From Ptere W. Hay�s ONE LONG SAFARI.

He was trying to kill a stock killing lion.

The next morning, about 10 am, while strolling down the stream looking for fresh tracks, I heard a lion coughing high up on the side of Meder. I thought this a bit odd, as lions usually confine their vocal activities in these parts until after dark. I decided that as there was no news of a new kill, I would take Mousa and go up and have a look. The slope was steep and I was soon into very thick forest that gave way to cedar trees on the top. I realized that no one would never see a lion in all this thick green vegetation, so came back down, never having seen or heard anything. The smaller hills were not covered in forest and the locals said there were greater kudu on them. I hoped to have time to have a look later, as a good kudu head was a fine trophy.

When we emerged from the forest into the warm sunlight, I lay down on a large rock to get warm again. I was just dozing off, enjoying the heat, when I felt something move between my bare back and the rock. I leapt up, thinking it was a scorpion and was horrified to see an 18-inch spitting cobra lying on the rock. Mousa dispatched it with his spear before it had time to move. How it got there I don�t know, but it wasn�t there when I lay down!

Just after this I heard a lion cough about one or two miles away, so headed back to camp to have some lunch and rest and then sit up all night over a goat. When I reached camp there was a Boran herdsman waiting for me, sent by Hassan Gababa. The white lion, as they called it, had killed one of his cows that morning as they were grazing on the edge of the forest. There was no question of taking the Land Rover as there was no track, so I took everything for an all night vigil and set off with Mousa. It was a two hour fast walk to the scene, over rough ground and through patches of thick bush. The cow has been killed at the edge of a clearing. The lion had leapt out of the evergreen forest, killed the cow, but had been driven off by the Boran herdsmen before it could drag it into the thick vegetation. The lion was still there in the forest and could be heard every now and then growling, about 50 yards inside it.

There were one or two small trees growing in the clearing and I selected one of these as almost suitable for a hide. The Boran had axes and one ran back to the village and brought some rope. We soon had a makeshift hide built in the tree and I climbed in as they finished it off. I was sitting on a bough about six inches thick and my feet were resting on one of two inches thick. The herdsmen made a good job of covering me with leafy branches and one of them insisted my underneath should be covered as well � a point I was to appreciate later.

When I was installed and all was finished, I got them to drag the cow and secure it to a dead tree root 8 paces in front of my hide. The lion saw what was going on and started to make a lot of noise. But never showed itself. Then I sent them all back to their village and Mousa accompanied them. I had told them to make a lot of noise all the three miles to the village so that the lion would realize that it now had the stage all to itself.

The clearing I was in was roughly circular in shape. The thick forest of the mountainside, where the lion was hiding, started 30 yards in front of me. On my left, the clearing stretched for about 15 yards, then it was bush with sanseveiria and aloes. Behind me, the clearing stretched 50 yards to the bush, and on my right it stretched for about 30 yards. The whole clearing looked like the site of an old Boran village. My feet were only 6 feet off the ground and my backside barely a foot higher, which was too low for comfort, but there were two very good reasons for this. Firstly, I was sure that, after an inspection, the lion would make a frontal approach and secondly, there was no other tree with branches!

It was 5.15 pm. When the herdsmen left me and at 5.25 the vultures started to descend onto the carcass and began tearing away at it. I thought this would be bound to arouse the lion and sure enough, at 5.40 I saw a large, light colored lion�s head appear out of the green forest vegetation, 40 yards in front of me. It was a tempting shot, but I knew it was a temptation that I had to resist. The lion eyed the vultures and had a good look all around, as it sniffed air. Then it vanished from sight, without a leave moving. Five minutes later, its head again appeared, about 10 yards to the right of where I first saw it, then again he disappeared. I felt quite certain the next time I saw this lion, it would be walking out of the forest onto the kill. I sat and waited 10 long minutes, but it never appeared. Then, at 5.55, something to my left attracted my attention and very slowly I moved my head a fraction. There it was, peering out of the aloes and sansevieria, 15 yards away. I could make out part of its body, but dare not move a muscle in this small hide or it would spot me right away. Besides, the rifle was pointing forward at the dead cow through the only peep hole in the hide. I was very excited and felt quite certain that if I played my cards right, I would get it shortly. My eyes were straining to get a glimpse of it, as I did not want to move my head any more in case it detected the movement. Suddenly, it disappeared again back into the bush. I then sat for what seemed like hours and there was no further sign. I began to wonder if the lion had smelt me and gone off, but I thought this unlikely. Perhaps it was just waiting for darkness before approaching the kill.

At 6.40 the vultures suddenly all took to the air in a hurry, leaving only two behind and they were several yards beyond the cow. I slowly and carefully looked right and left, but could see no sign of the lion anywhere. Then I noticed one of the two remaining vultures looking at something behind me, and then they both took off. Very, very slowly I turned my head and peered over my right shoulder. There, right there in the open, 20 yards behind me, was the lion. It was slowly coming up to the kill, one very slow step at a time, and its eyes were riveted on the cow. It then stood where it was for 5 minutes without coming a pace closer. It knew something was not quite right and was taking its time. I hardly dared breathe in case it heard me. Then I heard it coming up behind me. I heard big paws swishing in the short grass and the next thing I knew, it was standing directly underneath my hide. I could see every hair on its back, even in the fading light. Its breath wafted up to me as I saw it look all around. I fervently hoped that it would not look up, at the same time wondering why it did not hear the pounding of my heart! I could plainly hear it breathing and my heart sounded much louder than its breathing. What a truly magnificent sight it was, standing there, barely 3 feet below my feet and its head was no more than 10 feet from mine! It seemed to spend an age watching, sniffing and listening, until it had satisfied that all was clear. Even then, it didn�t walk straight onto the kill, but made a semi-circular detour to the right and approached the cow broadside onto to me. It looked colossal and was sort of cream color. I had hardly to move the rifle at all until I had the sights on it and I knew it was a dead lion. It sniffed the air one last time, then turned its head and looked straight at me. I kept dead still. It then turned its head toward the cow and craned its neck forward to sniff the carcass. The 400 grain bullet crashed into its skull just behind the ear and it dropped stone dead. I reloaded and gave the second barrel in the neck just to be sure, but it was already dead.

Thanks Saeed
I love these kind of stories.

Great story. Thanks. If I'd have been in the tree the lion would have gotten a shower. Gary T.

Another good one! Thanks Saeed!

What a great description!!
How come PHs no longer use livestock as bait?

Thanks Saeed, great story!

Saeed,

EXCELLENT!!! Now if I can somehow get back to sleep... <grin>

$bob$