Born Free Page 25

  Elsa came in for a quick meal that evening but did not reappear for forty-eight hours. During this time we changed guard. Worried by Elsa’s absence, I went out to look for her but could find no pugmarks. Next morning we found her spoor and those of the cubs all over the camp, and I thought it very strange that they had made no sound to indicate their presence. Following the pugmarks found them mixed up with the imprints of rhino and elephant.

  That evening the family turned up, but Elsa was in a queer mood; she showed no interest in me or in Gopa or Little Elsa and was entirely absorbed in Jespah. I felt really sorry for Gopa who tried very hard to attract her attention, rolling invitingly on his back with outstretched paws whenever his mother passed close to him, with no result except that she stepped over him to join Jespah.

  About 8.30 p.m. two lions started roaring; all the family listened intently, but only Elsa and Jespah trotted quickly towards the studio; Gopa and Little Elsa after going a short way with them came back to finish their meal. They went on gorging until there was a frightening roaring so close that they rushed at full speed after their mother who by now had crossed the river.

  I brought the remains of their meal into safety, which was as well, for the lion duet went on all through the night. The following afternoon when the light was already fading Makedde and I saw the lioness climbing up the Big Rock and then sitting on top of it – undoubtedly this was the fierce lioness. I got out my field glasses and had my first good look at her. She was much darker and heavier than Elsa and rather ugly. I observed that she was staring at us and from the top of the rock she kept up a constant roaring. There was no question of sleep during that night and Elsa naturally kept away.

  In the morning we tracked the fierce lioness’s pugmarks and those of her mate; they had gone upstream back to the area in which we believed they usually lived. Elsa no doubt knew this for that night she brought the family into camp for their dinner. She now paid little attention to me until the cubs had settled down to their meal, then she was as affectionate as ever. This was plainly a new stratagem she had devised so as not to arouse their jealousy.

  The air was oppressive and lightning streaked the horizon at frequent intervals; soon after I had gone to bed a strong wind started blowing, the trees creaked and the canvas of the tent flapped; then the first drops of rain fell and it was not long before I seemed to be under a waterspout. The downpour continued throughout the night. We had not expected this deluge and had not hammered our tent pegs in; as a result the poles collapsed and I spent my time trying to raise them sufficiently to keep some shelter over my head, while a river seemed to run round my feet.

  When I emerged I saw that George’s tent had also collapsed and from inside it I heard Elsa moaning in a low voice. Soon she appeared with Jespah and Gopa, rather bedraggled but dry. But even this downpour had not induced Little Elsa to seek shelter and when I caught sight of her outside the thorn fence I saw that she was drenched.

  I began to sort out our soaked belongings and remove them to the cars to save them from the lions, and in this I was ‘helped’ by Jespah who had great fun defending each box I wanted to move. When I had finished my work Elsa, Jespah, Gopa and I crowded into my tent and Little Elsa consented to come inside the flaps but no farther; at least she had some protection there.

  The rain continued for four days.

  Elsa’s home though in semi-desert country benefits from a nearby mountain range from which several small streams run into the arid region. The one nearest to the camp now rose higher than I had ever seen it. A roaring, red torrent thundered over its banks and flooded the studio up to the level of the table, depositing a great deal of debris including a doum-palm which had been uprooted. I was exceedingly glad that Elsa and the cubs were on our side of the river and that we had sufficient food for them.

  Within three days the scorched parched surroundings of the camp had become green and the dry brittle bush had turned into luxurious vegetation. But it seemed as though it had exhausted its strength in putting out such a profusion of many-coloured flowers, for within three or four days the ground was carpeted with many-coloured petals.

  The animals of the bush reacted instantly to the change from the barrenness of the drought to the rich abundance which succeeded it.

  After a week when the rains stopped I observed many baby animals: some small brightly coloured monitors were sunning themselves along the river but dived into the foaming waters when I approached them. Two tiny turtles, no larger than a shilling piece, were swimming near the studio. They were perfect miniature replicas of the adult turtles, about the size of a large soup plate, which I had often watched on the rocks opposite. But the queerest nursery of all I discovered one morning when I was walking down the river. Close to one of Elsa’s favourite crossing places is a deep pool, where I observed what seemed to be gigantic tadpoles; they kept in a vertical position by paddling energetically. When I looked at them closely I saw that they were baby crocs, though they must have measured no more than seven inches and could not have been more than two or three days old.

  George had reached camp as soon as the condition of the ground made it possible for him to travel, and had brought five Game Scouts with him. They were to provide a permanent patrol and put down poaching. It was necessary that they should live some distance away from Elsa and from our camp, and so George now began supervising the establishment of their post and cutting a motor track to it.

  In two weeks’ time we hoped that this work would be well advanced, then we would start deserting Elsa for increasingly long periods so as to compel the cubs to go hunting with her and assume their true wild life. Our unexpectedly prolonged stay in the bush had caused them to get a little too used to camp life, and, though we had no control over them, Jespah was now on quite intimate terms with us; but apart from this their wild instincts were intact and certainly Gopa and Little Elsa only put up with us because they saw that their mother insisted that we were friends.

  We wondered whether she communicated her wish that they should not hurt us, which they were now well equipped to do, or whether they simply followed her example. Jespah in particular, when he was playing with us or when he was jealous, could have done a lot of damage if he had not controlled himself, but he always did so and even when he was in a temper gave us good warning of the fact.

  Gopa was less friendly but so long as we left him alone did nothing to provoke an incident.

  Little Elsa remained shy, though she now seemed less nervous of us than she used to be. We were surprised that none of the cubs ever attempted to follow Elsa on to the roof of the Land Rover, though they often gazed up at their mother with disappointed expressions, when she was resting on the canvas to escape their teasing. Judging by their ability to climb trees they could very easily have jumped on to the bonnet and then taken another leap on to the roof, and indeed Elsa had done this at a younger age, but for some reason they seemed to regard the Land Rover as out of bounds.

  During George’s absence Jespah and Gopa used his tent as a sort of ‘den’. As a result on his return he found it rather crowded at night. I was a little worried; George prefers to sleep on a low hounsfield bed and with Elsa, Jespah and Gopa around it I wondered whether one night there might not be trouble, but they behaved remarkably well. Whenever Jespah tried to play with his toes, George’s authoritative ‘no’ made him stop at once.

  The extent to which they felt at home was illustrated when one night Elsa rolled round and tipped over George’s bed, throwing him on top of Jespah. No commotion followed and Gopa who was sleeping near George’s head did not even move.

  A day later when we were returning to camp we found the family except for Jespah gorging on a carcase. It was not long before we discovered the missing cub behind the tents enjoying a roast guinea fowl which he had stolen off the table, but he had such a mischievous expression that we could do nothing but laugh at the little rascal. We were surprised, however, that he preferred cooked meat to fresh. Next day we had a
further surprise when we came across the family in the bush and found the cubs being suckled. They were now ten and a half months old, and I do not think that they could have got much milk as Elsa’s teats seemed to be empty.

  Although they were still being suckled we now noticed the first signs of adolescence in Jespah and Gopa; they had grown fine fluff round their faces and necks, and if they looked a bit unshaven their appearance was certainly very endearing. Elsa greeted us warmly and while she was doing so, Jespah pushed himself between us and demanded to be patted too. Elsa watched us and then licked her son approvingly.

  We walked back to camp together. In front of it were the remains of last evening’s meal, but Elsa refused even to sniff at it and demanded a new kill. Later a leopard grunted from the other side of the river, and this caused her to rush off leaving the cubs – after about fifteen minutes they followed her. We were very glad to see that Elsa now took the initiative and was prepared to defend her territory.

  That night a lion roared and when we later traced his pugmarks they led to the Big Rock; evidently something had given the cubs a fright, for on 24 November, when Elsa swam over, they refused to follow her and she had to go back twice to encourage them before they, too, swam across. Once landed they had a great game, Elsa rolling Jespah round and round like a bundle, which he loved, and poor Gopa jumping clumsily between them asking to be noticed; when I came close to photograph them Gopa growled at me, whereupon Jespah gave him such a clout that he looked quite stupefied by his punishment. It was all done in fun, but it showed up the different characters of the brothers. But as always when they settled down to their dinner all jealousy was forgotten.

  George had shot a guinea fowl and I brought it out hidden behind my back because I wanted to give it to Little Elsa. I waited for a moment in which only she was looking up and then showed it to her. She took in the situation at once and while continuing to eat with her brothers watched me carefully as I walked a little distance away. I waited until Jespah and Gopa were concentrating upon the meat and when only Little Elsa saw what I was doing, dropped the bird behind a bush. Then, when she alone was watching me, I kept on pointing from her to the guinea fowl until suddenly she rushed like a streak of lightning, seized the bird and took it into a thicket where she could eat it unmolested by the others.

  Next day we saw the family sitting on the rocky platform on the opposite side of the river to the studio, below which there is a deep pool which was at one time inhabited by a large crocodile. The cubs seemed nervous and only Elsa swam across. We had brought a carcase with us, she grabbed it, and crossed the river with it, but this time avoided the pool and swam higher upstream where the bank was much steeper but where we had never seen crocs.

  The family were not apparently hungry, for they did not eat but indulged in a game of tree climbing; the cubs balanced on the sloping branches which overhung the river and seemed intent on tripping one another up and throwing their adversary into the water. Finally, Elsa joined them; she seemed to us to be giving them a demonstration of how to turn on a branch and how to go from one branch to another.

  When it grew dark the meat was still untouched and as we neither wished to lose it nor to provoke a fight between Elsa and some chance predator George determined to recover it.

  The first thing was to get the family over to our side, otherwise they would object to the removal of their kill. While George went up the river out of their sight and began to wade across, I swung a guinea fowl temptingly in the air. This did the trick and brought the lions over to join me. Unfortunately, when George reached the carcase Elsa observed this, swam hurriedly back and defended it. It took a lot of coaxing on his part to let her allow him to float the kill over, and even then she swam beside him with a very suspicious expression on her face. While this was going on the cubs rushed up and down the bank, obviously most upset but making no attempt to join Elsa. I was surprised for usually they showed no fear of the river and by now it was quite fordable. However, later that day they redeemed their reputation: shortly after dark, when we heard sounds which indicated that a rhino was at the salt lick, Elsa dashed after it and the cubs with her and judging by the snortings that followed the rhino must have made a very rapid retreat.

  Brave the cubs certainly were to tackle such a great and fierce beast.

  Jespah in his playful moods liked acting the clown. One day when he was being especially lively, teasing everybody and asking for a game, I placed a round wooden tea tray in a branch that hangs over the river to see what he would do about it. He climbed up and tried to grip the inch-thick rim between his teeth, using one paw to steady it as it swayed. When he got a sufficiently good grip to carry it horizontally he came down very cautiously, pausing several times to make sure that we were watching him. Finally, he reached the ground and then paraded round with his trophy, until Little Elsa and Gopa chased him and put an end to his performance.

  George’s leave was coming to an end and this appeared to be the right time for us to go. The poachers seemed to have left; Elsa was now able to defend her territory and the cubs had become powerful young lions, and it was time that they should hunt with their mother and live their natural life; also as they were growing increasingly jealous we considered that it would be unfair to provoke them by our affection for their mother into doing something which might be harmful.

  We decided to space our absences. On the first occasion we had intended to leave for only six days, but in fact, because of very heavy rains, it was nine before I could return.

  Elsa did not turn up in answer to the shots we fired, nor were there any signs of spoor around the camp, but these might well have been washed away by the flooding of the river. After a while, I walked towards the Big Rock and came upon Elsa trotting along with the cubs; they were panting and had probably come a long way in answer to my signal. They were delighted to see me and Jespah struggled to get between Elsa and myself so as to receive his share of the welcome. Gopa and Little Elsa, however, kept their distance. All were in excellent condition and as fat as they had been when we left.

  I had brought a carcase, but though Elsa settled down to it the cubs were in no hurry to eat and played about for some time before joining her. When she had had her fill she came over to me and was very affectionate and as the cubs were too busy eating to notice this there were no demonstrations of jealousy, which seemed to be what their mother had intended.

  How anxious Elsa was to prevent rows or ill-feeling was clearly shown next day. I had given the cubs a guinea fowl and was watching them fighting over it. Gopa growled most alarmingly at Jespah, Little Elsa and myself. Hearing this, Elsa instantly rushed up to see what was going on, but as soon as she had satisfied herself that nothing serious had provoked Gopa, she returned to the roof of the Land Rover.

  A few minutes later, while the cubs were still eating, I went up to her; she snarled at me and spanked me twice. I retired immediately, surprised, as I did not think I had deserved such treatment. Soon afterwards Elsa jumped off the car and rubbed herself affectionately against me, obviously wishing to make up for her bad behaviour. I stroked her and she settled down beside me, keeping one paw against me. When the cubs joined us she rolled on to the other side and I ceased to exist for her.

  She constantly showed how anxious she was for the cubs to be friends with us. One evening, after having gorged himself on the meat we had provided, Jespah came into the tent. He was too full to play and rolled on to his back because his bulging belly was more comfortable in that position. He looked at me plainly demanding to be patted. As he was in a docile mood I felt comparatively safe from his swiping paws and sharp claws, so I stroked his silky fur. He closed his eyes and made a sucking noise, a sure sign of contentment. Elsa, who had been watching us from the roof of the car, joined us and licked both Jespah and me, showing how glad she was to see us on such good terms.

  This happy scene was abruptly ended by Gopa who sneaked up and sat on top of Elsa, with a most possessive expression which lef
t me in no doubt that I was not wanted. So I withdrew.

  Fond as Elsa was of her children she never failed to discipline them when they were doing something of which she knew we disapproved, even when they were acting only in accordance with their natural instincts.

  We usually kept the goats locked up inside my truck at night, but for a short time we were obliged to secure them inside a strong thorn enclosure because the truck had to go away for repairs. During this time, Jespah on one occasion besieged the boma so persistently that we were worried for the safety of the goats. All the tricks we invented to divert his attention failed to produce any effect. Then Elsa came to our aid. She pranced round her son trying to entice him away, but he paid no attention to her; then she spanked him repeatedly. He spanked back. It was amusing to watch the two outwitting each other. Finally, Jespah forgot all about the goats and followed Elsa into the tent where their dinner was waiting for them.

  But when he had finished his meal Jespah, having been cheated of his fun with the goats, looked for other amusement.

  He found a tin of milk which he rolled across the groundsheet of the tent until it was covered with a sticky mess. Then he took George’s pillow, but the feathers tickled him, so he looked for another toy and, before I could stop him, seized a needle case which I was using and raced out into the dark with it. I was terrified that it would open under the pressure of his jaws and that he might swallow its contents, so I grabbed our supper, a roast guinea fowl, and ran after him. Luckily, the sight of the bird proved too much for him; he dropped the case, scattering the needles, pins, razor blades and scissors over the grass. We carefully collected them so they should not prove a danger to the cubs.

  22. A New Year Begins