All Around the World with the Most Travelled Indian
By Nitin Gairola
There is nothing that stirs both fear and awe in us quite like the thought of coming face to face with the king of the jungle – the African Lion. This most majestic of creatures is now well set in popular culture (especially with children) thanks to Hollywood blockbusters, one such being The Lion King. Lions have also been part of old classics, of which some of my favourites are Hatari, Born Free, Out of Africa, Savage Harvest and Ghost & the Darkness. The last one, while based on a true story, was critically panned, but it is probably my favourite along with Out of Africa, which kind of drives home the point that you can make up your own mind from time to time.
But what most of us don’t know is that this king of beasts now comes under the ‘vulnerable species’ category, due to habitat loss, trophy hunting, illegal wildlife trade, and human-wildlife conflict. Despite having no natural predators, the lion numbers have plummeted by as much as 40% over the last 4 – 5 decades. Now there are just over 20,000 of them left in the wild in Africa and you can add another 1000 odd to this count in western India (Gir National Park in Gujarat) which is the home of the smaller Asiatic lion sub-species.
So, when tourists visit the national parks in the various countries of Africa or the Gir in India, their monies are big incentives for locals to safeguard and preserve these animals – both from conflict with their communities and from those people dealing in illegal wildlife activities. The local communities get the money to take care of their families and the government & the local administration gets the funds to fight poachers. And most of all, they don’t need to depend on big monies from a few trophy hunters, when they can instead get similar amounts (in smaller sums) from many safari tourists.
Some of the best African national parks to go to and see the Lion King are the Masai Mara & Tsavo in Kenya, Serengeti & Ngorongoro in Tanzania, Queen Elizabeth in Uganda, South Luangwa in Zambia, Hwange in Zimbabwe, Okavango Delta in Botswana, Etosha in Namibia and Kruger in South Africa. The lion belt basically stretches from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in East Africa to Zambia and Zimbabwe in South-East and finally reaching Namibia, Botswana and South Africa in the far South of the continent.
Very close to Elephant Day on 12 August, the world celebrates Lion Day on 10 August, just to remind everyone how wonderful it is to have these big cats in our world. The image of lions is what first comes to mind for most of us when we think of an epic safari adventure in Africa. Imagine going on a safari and not spotting a single lion? And there is absolutely no comparison between seeing the wildest in the wild and seeing the wild being tamed inside a cage.
For me, personally, lions are also my ‘favourite fear’ and there was one lion incident in my life that can be called bone chilling and riveting. It took place on 2 September 2012 in Serengeti, Tanzania, and I remember it vividly to this day, 14 years down the road.
We had booked a multi-day Tanzania safari that would start in the little town of Arusha and from there we were on the African tarmac. It was the third day from the time when we started in Arusha and were already in the Serengeti after completing 3 safari drives and having gone through a puncture as well (just to complete the Savannah experience). It was sundown which meant it was time to go inside our tents. We slept well that night.
Then just before dawn the next day, around 5 a.m., I heard lions roaring very close to our tent. This was a basic tent, placed at ground level with Richa and me inside. When I was woken up by the roars, I gently placed my hand on Richa’s mouth to ensure she wouldn’t accidently scream. She was also awake at that time and just when I thought the situation was under control, her mobile phone alarm went off for the morning game drive. It seemed right out of a Jurassic park sequel. I fumbled with the phone and finally after 5 seconds (which felt like 5 hours), was able to switch the alarm off. Then we just stayed still, almost playing dead, till 6 a.m. when there was some light and we couldn’t hear the lions anymore.
We got out and had breakfast and then jumped into the Land Rover for our morning game drive. Then right out of a Hollywood movie, we saw our first lioness just outside the camp, no further than 50 metres from us. We were relieved she didn’t join us for breakfast that morning. After crossing her, we saw another lioness, then another and then another till it became almost surreal. We counted 15 lionesses, 1 young male (without a mane) and 6 cubs in this pride. It was the same pride which had paid our camp a visit an hour earlier.
As far as my knowledge goes, we saw one of the largest prides in all of Africa (they rarely go above 20 members) and this pride was almost breathing down our necks and thankfully not chewing on them. Best of all, later we noticed that the lions were moving towards a big herd of buffaloes slightly far from us, but clearly visible. It was a tell-tale sign that this pride was hungry, what with 6 babies to feed. All of us were glad that we weren’t on their menu that morning. We also learned that we can book slightly more luxurious pre-fixed tents in Serengeti and not go with the bootstrap & barebones do-it-yourself ones. But we were young then, with limited resources, so we made do with what we had.
In the years that followed, I heard another fantastic lion tale from an incredible African safari traveller in his 60s. He was David from Australia and I met him at the South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. We were in Herbert’s Croc Valley Camp for 5 whole days and not every day was a safari. So, we had a lot of time to talk to other safari travellers there. In fact, one of them became a great friend and his name is Michael “Bernie” Roberts (I mentioned him in my previous feature as well). He had done some very extreme travels in his past, especially in deserts of Northern Africa in the 1970s and 80s. He regrets not having many photographs from that time and right now he is busy taking Instagram styled videos (no less) during another epic trip of his in Central America – and he is well into his 70s. Talk about passion and that has also kept him super fit.
But coming back to David, there was one time he had tented inside a dry forest and was alone. Just him inside a small tent in the middle of nowhere with no one to save him, should anything happen. And one night, 3 large male lions came visiting (that’s the number he counted when he looked through the tent’s small mesh). For 10 odd minutes (though he wasn’t counting that) the 3 lion brothers were shuffling around his tent and roaring from time to time, wondering what the tent was doing in their territory. For those who don’t know, male lions together generally mean trouble. They can be very aggressive and are sometimes unpredictable, so David just held his breath. He had no choice but to be very, very quiet and couldn’t do anything but pray that he doesn’t become the prey. But then the lions lost interest and left. This time their unpredictability worked in his favour else I would never have heard his story in 2019.
Ever since my own incident in 2012, I have been trying to come face to face with that raw fear of a lion but I have never had a moment like that again, despite trying. I even went on 5 walking safaris in different forests and grasslands (with a ranger of course) but didn’t encounter any lion as Scott, Justin and Andre did (they are the real protagonists of my favourite travel show called ‘Departures’). The ranger in Zambia was trying to avoid them for the sake of his group, so he would have considered me a bit of a fruitcake.
Now I don’t know if I will ever feel that fear again. You can hear a lion roar but if its daylight and you are snug (and maybe smug) inside a jeep with other passengers, it feels very safe. But once the sun goes down and you are on the ground, you know you can’t see them but they can see you. Now that is fear and I hope my wish doesn’t come true. But what to do, it’s the call of the lions that I can’t resist.
Nitin Gairola, often considered the Most Travelled Indian, is a ‘Natural World’ Traveller from Dehradun. Inspired by Sir David Attenborough, he is on a quest to become the first person to travel to the entire natural world of every major forest, desert, grassland, tundra & ice biome on Earth, besides every major country. This multi-year project is called ‘Borderless Biomes’ and Nitin has also set world travel records certified by India Book of Records, has written for Lonely Planet, holds National Geographic conservation certifications, is a senior corporate executive in an MNC and loves bio-geography. In his early days, he used to be a published poet as well. Join him @ www.instagram.com/MostTravelledIndian/
