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Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.

-George Washington Carver.

We returned to Livingstone after almost a week away in Zimbabwe at Antelope Park and Victoria Falls. It was a rough week in many ways, although not without several highlights. In addition to seeing our beloved Ps, Ls, and the Ngamo Pride, we bottle-fed eight-week old lion cubs, saw my favorite grumpy lion Big Boy now happy and relaxed with a couple of female pals, heard the stereophonic sound of lions roaring in the dark, and visited one of the seven natural wonders of the world. But in the end, with our time predominantly spent not doing the things we wanted to do, and not feeling as relaxed and refreshed as hoped for, I was anxious and excited to return to Livingstone; ready to work and make the most of our last week in Africa.

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Four hours into our eight-hour bus ride to Vic Falls I knew I’d made a huge mistake. I could see it coming, and I only have myself to blame for such foolish actions. I knew better, I should have acted better, and now I found myself paying the price after leaving Antelope Park.

Damn you, Chicken Inn!

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The difference between me now and then is that, back then, I could see visions. The me now can dream dreams.

-Bob Dylan

In the private garden area next to Antelope Park’s kitchen, where they were keeping Disa, Dala, and Dingane, resides a tawny eagle (named Tawny, of course). The eagle was rescued some years back and has watched over more than a few sets of cubs as they took their first confident steps. Tawny’s also missing a wing – his left wing, to be exact – and as such can’t fly. Just don’t tell him that. During the brief morning hour we got to spend with the Ds I caught something out of the corner of my eye and turned towards the far end of the garden to see Tawny on the ground. Odd, I thought. I watched as Tawny hopped over to the base of the tree he was previously perched on and slowly climbed his way back up to his favorite roost. I turned back to the cubs, not really thinking about it, when it suddenly struck me that I wasn’t quite sure how the bird got down to the ground in the first place with only one wing. So I turned back around in time to see Tawny launch himself out of the tree, only to promptly fall straight to the ground with a very unmajestic thud. A minute later he did it again. And then again. This bird was determined to take flight regardless of the outcome. “The eagle has landed… for now,” I told Kim, who looked at me with some confusion.

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I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion’s roar.

-Winston Churchill

The same day we went to make some field recordings of the lions roaring, we were invited at the last minute to return to BPG for a midday lion feed with a group of clients. Meat is placed at an end of one of the enclosures with clients and cameras at the ready on the other side of the fence, while the male lions pace in their holding enclosure about seventy meters away, anxious for the “all clear” signal that releases them for a run to the other side. Besides providing a full-sprint workout and sating their appetites, it lets a given male lion group play out a number of fraternal dominance exercises. Who arrived first? Who got the best cut? Who fought over a piece of meat and won? Who ended up at the back of the pack? All important information. (As long as someone is gathering that information. More on that later.)

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What can’t be accurately described with words or photos are the lush bush sounds at Antelope Park. Each night there was a cacophony of croaking frogs loud enough to drown out most everything else – except, that is, the sounds of lions roaring up at BPG. (And, unfortunately, the ridiculously loud discotheque music coming from the vol block at 2am.) This time around I was determined to capture both, and brought along some recording equipment to do just that.

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Oh Lion in a peculiar guise,
Sharp Roman road to Paradise,
Come eat me up, I’ll pay thy toll
With all my flesh, and keep my soul.

-Stevie Smith.

While we only had one walk with Penya and Paza, and saw Lewa and Laili all but too briefly, we were able to spend both an afternoon and a morning session inside the Ngamo release site, and it certainly had to be the highlight of our working visit to Antelope Park. This was due in no small part to ALERT researcher Kirsty, who, along with her fellow lion researcher Yvonne, gave us a much-appreciated and personalized glimpse at this very special pride of lions.

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I took a grand total of three pictures of Lewa and Laili, all of them of the former’s butt. It wasn’t my intention, but considering we spent only about five minutes with the pair and weren’t allowed any closer than ten meters to them, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. We felt pretty lucky to see the Ls in the first place. About a week prior to leaving for Africa they graduated from the Stage One walking program and had moved on to night encounters. This meant very limited access, if any, to see them. As well, there had been a film crew at Antelope Park for the past several months; mostly filming a follow up to Lion Country in the Ngamo release site (working title: Roaring with Pride), but also spending some time filming the Ls on “private” walks led by Craig van Zyl, a respected Zim safari guide, and fronted for the camera by a female television personality. It was an odd and somewhat comedic pairing of highly attuned to the bush alongside the highly out of place.

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While we were visiting Antelope Park we had the unexpected privilege to spend time with the Ds – three(*) chubby little bundles of fluff that were still wobbly on their feet and could barely squeak out their little eowwws. The Ds were born on July 17 to lioness Soriah – eight weeks previous to our visit – on the grounds at Antelope Park. Dingane was the affectionate explorer, prone to laziness; his sister Dala full of mischief; and Disa was playful and liked to cautiously follow her brother’s exploratory footsteps. They were so small that we found ourselves petting them like house cats. It’s hard to imagine that they will grow up to be one of the most feared predators in the bush, except for the fact they were already practicing ankle-tapping – a necessary skill used to trip up their prey, even at such a young age. There will be time enough to hone their hunting skills; after all, they were just babies and most of their time was spent playing, plucking up courage to explore their surroundings, drinking milk from a bottle (which would inevitably end up all over their sweet, furry faces), getting tuckered out from all the activity and piling on top of each other for a nap. They just might have been the cutest things we’ve ever seen.

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A few photos (panoramic and otherwise) of some non-lion sights at Antelope Park.

360 degree view of the grounds at Antelope Park.
(Click on icon to view panorama to embiggen and use mouse to scroll image left or right.)

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Morning walk with Paza + Penya.