Saturday night was a night I will never forget! As I was getting ready for the Brie (a South African cookout) at Laura’s house, I was stopped dead in my tracks to the sound of lions roaring so loud, I thought the guys two doors down were blasting one of their National Geographic movies, so I ignored it in disbelief. It wasn’t until I headed outside to use the phone that I heard it again and knew it wasn’t coming from any speakers. I saw Ben walk by and asked him if he heard lions as well? Before he could answer yes we rushed towards their direction.I couldn’t believe how loud it was, a lions roar can be heard up to 5 miles away! So we knew they were right close. We quickly ran to our instructors room to ask him if we could find the lions. Sean agreed but told us to be careful. We quickly ran then slowly walked down to the area where we thought the lions were, we were surprised to see 4 other people already there sitting down just a few feet from the flimsy electrical fence. Right in front of them on the other side of the fence was a guide and some guests in a jeep shining a bright light around the area towards the lions. As we gazed at every area the light was hitting in anticipation, we were surprised and disappointed to see nothing. The guide decided to drive off and look in a different area, leaving us behind alone on the ground, in the dark without a vehicle to cover us.
As we sat quietly in the pitch dark our minds started to play tricks on us or so we thought. Every few minutes we would hear branches break and movement in the grass. I felt very uneasy knowing there could be lions right in front of us trying to figure out a way to get over the fence. Lions are well known for their excellent night vision and the darker it gets the more confident they become. Just when we thought the lions had left the area we were suddenly startled by the roar of a lion, followed by another, and another. The sound was so loud we had to cover our ears and when the girls that were with us heard this they all crawled back a few feet and began to get up to run away. I grabbed one of the girls and told them “Do Not Move or Run! “ The lions were literally right in front of us and all I could think of was how stupid I was to get this close and what it would be like to be eaten by a lion! My heart was beating so hard and so fast, just thinking how I would get myself out of the situation.The roars and growls were so intense I felt a deep rumbling vibration inside my chest.
When the roaring finally stopped we knew we had to get out of that area and at the same time with arms linked stood up and walked backwards never turning our backs to the lions. We found out early the next day that there was a buffalo kill and two male lions trying to take over a pride from another group of males, making that area a danger zone!
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