I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to have spent the past week at ALERT’s phase II lion release site. The research facility, Dollar Block, is located just outside of Bulawayo. It is a 22,000 acre game reserve stocked full of wildlife. You couldn’t drive anywhere without seeing an animal of some sort.
Unfortunately, it is a controlled hunting camp. ALERT rents the research facility cottages and the several hundred acres (I need to confirm the exact amount) needed for the lions from them. Lions are not hunted at the camp and the land ALERT rents from Dollar Block for the lions that are in phase II of the breeding program has a boundary fence.
I was in a bit of a hurry when I left for the research facility. I didn’t have time to check e-mails or inform anyone back home that I was going to be unreachable for a week. You see, “in the bush” we have no internet or phones. We only had electricity about 60% of the time. Unlike Antelope Park, there were no back-up generators. On my first night, the electricity cut off shortly after dark, so we had a candle light dinner. I also had a candle light bath. You can always count on hot water. The water was heated by a wood fire and Intiny, the gardener and over all handyman made sure that the boiler fire kept going in the evening.
There are six lionesses in the phase II pride. Research is conducted three times a day; 5:30 – 7:30am, 12:00 – 1:30pm and 5:00 – 7:00pm. We look for the location of each lioness, their movement during the research period, social and aggression behaviors, stalking and/or hunting encounters and we identify the prey witnessed on each outing. The lionesses had been doing very well hunting for themselves; however, there had not been a sign of a kill in a few weeks.
On the morning of July 13, the full pride of lionesses were found anxiously pacing. They were obsessively focused on something just beyond the outside of the fence. Suddenly, Ashanti began scratching at the fence. Ticha, the lion handler who was part of the research team, stood on top of the truck enclosure to see what was causing such unrest with the pride. Using the night-vision spot light he identified the culprit. Stuck in the buffalo fence located about three meters from the enclosure was an injured, adult female impala. They seemed to be very determined to reach the injured impala. After watching for several minutes, the decision was made to drive out of the enclosure to check on the status of the impala. We park the truck approximately 50 meters from the impala and the pacing pride. When we get within 10 meters of the impala she forces herself up and begins to stager about before running a good distance forward. It’s at this time the group gathers to make a plan. We decided to radio Roy, the operations manager, to survey the situation. After capturing the impala with a wool blanket and looking at her injuries at a close range, Roy diagnosed the impala with a severely broken leg and major wire cuts in and around the mouth. She would not survive and it was best to put her out of pain. At this time Roy shot her in the head. He took her away in his truck to be cleaned and given to the staff. As for the lions, still no kill. As for me, a hard lesson learned in the bush.
Later that night we’re gathering around the table and I say, “Something smells good… what’s for dinner?” The cook smiles, “Impala”.
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