Cubs On the Kill

(Emma) It is a rainy, dark afternoon, and we want to try to find lion cubs. There are three lion cubs in the area, and we want to see them, even with the chance that we will not. We take the risk. The roads are muddy and wet and the rain pitter-patters on the car — what a gloomy day. We drive and we drive; it feels like hours. We slow down to look in the area where they were last seen. Through an opening in the trees, Mom sees a tawny lump about one-half mile away. We stop to investigate. It is a female lion! We look harder and see 5 more females. The only problem is that we have to cross a river to get closer. The river is rising, and we do not want to get caught in a flash flood. So we need to make this quick. We find the lionesses; they are in hunting mode. But we cannot stay. We have to make it back to the other side.

We cross back and decide to watch from a distance. It’s better than nothing! Then everything happens so quickly:

• One lioness starts to stalk.
• Two start playing.
• We think they have blown their cover.
• But they distract the wildebeest.
• The wildebeest’s legs are thrown into the air.
• We have to check it out!

We take the chance of crossing the river once again. When we arrive at the lionesses, we see a suffering, slowly-dying wildebeest, three full-grown lionesses, 3 adolescents, and one teeny-tiny-one-month-baby-boy-old lion cub. We have found what we were looking for! Most of them are playing around, jumping on each other; the rest are still killing the flailing wildebeest. The cub jumps around and plays on the wildebeest. When the wildebeest is finally dead, only one starts to eat — ripping apart the animal with the others dancing around with no care in the world. Then the time comes when we have to go. Across the river and back to camp.

Those are the last lions that we see in Africa. But we certainly end on an amazing note. And I guess that Mom is not hallucinating after all.