Paying Homage to the King of Beasts Along the Mara River in Kenya
In her classic short story “A Lion on the Freeway,” South African Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer describes the lion’s roar as “a great groan, a rising groan,” “distant and at once very close, right in the ear, for the sound of breath is always intimate.” The grunting how-how-how is akin to the rush of air escaping a tunnel when a locomotive enters the other end. And the sound is all the more intimidating when nothing but the thin nylon of your tent separates you from it. When it comes, the rasping saw of the leopard falls silent, and even the maniacal cackling of the hyenas dies away. In the reverent hush that follows, you pull your sleeping bag up around your chin, you offer thanks that you were there to hear it, and—finally—you remember to breathe again.
By Paul Koning | Photo: Paul Koning | Feedback