About 10 kilometers west of Livingstone, nestled in the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Forest, lies ALERT's headquarters in Zambia. It's here on our first day at Lion Encounter that we took our first walk with Zamfara and Zaria along the banks of the Zambezi river.
Rubbing my eyes and trying to will myself awake while the line slowly creeps forward I look across the people gathered with us in the terminal. That's when I notice the hunting rifle cases. It suddenly dawns on me that we’re about to board a flight on our way to Africa to once again volunteer in the name of lion conservation, alongside a group of men who will be traveling there in the hopes of shooting a lion, if not several.
You either get the point of Africa or you don't. If you can't get past the fear of animals, of poverty, the juggernaut of nature, then you probably won't. But if you do stand in it and smell it and listen to it, then it will be one of the biggest, most profound and powerful things you will ever feel.
Kim + Craig: How do you explain the spell places like Africa cast on you to someone who hasn’t traveled there? Bruce Colin: It is the light, the quality of light. That is the magical ingredient for me.
The second time I met Kirsty was during our first encounter with the Ngamo Pride. In the back of a Land Rover watching this very unique group of lions go about their daily routine, I spent as much time watching Milo and Co. as I did paying attention to Kirsty – how effortlessly she recognized each lion, her understanding of each lion’s place in the pride’s hierarchy, her unbridled giddiness at being witness to a long and luxurious grooming session between several of the lionesses, and the way she notated every behavior of each lion in detail. Meticulous detail. It was obvious Kirsty was in her element out in the Ngamo release site, and it felt like having pitch side seats at a cup final.
It's official: we're returning to Africa!
Getaway Magazine has invited Africa or Bust! to be contributing blog writers for their wonderful travel blog, and to share some of the stories, advice, and lessons learned from our honeymoon travels in Africa.
And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.
This is the part of the story where I'd like to say that I spent the night dreaming of lions. That King Milo came to see me, and beside the river outside our tent, amidst the roars of the other lions in his kingdom, we sat and talked about a great many things. Secrets that the wind has shared with him that he's now sharing with me.
It's an extra special morning as Kim has in hand her honeymoon gift. Finally. All the secret meetings resulting in quizzical stares and hard questions from the wife have finally paid off and Kim is clutching a custom lion walking stick made by Jabulani. About a meter in length, the top is carved with JB's initials, a stick figure representing him, and "2011." Down one side of the stick's length is carved the names of the four cubs, separated by lion paws, and on the other JB has spelled out, "Kim + Graig - famba ne shumba." Kim + Graig? That's right: "Graig."
kimpluscraig.com