LION CALL UP
I had the privilege for the past two nights to be involved in a lion call up, a time-consuming and intense baiting process in which a targeted animal or species is “called up,” darted with anesthetic, and branded, collared, or subjected to a partial hysterectomy for the purpose of wildlife and ecosystem management of the reserve.
Machiavelli wrote that if one cannot be feared AND loved, it is better to be feared. For about 15 minutes of the second night’s call up, I swung wildly between both emotions for the elephants who appeared unexpectedly. For the lions though I had only fear.
At about 3:30 pm. four vehicles headed out to the previously chosen site near the central part of the reserve, a one-hour drive. The vet, with her cropped grey hair, and weathered face seen only through a haze of cigarette smoke, drove her dark green army-type jeep loaded with the paraphernalia she would need once the lions came in- anesthesia, needles, dart guns, collars, branding irons, etc. Next came the vehicle with the bait. A male nyala, an antelope species which is overabundant here, humanely shot with one bullet to the head, was secured in the back of the pick-up. The next vehicle carried loudspeakers. The pre-recorded cries of a buffalo in distress would be broadcast on a sound system placed on the vehicle’s roof. Finally, we followed in the back seat of the very comfortable Landcruiser driven by the reserve’s head honcho, Richard and his wife. Everyone, we were told at our first night’s briefing, MUST remain at all times inside a secure vehicle, windows closed. There would be no riding, as we do during the day, on the back benches of the open-air pick up.
The Vet and Richard, the Park Manager, deciding on the exact location to put the bait |
Nyala carcass |
Lions are the only cats that live in groups, called prides. Each pride consists of up to 3 males and a dozen or so females and their young, all blood relatives. Each pride controls its own territory. Generally one or two of the alpha males and a lioness is collared in each pride so that management can monitor their movement (and well being) by radio transmitter. While names such as Nukululeko, Mandulo and Duma were given to the lions once collared, only numbers are now used to identify an animal so that any attachment humans may develop for any one of the lions they are following would be diminished. Duma is the one most likely to turn up on our radio receiver. He’s only about 2-3 years old and travels with his brother (no collar, hence no name) in the southern part of the reserve. Nukuleko has been the most elusive since I’ve been here. We haven’t picked up his signal at all, while Mandulo, a female from the north, shows up every once in a while. Collars can only be placed on a lion once it is at least 2 years old and must be visually inspected periodically to make sure that the lion has not outgrown his collar which could slowly choke him.
Management is looking for a lioness from the central pride who has three 4-month old cubs. She has only recently come out of hiding now that the cubs are old enough. The cubs must be branded, DNA samples collected and the lioness collared since they and their male members control the central part of the reserve. More needs to be known about this group.
We approached the site while it was still daylight. The sacrificial nyala was removed from the truck’s bed, chained to the back of the truck and its belly cut so that its blood and other bodily juices would ooze out. The truck then drove up and down the 2 paths from which the targeted lions would likely approach, dragging the nyala carcass behind it to spread its scent.
cutting the belly |
In the meantime the call up site was readied. Knee-high brush was quickly chopped and a clearing was made. Two metal screens, each about 4 foot high and 4 feet wide, were secured in place at a slight angle to each other. The nyala was tied to a pole securing the screens so that the lions could not drag it away. The vet’s vehicle and the vehicle with the speaker system placed themselves about 50 feet away from and facing the screens and carcass. The other two vehicles drove a short distance away, out of sight.
dragging the carcass |
the screens |
The buffalo cries began. Over and over and over we heard the buffalo’s monotonous moaning. Every 15-20 minutes the speaker would be shut down. In the wild, a buffalo in distress will stop crying to hinder a predator’s ability to pinpoint its location. Lions have a better sense of hearing than they do scent. They are more likely to hear the buffalo’s cries before they smell the nyala. The buffalo’s crying was the only sound we heard for the next 4 hours.
The waiting game had begun.
We sat absolutely silent in a darkened vehicle with only the stars to shed some light on the blackness surrounding us. There was no way to know which way the lions would approach.
And then we heard them. It was not the kind of ear-splitting roar one sees in the movies, but rather a deep, low grumble. The lions were approaching from just behind us and warning others of its presence. At around 8pm, almost 4 hours after we had arrived at the site, the vet finally called us on her two-way radio. The lions had arrived and had begun eating the bait. We could now approach with the vehicles.
Once she darted them, we would have 45 minutes to collar the lioness and brand the cubs. When the work was complete the antidote to the anesthesia would be administered and there would be a mad dash to the vehicles as the lions woke up. (leaving sleeping lions alone and unprotected would likely mean their death by other animals). Our job was to stand in the open bed of the trucks, arranged in a protective semi-arc facing the bait, and shine a bright light 360 degrees around us scanning the area outside the work site for other lion while the vet worked. If one was spotted we were told to continue shining the light in its eyes to keep it blinded. Someone would then come to the vehicle and verify that it was in fact, a lion. Additional precautions would then be taken. Elephants were also a threat to the call up. They hate lions and are the only animal that can do battle with them. We didn’t want to get in the middle of that blood feud.
When we arrived on site, we parked the car and cut the engine. The vet shined her night light on the lions. There, directly in front of us, were two massive males that had heeded the call. But these were not the lions we were calling. It was Duma and his brother, from the southern pride. Duma! Finally, I could put a face to the name. These two males had chased off the lioness and her cubs and were sharing the bait between them. There was nothing we could do. We sat in the safety of the vehicles and watched in silence the most magnificent show I have ever seen. We could see everything, every movement of their bodies, every bite they took, totally unobstructed.
The two lions were as tall as my waist, every inch of their bodies plump with flexing muscles, battle scars, dark thick manes and giant paws. They were ripping apart the nyala’s carcass, pulling out the animal’s stomach and heart; we heard the crunching of its bones. They were oblivious to our presence. It was mesmerizing. I didn’t want to leave.
But the clock was ticking and everyone was exhausted. At about 9:15pm, while the lions were still dining, we left with mixed emotions. The call up was a success - lions had come in - they don’t always respond to the call - but the ones we wanted remained unbranded and the central pride was still alone. We switched on the car engines and left.
Early the next morning we returned to the site to collect the fence, pole and other equipment. Only the nyala’s hooves and a small bit of its ribs remained. The lions had enjoyed their free meal. We would try again the next night.
The remains of the nyala the morning after |
But the second call up proved to be a different adventure altogether.
A different site was chosen, one on the northern edge of the central district, further from Duma’s southern territory. The sacrificial nyala was dragged down the path, secured to the screens, the vehicles shut their engines and took their place. All light - even that from a cell phone - was prohibited and no one could talk as we waited for the central pride to appear. Finally at about the same time as the night before - 8:30 pm, when it was pitch black, the vet radioed that the lions had arrived. We took our place in the semi-circle facing the screens. The night light revealed the two happy lions munching away. But on no! It was Duma! Again! And his brother. They had strayed far from their own territory and chased the lioness away yet again. Duma, it was decided, would have to be darted and put in “jail” to remove him from the system temporarily so that he would not interfere with the next call up. “Jail” here is known as the “boma” which is a large fenced area where the animal is kept (and fed) while awaiting its fate - which is generally either transport to another reserve, or medical treatment. Animals at Tembe are only treated medically if their injury is caused by humans - poachers who have placed snares or shot them. If the animal is injured naturally in the wild, or, as happened recently with a baby elephant, is born with a deformity, management here does not intervene.
But just as the vet readied her dart gun, Richard, the park manager, saw a herd of elephants making their way out of the forest toward the site. He quickly radioed the other vehicles to alert them. Despite pointing out their location, I could see nothing in the darkness except the shadow of the trees in the distance. I kept looking but saw nothing. How could I miss a herd of elephant? How keen were Richard’s eyes that he could see anything in this blackness? In the meantime, Duma’s brother was edgy. He was patrolling the area around the feed site, looking behind the screens and pacing. Duma was enjoying his meal as his brother guarded.
Then I saw them. A breeding (female) herd of 10-12 massive elephants just feet away from us. They had approached, as they always do, silently, moving like ghosts and appearing out of nowhere. They raised their trunks high and trumpeted loudly, flapping their ears. The lions took off, with ear-splitting roars. It was quite a ruckus. We could hear the animals scuffling around us. Richard told us that there is nothing that elephants hate more than lions, which is the only animal that can grab their young. The elephants then approached our vehicle. There were 8-10 of them forming an arc around us, shielding their young by placing themselves between the vehicle and the babies on their far side. An elephant began using his trunk to sniff the car. Elephants use their trunks as a hand and he was dexterously placing that trunk everywhere. I was petrified. I had forgotten to raise my window all the way and it was open slightly. There was no way Richard could start the engine now. We were told not to move - not one inch of our bodies. I think I stopped breathing. Elephants can easily flip over a truck and smash it to pieces. There was no telling what a herd could do. It was obvious that the herd was working together to assess the situation. They were standing close together just to the left side of the car. One elephant kept watch. A second sniffed. The others were there for support and protection of the herd. Others guarded the young. The elephants were completely silent as they made their way around us. They were masses of shadows lumbering n the darkness with grace and stillness, thinking. The matriarch, the oldest and strongest of the female herd, patiently waited for the report of the sniffer, guard and others who were assessing the scene. I heard the stomach grumblings that elephants use to communicate. A peaceful, quiet noise. They apparently gave the “all-clear” signal and they silently moved away, the mass moving back into the thick night, with the young carefully protected. There was another group, we were told by radio, mulling around the other vehicle bookending our pow wow of cars. Those elephants too, eventually moved on, back into the thick bush from whence they had arrived.
Duma, in the meantime, had returned to the bait. The lioness and her cubs meanwhile had been spotted behind the screens and were waiting to eat Duma’s leftovers. If any.
Duma would not be darted tonight. It was way too dangerous to work with the elephants so agitated and so many lions near the site.
He had won again. He had challenged the elephants, foiled the humans, kept the lioness and her cubs at bay and enjoyed a free meal yet again.