We are often asked about our experiences in the bush. We are especially asked about encounters with dangerous animals. This aspect of our lives fascinates people and I have decided to write some of these stories.

Whilst we live amongst large and potentially dangerous animals, it is in fact rare to have dangerous encounters with them. The "Big Five" was a term coined by big game hunters in the previous century. It was supposed to denote those animals that were particularly dangerous to kill. And there in lies the rub, "dangerous to kill", of course trying to kill something will provoke its wrath! We at Djuma merely observe and try to be unobtrusive as possible and thus we do not provoke the wrath of the "Big Five"! Having said that, there are times when things go wrong, when people make mistakes, or just plain bad luck may be to blame. The "Big Five", by the way, is buffalo, elephant, rhino, lion and leopard.

One such story, which happened to my wife Pippa, a friend, Martin, and myself, falls in the category of making mistakes. One evening, we set off to find the perfect sundowner spot and enjoy the bush. We left Djuma Bush Lodge in the open safari vehicle with full cooler box and a rifle, but only remembered the two-way radio once we had left. We decided that we did not need it.

Shortly before sunset we chanced upon a pride of lions that had recently killed a large giraffe. We decided to enjoy our sundowner drinks in the company of the eight lions. As the spectacular sunset faded into darkness we plugged in the spot light and continued to watch the lions feasting. An hour or two later we decided to head back home.

As I turned the key I realized the awful mistake we had made. We used the spotlight to the point where it had drained the vehicle’s battery of its power! At about that point in time the spotlight started to fade and soon we were enveloped be the African darkness with the sound of lions crunching giraffe bones nearby. We were in trouble with no communications to any form of help!

Soon the lions realized that something was amiss, and being the opportunists that they are, we started hearing the sound large paws make when walking across bare sand. At least one lion was circling the vehicle! The hyenas, which had been relatively quiet, now let forth with gusto, filling the dark night with chilling howls and maniacal giggling. We were effectively blind and had rely on our hearing, and to a lesser extent on our sense of smell (hyenas have an aromatic signature even the olfactory impaired will smell).

A torch in the cubby hole! But it is tiny, a toy really, and the battery is almost flat. Just enough power in the battery to show us the disconcerting array of eyes flashing back at us! We had to take action! I fired two shots into the ground in front of the lion closest to us. It did not frighten them, or the hyenas, away, but the prowling distance from the vehicle had increased. We spent the next five hours maintaining this safer prowling distance. Then it started to rain!

By now we were truly feeling sorry for ourselves, miserable and wet in the open vehicle with predators waiting for the opportunity to taste these morsels in an open tin can! Thankfully the rain dampened the lions’ and hyenas’ hopes of tasting human, there was an enormous giraffe to finish after all.

The sound of the rain drained the noise of our shoes in the grass as we attempted to push the vehicle away from the lions and to a point where we could roll start the vehicle. Earlier any sound of our shoes on the grass elicited an excited response of predators prowling and growling. We were able to push the vehicle far enough for us to attempt a roll start, which was successful!

We left shaken, but intact. A lesson in the validity of the old bush adage: "show me a man killed by an animal and I will show you an ill-prepared man".