The King of the Jungle…

What can we say, Impodimo is buzzing with wild life.  Yet again there is no need for game drive.  With no fences around you are ensured of some sort of excitement. Let me start:
One of our housekeepers gave us a call from one of the rooms overlooking the water whole informing us that there is one lonesome male enjoying his late afternoon sundowner.  One could  see that some sort of helpless animal was fighting for its life only minutes before as this male lion was stuffed to the brim.There were reports earlier that day that 2 female lions were seen with this big king of the jungle, however they were nowhere to be seen.  Our eyes were glued to the waterhole just for incase one of the lions decide to join in for a late afternoon drink, but no sign and the lion decided to move off.  Well that’s what we all thought.  Never could we have been so wrong.

Later that night our residential Klipspringers were heard calling fiercely around the lodge and we all new it was far from over.  While our rangers were out and about doing the last hour of their game drive, 3 huge lions were getting comfortable in their new abode.  Little did we know that these lions were getting comfortable on our game drive loading ramp, right there were the game viewers stop and drop guests off.  As one of our rangers approached this ramp these lions were adamant  not to move.  However after all the flashing lights of cameras the lions decided to take off and find some peace.  Yet again we were under false pretences.  As all the guests crept down towards the main lodge they were met with a stress-relieving port and the welcoming confines of four closed walls.  Maybe the  Impala that was on the menu for dinner  was also very inviting to our visitors?  Or were they just interested in hanging around familiarizing themselves with the very fascinating ways of the human behavior?  Never shall we know.  A couple more times that evening the lions made all us humans well aware that we are being watched and that we are just all visitors to their kingdom.

The next morning everything seemed to have calmed down and we turned back to our normal lives.   It was a perfect  day in Africa with a hint of Spring lurking on the horizon.  Guests were still talking about the previous day’s events and the adrenalin was still very much pumping ready for the next game drive.   The rest of the day seemed calm with the odd elephant making his appearance and klipspringers jumping around as they always do.
Then it all started… At about 23:00  a very distressed kudu started barking just outside our bedroom window and we knew immediately the King & Queens are back.   For a while we were lying in utter silence waiting for these fearless creatures to make their first move on this innocent kudu.  And then it happened.  All we could hear was the rattling of fence wire and the chilling gargling noises from outside, and then we knew, something is being killed. Excitement rushed over us and we jumped out of bed to witness this gruesome but absolutely magical event. I grabbed a flashlight and out on the deck we watched four lions pulling at different angles at this helpless kudu.  The wondrous sound of grunting lions trying very hard to get his or her fair share of the buffet.  Eventually we decided to leave these lions in peace and headed off to bed for a very good night sleep.  The next morning as we arrived at the lodge, welcomed by a warm cup of coffee, the story of the previous night’s events ruled the breakfast banter.  But not to our surprise these lions were too comfortable with Impodimo to leave us.  For the rest of the day these lions were parading up and down the valley, showing off a very intimidating main and making us realize that we are far from the dominant specie out here

By Lyne Goosen