by Joy Adamson
As a result it was late in the day before we set off to the cub ravine. When we got there we parked our cars in the middle of the small plain where George had seen the cubs in May.
No cubs showed up during that night.
Early in the morning we drove near to the cubs’ ravine and climbed the escarpment above it where nearly a month ago we had seen the cubs. We walked along its crest for nearly three hours, calling repeatedly but in vain. Then we came down into the next valley and walked back to the car. As we reached the top of a rise which led into the cub ravine George grabbed me by the shoulder. There were all three cubs sitting by the cars waiting for us. They behaved in the most matter-of-fact manner as though we had never left them. Jespah came to greet us giving the soft moans with which Elsa always welcomed us. He allowed me to pat his head and then sat and watched us as we went over to the other cubs. They went off as we approached and settled under a tree. But when we offered them cod-liver oil and water they came and lapped it up quickly. They were thin but in fair condition though Jespah and Gopa had now completely lost their ruffs and looked like lionesses. Jespah’s coat was no longer shining and he still carried the arrow. The wound was discharging a thin serum which attracted flies and which he licked repeatedly; he also had some small scars probably gained in combat with other animals. He was very friendly and came close to us but would not allow us to pull at the arrowhead.
It was wonderful to see the cubs again and as we watched them we discussed several puzzling questions. Why had the lions lost their ruffs? We knew that under stress domestic cats sometimes moult. Could Jespah and Gopa have become maneless owing to the strain of adapting themselves to a new environment? Why had they turned up today? Had they seen the light during the night and realized that we were there? Or had they been hiding when I searched in the cub valley and been too frightened by the presence of the strange driver to come into the open?
Though previously they had always taken cover during the hot hours of the day, now they stayed in the light shade of a tree while we lunched. When George went off to collect the second car which we had left in the plain, this didn’t disturb them and for all the rest of that day they remained in the open. In fact they seemed to be adopting the habits of the Serengeti lions.
The solitary impala ram was present all the time. Towards dark he moved in a leisurely way down the hill grazing as he went. Little Elsa stalked him and after a while Jespah followed. So long as the ram was feeding they crouched low and wriggled towards him but when he looked in their direction they froze. Gopa remained behind watching the hunt. Finally, the impala dashed off and the cubs returned.
We had stored some of our kit beside our camp beds inside the cars and the rest on the roof. Jespah inspected these objects hoping perhaps to find his dinner, and even Gopa and Little Elsa came close to us, but we had nothing for them but cod-liver oil. We allowed them to drink as much of this as we thought good for them, then they settled close to our car and during the night we heard them playing. Jespah visited us several times, no doubt puzzled that we had not given him any meat.
After the weeks of anxiety it was a tremendous relief to know that the release had proved a success and that the cubs were in relatively good condition: the only worry was Jespah’s discharging wound and his dull coat. We could not consider moving the cubs again after all they had been through, nor did we want to remove Jespah separately if he could be operated on in the Serengeti. So we decided to use our week to try to get him into better condition and then try to make arrangements to have him operated upon. The day now at our disposal did not allow us time to do this.
Next morning we found the cubs under a bush about four hundred yards down the hill. Jespah came at once and placed himself between us and his brother and sister and I gave him his cod-liver oil. That morning his coat was much worse than it had been when we first saw him and he was covered with swellings the size of peas. This worried us but we did not wish to raise a false alarm about it until we were sure what the swellings were due to; they looked rather similar to swellings which Elsa had sometimes developed after rolling on ants. However, we could not be sure that this was what they were and would have to keep Jespah under observation. This meant feeding the cubs who would otherwise need to go off hunting.
George therefore drove off to Seronera to get permission to feed the cubs and to send a cable to the publishers of the Elsa books to give them our good news.
In his enthusiasm he worded this telegram and also a similar one to the director at Arusha over-optimistically: ‘Cubs found in excellent condition.’ This wording caused a false impression and later gave rise to a grave misunderstanding. While George was away I watched the cubs dozing under a bush.
About lunchtime a herd of some 120 Tommies appeared together with the impala ram. On seeing me they stopped, turned towards the cubs and began grazing within twenty yards of them. One cheeky Tommy even went up to their bush and indeed the whole herd behaved as though no lions were about. The cubs sat on their haunches, heads on their paws, watching. This went on for half an hour, then, suddenly, Little Elsa rushed full speed at the herd which fled into the valley except for some twenty-five Tommies which got cut off and remained behind. A little later she chased these too, but plainly only for the fun of it. Neither side took the game seriously until Gopa and Jespah joined in the hunt, when the Tommies clattered over the rocks and up the hill, all except one small fawn and its father, which stood quietly watching the proceedings and only left after the cubs had returned. Then they walked slowly down the valley to rejoin the others. Halfway there they were met by the fawn’s mother who licked it and guided it safely back to the herd.
George returned without a kill; the park warden had been absent, so he had waited till the afternoon when he could speak to the director over the radio. He obtained permission to buy two goats at a small village outside the park, some sixty miles away, but since he could not get there and back in the day he had to put off getting the goats till the next day.
At dusk the cubs came looking for their dinner but as we had only cod-liver oil to give them they left early. Next morning George drove off to get the goats and I sorted out our kit and aired our bedding. The cubs arrived while everything was still laid out on the ground. This provided them with a splendid game, but they were very good-natured and in the end allowed me to collect all our possessions undamaged. After this they retired into the shade of a bush where they spent the rest of the day.
George arrived at 6 p.m. with the goats. The moment he saw the meat, Jespah seized it and raced away with it; Gopa and Little Elsa chased him and there was a scrimmage. The three cubs sat, noses together, holding on to the carcase, tempers grew hot and there were growls and spittings; for an hour the deadlock went on and not one of them would give way. Then Gopa made a try to go off with the meat, but Jespah grabbed it instantly and another deadlock ensued. With ears flattened and giving angry snarls the brothers faced each other while Little Elsa quietly gnawed away. Finally Jespah and Gopa relaxed and the three cubs ate amicably together.
The second carcase we placed on the roof of the car, thinking it would be safe there till tomorrow, as the cubs had never tried to get on to the cars. But early in the morning I was woken by a heavy thud and found the car rocking violently. The next moment I saw Jespah jump with the carcase from the roof on to the bonnet and make off with it to the ravine followed by the other cubs.
A couple of hours later he reappeared and leapt on to the roof of the car where we had stored our surplus kit and found a lot of things there to delight him: cardboard boxes filled with bottles, my plant press, a rubber cushion, a folding armchair. Busily he emptied the boxes, clattering their contents on to the ground. Then he tried to get at the blotting paper inside the plant press and when defeated threw it overboard. He also ransacked the rest of our kit. When he had finished he rested his head on his paws and blinked at us. His brother and sister had watched him intently but had not ventured to join him; now they went o
ff to play on a fallen tree where Jespah soon joined them. The three cubs prodded each other playfully for a while and then disappeared into the ravine.
We noticed a lot of vultures circling above the crest of the nearest hill and supposed they were leaving a kill, probably one made by the lion which I had heard roaring close by during the night. After lunch we went to look for the cubs and found them asleep in the dense cover at the base of the cliff. Next to them was the carcase of a freshly killed reedbuck. Whether they had killed it or stolen it from a leopard we couldn’t tell. That a kill should have taken place so close to us without our hearing a sound was odd enough.
In the evening we went back to the cubs and found that they had practically finished the reedbuck and had dragged what remains were left into cover. We could hear the lions breathing in the thicket but we could not see them. It seemed extraordinary that such large animals could hide themselves so completely – particularly as we knew to within a few feet where they were. Later the coughing of a leopard told us who had made the kill.
When it was dark the cubs came for a drink and spent the night near us but by the morning they had gone off. After lunch they emerged from the ravine and Jespah hopped on to the roof of my car, while Gopa and Little Elsa lay under the shade of a tree some fifty yards away. I wondered why Jespah preferred to get on my car rather than George’s. Had he got used to thinking it was his car, or did it look to him the more comfortable of the two? Elsa had always preferred George’s car.
The impala ram was present as usual; he gave snorts and grunts but the cubs took no notice of him. Little Elsa spent some time stalking Tommies but was evidently not out for a kill and soon settled down. I sat close to Jespah and whenever my position allowed I tried to pull at the arrow. He made no objection to my twiddling the protruding shank, but it was firmly fixed as ever and there was no sign of its sloughing out. The point of the arrow was just below the skin and a small slit might well suffice to pull it out point first. The swellings, probably due to ant bites, had disappeared, but his coat looked dull and shabby. But when the setting sun turned it to gold, his features and his expression were so like his mother’s that when he looked at me intently, as she used to do, I suddenly had the impression that Elsa had returned. While he allowed me to pat his paw and stroke his nostrils he shut his eyes and I closed mine. Then I felt certain that Elsa was there. After I opened my eyes again I felt strangely free.
When night came we retired to our cars. Very soon the canvas roof of mine sagged under Jespah’s weight and from my bed I was able to pat him through the canvas. Later George was woken by the swaying of his car and found Jespah leaning over the tailboard looking at him as though he wanted to come in. There was no sign of the others and Jespah himself left at dawn.
We spent the morning looking for the lions and found no trace of them; but at teatime they came up from the valley in which we had been looking for them and Jespah seated himself on the bonnet of my car. I made a last attempt to move the arrow but without success.
Tomorrow we should have to leave the cubs and we could have been fairly happy about them had it not been for Jespah’s wound. However little it seemed to encumber him at the moment, it had obviously weakened his condition and was a source of infection as his dull coat proved. In combat with a prey the skin might get torn or the arrowhead packed deeper and either of these possibilities might cause serious damage which would ultimately impair his capacity to hunt. In the circumstances the sooner he could be operated on the better. We discussed the situation and decided to cut our time with the cubs short and leave as early as was possible the next morning, so that we could speak over the radio to the director and get permission to carry out the operation. For this we should need a crate in which to confine Jespah and a veterinary surgeon to give the anaesthetic and perform the operation. George was sure that his leave would be extended for the time necessary to make the arrangements and get the operation performed.
When it was dark Jespah came for his cod-liver oil. There was not much left in the gallon tin we had opened six days ago and I wanted to divide it equally among the cubs. When Jespah saw me holding the tin he tried to seize it. I said ‘No, Jespah, no,’ and looking puzzled and hurt he at once turned away. After this I poured the oil into three dishes. Gopa and Little Elsa drank theirs up at once, but Jespah was offended and would not come near the dish I held out to him. I dared not put it on the ground for then the others would have finished it off, so I tried my best to get into favour again. But Jespah looked stonily in the opposite direction and ignored me.
We passed the evening watching the cubs licking each other and rolling about affectionately together behind the cars. They left about 11 p.m. This was the last we were to see of them though at the time we expected to return soon with a vet.
Later in the night we heard some lions calling in a low voice to each other and hoped it might be our cubs hunting.
Next morning we left for Seronera, hoping to arrange facilities to operate on Jespah at once. These were denied. On our way through Arusha we approached the director again. He advised us to appeal to the trustees who were holding the next meeting in August. With a heavy heart we left Tanganyika.
39. The Long Search
When we got to Nairobi we heard the good news that Ken Smith could now take over as Senior Warden of the NFD, leaving George free to help with the cubs. We wrote to the director of the Tanganyika National Parks, asking him to submit our request for permission to operate on Jespah to the trustees at their mid-August meeting.
I went first to Isiolo to move our furniture out of the Government house in which we had been living and into one which we had rented from the National Parks of Kenya and which was about eight miles from our old home. Meanwhile, George set off to help to move a herd of Thomas kob which were living in an area where their presence clashed with human interest, to a game reserve, 300 miles away. This operation was being financed partly by the Game Department, partly by the Elsa Appeal and partly by royalties from the Elsa books. These Thomas kob are not only beautiful antelope, but their herd which numbers about 500 head is the only one of the species in Kenya.
Towards the end of August Billy Collins paid another visit to East Africa. He came in the hope of getting a last sight of the cubs and to attend the Arusha Conference. This conference was the first to which people from all over the world, who were interested in the preservation of wild life, had been invited to come together to discuss the conservation of game in East Africa.
Billy Collins’s arrival in Nairobi coincided with the receipt of a telegram from the director, informing us that the trustees had refused permission for an operation to be performed on Jespah.
Doctor T. Harthoorn, of Makerere Veterinary College, one of the most distinguished veterinary surgeons in Africa, had already agreed to do the operation, should Jespah be found in a state which demanded an intervention. As he happened to be in Nairobi at this time we were able to talk over with him, and also with Noel Simon, Founder and Chairman of the East African Wild Life Society, and Major Grimwood what, in view of the new blow to our hopes, we should now do.
We decided that Billy and I should go to the Serengeti and spend a week there trying to find the cubs and that Billy would see the chairman in Arusha and try to persuade him to change his mind, and allow Dr Harthoorn to operate, if this were possible and if he considered it necessary.
On our way through Arusha, Billy called on the director and discussed our wish to be allowed to sleep out in order to find the cubs and to have permission to operate on Jespah, if when we found him this seemed necessary. This conversation did not result in any change of attitude on the director’s part; but they agreed that after our search for the cubs, Billy should see the chairman and talk the matter over with him.
Early in the morning after our arrival at Seronera, we set off for the cubs’ release point. We found it occupied by a party of surveyors who had been living there for the last month. We asked them what lions they had seen
. They had seen many, but could not, of course, know whether the cubs had been among them.
Then we went up to the cub ravine and I called Jespah, Gopa, Little Elsa, but there was no response. So we continued up the valley. Every time we saw trees covered with vultures, we drove up to them, hoping to find the cubs on a kill but were always disappointed. We found several pride of lion and at one point came very close to a herd of 200 buffalo and were obliged to drive off very quickly indeed. We stayed as late as was possible if we were to comply with the regulation that compelled tourists to be back at Seronera before dark.
For the next days we searched along the river where, owing to the drought, there was a bigger concentration of animals than I had ever seen before. Finally we went back to the ravine and called for a long time but saw no sign of the cubs. On our way home we saw a beautiful cheetah on his anthill and at a big pool a leopard and a saddlebill stork quenching their thirst.
By the fourth day Billy was obviously unwell. He had been unmercifully bitten by tsetse, his arms and legs were very swollen and I was thankful that a doctor happened to be staying at the lodge. He diagnosed an allergy, prescribed remedies and advised Billy not to go back to the tsetse-infected area.
One evening we dined with the park warden and his wife and met the director who suggested that on the following day we should witness the release of a rhino which had been brought to the park from an area where it interfered with a settlement scheme. It was the first release of this type.