“...A hungry lion was roaming through the jungle looking for something to eat when he came across two men; one was sitting under a tree reading a book while the other was typing away on his typewriter. The lion quickly pounced on the man reading the book and devoured him proving even the king of the jungle knows that readers digest and writers cramp.”
The following you are about to read is in fact a true story.
One Friday, a day the same as any other, was spent side by side with a pride of lions. Males with huge manes and more than a dozen lionesses lay around soaking up the midday African sun. The groups of lions gathered around were more than fifty including cubs. I had personally spent many hours together with these majestic lions, walking with them and often just lying around in the sun with them.
Inside the farmhouse, a friend of mine had just spent the morning in an argument with his girlfriend. By midday, having had enough of this persistent nonsense, he walked out through the back door of the kitchen. On his way out the ever caring native cook, who had heard this constant bickering handed him his favorite meal, a small curry breadloaf. I often wonder what his thoughts were as he sat on the rock just outside the kitchen, eating his favorite food while enjoying the sun, peace and quiet of the African bush…the calm stillness only disturbed by the occasional insect or distant call of a bird. These would be the last conscious thoughts and moments of his life.
Still annoyed at the petty argument which had started the night before, he decided to get to work and busy his mind with more constructive things. Aproximately fifty metres away the groups of lions lay around under the shade of scattered trees. Nothing stirred as he walked among them, on his way to the boundary fence which needed attention. Perhaps it was the female lionesses who were in season a short distance away, or the two males seeking her attention, in addition to his anger from the argument minutes before, no-one will ever know; suddenly without any warning the lions at his side lept and attacked. A swipe from a lions forearm and open claws delivers a blow that can break a human neck, tearing out the throat along with arteries and trachea. The bite to his head tore his face and skull open from forehead to chin. All of this happened within a second. This was no chase, no need for the large cat to stalk or hunt, just a strike and attack at lightning speed. Two or three fast blows accompanied by a thrashing bite from the huge jaws and it’s all over. As he lay in the dust choking and bleeding from the open neck wound, the lions backed off, tugging at his trouser leg, almost as if in confusion as to what they had just done.
The helicopter ambulance eventually arrived and flew to the hospital trauma unit almost fifty kilometers away. Although unconscious from the extensive head injuries, and despite massive blood loss, at this point he was still alive. It would take hours of surgery into the night for a team of surgeons to attempt to close up the head and neck wounds and stabilize him. During the weekend family and friends gathered, waiting for any signs of improvement. There was increased swelling on the brain, and despite all efforts within a few days the surgeons had made the decision to turn off the life support.
The funeral was an emotional service, with the entire community filling the church. Everyone who knew this man came from far and wide to pay their last respects. He was laid to rest not yet fifty years of age. His coffin was draped with a lion skin from an old lion that he had known years before, until it too had died a natural death. As the draped coffin was lowered into the ground to rest in this dry open arid land, a gentle gust of wind blew across the people gathered. The African people who had respected him so much stood and sang an old tribal song.
In the days to follow, every time I would visit his grave, in this dry flat landscape with the mountain in the distance, a warm breeze would suddenly appear stirring up dust around where he lay.
At night the only sound across the plain would be the lions roar calling out, as though in need of an answer or awaiting his return.
“Look deep, deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better”
Albert Einstein
The Earth is man's only friend.
Sean
Sean
No comments:
Post a Comment