Article written by Hills of Africa Travel client, Faith Klaus
In 2001, my husband and I were fortunate enough to travel to Zimbabwe and stay with the family of Graham Hill and Sandy Salle (founder of Hills of Africa). For five days, we were blessed to stay at a private game reserve located within Hwange National Park called The Hide.
During our stay, the conservationists in the park radioed the camp indicating that a lion was being bated by hunters to go outside the borders of the park so that a “trophy hunter” could kill the lion. Understand that Hwange National Park is the size of Texas and there are no fences to protect the animals in the national park from wandering onto private farms/hunting grounds. Just like Cecil the lion was recently bated and killed, the hunters on this occasion were also using food to bate the lion.
The conservationists were trying to dart the lion and sedate him so that they could put the pink GPS collar on him. The pink collar is supposed to protect the lion because it is an indication that he is being studied, has a GPS monitor on him and that it is a cowardice act to kill an animal that is protected. The pink collar is supposed to reduce the value of the kill. As we found out this week, pink does very little to disturb someone that has no values.
The lion on that particular night was actively mating. The lion and the lioness were mating approximately every 20 minutes for days (yes, no Viagra!). The conservation group contacted the camp late in the evening that they had successfully tracked the lion and darted him. If we wanted to come to see the lion and observe them putting the GPS monitor collar on him, we could come with the rangers. Wow! So of course, we got in the jeep and headed over to where the lion was.
Pacing in the background, about 100 yards away was the lioness — not at all happy that we were disturbing their private moments. The rangers were unsure of what she might do — would she charge us? The lion was sedated and we were told to be very quiet and that any sudden move or sound could awaken the lion. So we all quietly got out of the jeep and were told we could approach the sleeping lion and touch him if we wanted to. Unbelievable. So I tiptoed up to this beautiful, sleeping giant (you cannot believe how big he was, and the size of his claws, oh!) and I gently touched him. I will never forget it. What a gift.
I wanted to share this with you. For those of you that have never seen an animal like a lion outside of a zoo, it is a once in a lifetime experience and it changes your vision of the world. I have not been able to stop thinking about Cecil and the legacy I hope that he leaves this world. Will we be able to keep this in the news or will it be swept under the media rug again once it becomes old news? I hope not. – Faith Klaus
What an amazing experience you had! OI too, hope that this is not swept under the media rug. And my hope is that justice will prevail and that this raises awareness for the animal conservation in Africa!
Agreed, Diane! It’s so important that we continue raising awareness for conservation efforts towards halting poaching and trophy hunting. It’s going to take a movement to put an end to these horrific killings.