THREE LIONESSES & ONE DEAD ZEBRA UNDER THE TENT !!

Since October this year wasn`t my best month, I choose to give you an older story from a couple of years back. This was in Katavi NP Tanzania (one of my favorite places in TZ), one early morning we spotted a pride of lions on a fresh zebra kill just right next to the camp. We jumped in the small open Indian jeep and had a great time with the lions. As the sun was getting unpleasant for the lions one adult female suddenly grabs the zebra carcass by the neck and starts puling the heavy load (approx 300 kg !) determinately towards the only shady place available : underneath the thin wooden floor of tent no. 2, meaning : we had 3 adult lions & one dead zebra under the tent !! The lions had all the time in the world, feeding on the carcass and sleeping there "lion wise" the whole day through. The problem was however : the two American guest who were living in the tent should leave on a Cessna flight the same evening, and their passports were inside !! Nobody dared to approach the tent with the feeding lions underneath, but in the lat afternoo the lions crawled out and "displayed" in front of the tent. The 2 Americans were getting desperate for the passports and I (beeing a stupid idiot !!) volunteered (!!!) to try to get them. We drove the vehicle all the way up to the entrance with the lions only 2 - 3 m away and the remains of the zebra still below the tent, and, with my heart beating like a heavy drum, I "discretely" slipped inside, found he passports with shaking hands & slipped out again.

Risky, but I got away with it !!

The following night hyenas finished the carcass with severe noise. 

Next morning : only the tip of the zebra tail was left.

Great memories !!  

 

These pics were edited a long time ago, the quality is not good, ... but the story stands out !!

Even though he winks his eye, don`t ever trust this guy !!!

This young bushbuck calf had lost her mother and had found safety under the floor of my tent. I was instructed by the crew not to trample my feet on the floor, be as quiet as possible and put out a bowl of water to her twice a day. She was a real beauty, and accordingly named Soqui after the beautiful bushpilot operating the local Cessnas. However she was frightened by the lions & the hyena noise, fled and was killed by a leopard.