Another day, another Lion Encounter

My first full day of ‘working’ at the Lion Project started off with my most feared activity! Yes, Food Prep! In some ways I was glad, I’d be getting it over with…but oh, the trepidation. I pulled on my long, very thick, rubber gloves and my slip on overshoes, as Joyclen and I headed over to the prep enclosure (and right after breakfast..yuck!). Already I could smell the rotting meat and see the flies buzzing about(..wish I had a face mask too!). There were 2 of the lion handlers waiting for us inside the enclosure, and I’m sure I could see a gleam in their eyes as they saw these two women head their way, probably thinking “oh fun, let’s see how sick we can make these two”. They told us that it was getting hard to get fresh meat for the lions; they had a fellow out searching the markets for something suitable until the new batch of donkeys (yes, poor things!) could be walked down from, of all places - Kalomo. Each Lion received 10 kgs of meat approx. every 2 days and it would take 3 donkeys to feed the cubs and the Dambwa Pride (each donkey cost about $150.00 US), so the cost of feeding the groups was quite expensive. At the moment, we had only part of 1 donkey, some offal and chickens; it would have to do for the Dambwa Pride and the cubs would be fed when the new shipment of donkeys arrived. OK, into the little shelter behind the weighing area, where Joyclen and I were handed donkey parts, being kept (kinda) cool in a old freezer. I was fine, with the leg,

hoof attached, even handled the offal (intestines etc), without to much gagging (after all, the flies would get in my mouth) but when they handed me the poor animals head, WITH the tongue hanging out, I threw up my hands, saying “NO, NO, UGH!!!” Joyclen took it, thank goodness (I guess Auzzie ladies are of hardier stock than me) and I carried on with bringing out the chickens. THOSE I could handle, after all, chickens don’t have soft brown eyes, with long lashes, REALLY long soft ears and, a soft furry coat.

We then had to rub a dry vitamin mix into all the pieces (oh my, the smell was getting worse with the heat of the day starting!), weigh it all up, so it could be divided and put into separate sacks, and loaded onto the truck for transport up to the Dambwa enclosure; which was about 20 km’s from the main road. There were 8 lions in the enclosure (3 for breeding, the rest waiting for fencing to be completed on a new release area) and the Release Pride of 7 that were in the already fenced release area (the Pride had killed all game that had been available in their enclosure up in the Dambwa Forest, so they too, needed feeding at certain times). We all hopped in the back of the truck and took off with the wind blowing our hair, AND blowing the smell right at us.



bright yellow butterflies at the encloures. They hover around anywhere that is a bit damp.

When we arrived at the Dambwa site we learned that a lion I had read about in the local paper, while still at the Livingstone Project, was being housed here as well; we might get a chance to see him, when he was to get his food, but were told that he usually stayed well hidden, although sometimes, would charge the fence. Unfortunately we only caught a slight glimpse of him.

The appearance of a wild lion on the outskirts of Livingstone in Zambia made big news for several reasons. Not only was he the first wild lion to been reported in the immediate area for some 30 years, and he made the mistake of claiming domestic livestock as fair game (never good for local public relations if you are lion), but his subsequent capture revealed an amazing story. This lion was a Zambezi traveller!

It was only after the lion was successfully captured that wildlife officials discovered he was the proud owner of a GPS research collar. Enquiries revealed that the collar had been fitted by lion researchers in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, and somehow he must have crossed the Zambezi River to reach the north bank.

Through the collar GPS data and the Hwange Lion Research Project’s valuable work over many years we are lucky enough to have a huge amount of information about our traveling lion’s history. Jane Hunt, who has dedicated the last 10 years of her life to studying lions in Hwange, first saw this lion when he was a two month old cub. He is now about 9 ½ years old, the offspring of a male lion who dominated the Makalolo area of Hwange National Park for many years, and featured in a National Geographic documentary film ‘Lion’s behaving badly.’ Indeed this specific lion is also featured in that film. “He’s a famous lion,” said Jane “now even more so because of his travels!”

Known as Dynamite, after the pan in Hwange where he was first collared by researchers, we now know he crossed the Zambezi more than 50 kilometres downstream of the Victoria Falls. Not only does the river provide a formidable obstacle, the crossing is even more incredible as lions are not renowned swimmers and will often avoid water.

His plight highlights the problems lions face in an increasingly populated Africa, most significantly loss of habitat with suitable prey species and subsequent conflict with humans, as well as raising many issues relating to wider lion conservation and spotlighting the work of scientific researchers studying Africa’s increasingly pressured wildlife.

You can read in depth articles about what was happening with this fellow, here: http://safaritalk.net/topic/7903-problem-animal-control-not-requiring-lethal-control/


did someone say food!!!!

Yum, tastes like chicken.



After feeding the Dambwa group, we headed back to the volunteer house for lunch – oh, yum! The food served at the house was always well done, although a few of us thought there might have been just a teeny bit more available. Wednesdays, lunch was always held as a group lunch consisting of all the handlers, volunteers and staff, picnic style and offering large amounts of the much loved African staple – Sheema, the ground corn paste type glutinous mass that all Africans seem to love so much.

far left: Fellow joined us for 1 day, Margaret, Claire, intern (sorry forget her name) Kat,
Joyclen, Me, Fiday, Karin, Rodger



comparing tans

While wandering through the house, one of my first days there, I noticed on the back of a door, a poster, telling which snakes to avoid while walking – WHAT! Actually wish I had taken a picture of it, but of course, didn’t think to; there were 4 very poisonous varieties to be wary of (the Black mamba, Black-necked spitting cobra, the Boemslang, and the Puff adder) which thank the Lord, I didn’t see any – BUT- a funny story here; I was woken from sleep one night (I might mention we had left the window open for ventilation) by movement at the end of my bed; something was sleeping on my feet! Having seen that snake poster, of course, my first thought was that a snake had slithered into the room and decided that MY bed was the most comfortable; oh my, what to do?!! I lay there slightly (more than) terrified trying to figure out what to do, without moving to much and decided a toe wiggle might not be to disturbing to what ever it was down there. Wiggle, wiggle…..purr, purr. I almost fainted with relief; it was one of Debbie’s cats! Debbie being one of the staff, who lived down at Bristol and was forever getting upset because her cats would get out and go walk-about and, of course, we being cats lovers, would be quit enjoying the cuddles until caught.


You missed a little here, behind your ear; let me help.

Still more to come!

"We may run, walk, stumble, drive, or fly, but let us never lose sight of the reason for the journey, or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way." -Gloria Gaither