken there every Sunday for my weekly books) wasn't sure that I was ready for the foray into grown up books but sold it to me anyway.



So anyway, when I went to Kenya, I wanted to see lions. Finally lions face to face. To see a lion free like Elsa was. Not in a cage. Not in a zoo, but the way she was supposed to be. I also secretly thought that any lion in Kenya could possibly be a blood relative to my Elsa.



We had gotten to Porini Lion Camp in the Masai Mara late in the day. We were supposed to have gotten there early but our regional flight was very late and we had spent three hours at our airstrip in Nanuki, four hours in Nairobi and finally gotten to the Mara at close to dusk. I was disappointed because this was LION CAMP - I figured that if the camp was named for lion, then we would see lion and we hadn't seen lion yet.

Then we heard magic words - would you like to do for a night drive after dinner? Hell yeah! We shared the land rover with a couple from England. They were more interested in birds in the daytime, but I guess the chance to see lions at night intrigued them, too. We drove for not more than a few miles and turned off the ignition. And all lights. It was pitch black and may I remind you that the land rover was completely open on all sides. We waited, then we heard them.

The roars. They're so deep that you feel them in your chest. It's that timbre of the roar that's so impressive. And so many. The feeling that you're surrounded by these large cunning predators. And this is their land. And their time of the day - night. When they have all the advantages. Our guide Kennedy, turned on a light and sure enough we were surrounded. I counted the lions. Thirty. Thirty in all. Jack and the English Couple got in the back of the land rover and stood as if to get farther away from the lions. I got closer - almost face to face with a lioness. I might never get this experience again and I was enraptured by these magnificent beasts. The lights went out again and the roars started. Deep. Thunderous. They came at us from all sides - the deep roar of the male calling to his pride then the roars of a few dozen females answering in a lion roll call.

Amongst all this one lone gazelle managed to lose her way into the pack of lions. At hunting time. Now I have to tell you that I do not ever for a minute fool myself into thinking that nature is dark and that life and death go hand in hand. I know that for every beautiful lion cub I see, equally beautiful gazelle and zebra die to feed that cub. I get it. I just don't really want to see it. But here is the gazelle. And here comes the lioness.

We watch the stalk, the stealth involved. Then, the chase. The lioness speeds up, she almost makes contact with the gazelle and then gets down to swipe the gazelles long legs out from under it with a giant paw.....and misses. The gazelle trots away and the lioness walks it off as if to say "I meant to let it get away". just like that the hunt is over. No second attempt. You get one chance and one chance only to be the hunter or the hunted. Life and death so close to each other you would think they are lovers.

We then leave the pride to a night of hunting and feeding. Amazing.