Roar Lions Of The Kalahari Full Movie

[Fito Coulter]

Whentrying to define what a truly wild animal is, I think one must consider that it needs to be able to freely roam its territory without being hindered or constricted by boundaries and fences. At 55,000 km2 in size, The CKGR does truly offer wild sanctuary to its inhabitants.

January to May is the rainy season with January and February being the heaviest rainfall months. We normally like to be here just after the first rains as this is when most of the desert adapted game (mostly Springbok, Gemsbok and Wildebeest) come down from the dunes to feed in the newly sprouting grass in the fossil riverbeds. Of course this also means that the predators will now also be patrolling these river bed areas which makes them much easier to locate and spend time with.

We arrived to a very dry looking Kalahari. In what would normally be its highest rainfall month, only one day of rain had been received thus far in January and the temperatures where literally at boiling point. Chris and I just looked at one another knowing we had made a crucial error in deciding to leave our battery operated fan at home. It may sound like an overly luxurious item to take into the bush but I can tell you it makes the world of difference in taking the edge off some very uncomfortable conditions. At this point we were cursing Accuweather who had quite clearly stated that we were to have lots of rain and moderate temperatures!

Late one afternoon we came across them lying asleep in the middle of the road. No sooner had we approached when one of the sub adult males stood up and starting jogging towards the car. (This is pretty unusual lion behavior!). When he reached us we had to very quickly put up our windows as he began peering inside, although he soon found the car tyres and the tow bar far more interesting. As he began gnawing on the back of our car we had to firmly pull away in order to keep our car intact!

The commotion had now attracted the attention of his sisters and before we knew it we had 4 lions surrounding the car all intent on chewing tyres, door handles and basically anything they could get their teeth into. Of course this was not an ideal situation for the wellbeing of our vehicle so we kept having to move away. Undeterred the lions would just jog after us. It must have made for quite a sight and I can tell you that inside the car, our adrenalin levels were at fever pitch!

All through these escapades the adults continued to sleep, completely unperturbed and unstressed about what the youngsters were getting up to, making us think that this may be a fairly common game that the youngsters were engaged in.

After a while they all calmed down and with sunset approaching the classic golden Kalahari light and very obliging lions gave Chris some opportunities to really capture the beautiful lions that made up the Letiahau Lion Pride.

The following afternoon we came across the Letiahau Pride again. The naughty rascal sub adult male was tucked up under a very shady bush with his father while 2 lioness and a sub adult female were crammed under a bush, trying to sleep in the tiny bit of shade that was on offer.

I became aware of a presence next to my side of the car and as I casually glanced down I noticed it was a very large 2 meter long snake. It gave me quite a fright as my breath caught in my throat but I managed to causally mention to Chris that there was a snake right next to the car. It was about a meter away and I could tell it was utterly aware of me looking at it.

Chris leaned over to have a closer look and to my surprise he leapt back in fright, profanities pouring forth. As I had not seen one before, I did not realise that it was in fact a Black Mamba and not the boomslang I had incorrectly thought it to have been. The Black Mamba is the most poisonous as well as the fastest snake in Africa. It also has the reputation of being highly aggressive and an incredibly aware snake.

In order to prevent the snake from coming under and possibly into the car Chris had in a split second turned the engine on with the idea of getting some space away from it. He wanted to drive forward to block it from the lions that were only a few meters away but the snake was too fast and raced in front of the car rather than behind it when our car engine startled it.

We had another agonizing hour of waiting before all three lions roused themselves and crawled out from under the bush to begin their after dark activities, none the wiser to the potentially fatal encounter they had just avoided.

San Pan was inhospitable to put it mildly. We reached a trip high of 42C in the scrap of shade we could find. We were being bitten by 2 different species of ants and 1 species of tick. 3 difference species of flies were constantly buzzing and pestering us and as the area was so dry, not having received even a tiny drop of rain, there was not an animal in sight!

But, having said all of the above I know there are no rewards without a little bit of hardship sometimes and quite honestly, the adventure and privilege of being in the Central Kalahari definitely means a bad day in the bush beats a good day in the City!

The following day we arrived at Tau Pan just after day break and were greeted to the sight of 3 magnificent Kalahari male lions. These 3 were part of a coalition of 5 strong males we had seen back in 2017 and they were looking in prime condition. We were later to learn that all 5 are still together so it was very moment to know that all were doing well and still reigning over their territory that falls over the prime location in the park.

Hunts are always observed with a huge amount of respect as well as with a certain amount of trepidation. At the end of the day, as exciting as it is to see it, the winner is merely surviving while the loser will pay the ultimate price.

At the crucial moment she leapt forward and began her charge only for the springbok to react in the smartest way possible. It may just have been blind luck or perhaps a life-sustaining decision but the springbok reacted with almost impossible starting speed and made a beeline for the thornbush line. The change of habitat (even in those few meters) meant the female cheetah was not able to gain traction and get into her full stride. After 80 meters the springbok emerged the victor in this deadly race.

We had a pretty quiet time of sounds at night on this trip but our second to last night was to prove the highlight. At around 11am a lone lioness could be heard calling a long way off and she had obviously attracted the attention of her male counterpart who was in our neck of the woods. For the next 2 hours we monitored his movements as he seemed to approach closer and closer to our campsite.

The piercing lion roar rips so loudly and clearly through the still night air and reverberates into the ground so that you can feel the vibrations pulsing up at you (especially when your mattress has gone flat!).

In that moment, when you know he is so close, your breath catches in your throat, it goes completely dry and you dare not draw breath so that you can better listen for the following roar. Will he be closer this time or not?

After 15 days of no rain we awoke the morning of our departure to the rumble of thunder and a dark stormy sky developing in the area we would be driving into and out of the Park. Just when we did not need the rain, it was now here to make our drive out just that little bit more challenging!

A supposed no-go area for hunters and settlers, the buffer zone that surrounds the CKGR acts as a barrier between the wildlife and the nearby towns. As I trotted slowly through those pancake-flat sandy grasslands, with nary another human being in sight beyond our travelling pack, I felt very small indeed. True wilderness has a way of doing that to you. Lions can do so too.

I listened intently, trying to somehow aim my ears into the empty darkness, but all I heard were the rumblings of a far-off thunderstorm. But then, from relatively nearby, came the unmistakable roar of a Kalahari lion.

The Milky Way arched through the night sky above our makeshift camp like a celestial rainbow; the fire flickered and the horses whinnied nervously in response to grumbling lions. Most evenings out there in the Kalahari wilderness I felt safe in my little domed tent, visions of big ferocious cats creeping stealthily outside kept sleep at bay as effectively as a double-pint of Red Bull.

On my last evening game drive in the Kalahari, guide Ongalebwe told me that he had a special treat lined up for me. Roast beetle grubs? Sun-dried desert rat? Perhaps some warm tsamma melon juice (which tastes horrible, by the way)? No, he had found me some lions.

Then abruptly we broke out onto the edge of one of the open pans and we climbed up on the roof of the Land Rover and gazed out over the perfectly smooth pale surface, five miles or more to where the trees on the far side danced on the silvery clouds of mirage.

There was a small evening breeze across the pan, the air was blood warm, but by contrast to the heat of the thorn forests we found it a blessing and our spirits were further uplifted by the splendour of the purple and orange sunset.

That night, as I fell asleep beside the coals of the campfire, I heard a pride of lions roaring at the northern end of the pan. It is a sound I love, the deep voice of Africa, and I knew that they were miles off and would stay close to the zebra herds we had passed earlier, so cuddled down into my sleeping bag.

The next morning I paced it out. The lion had been standing six paces from my head, when it let drive with a full blooded roar. Holding the sleeping bag up under my armpits, I broke the Olympic record for the sack race as I went to join my wife in the LandRover, and my chagrin was intense when my efforts to open the back door were strenuously resisted from within.

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