The Mighty Mapogos

[fursan syed]

Makhulu
The Leader of 6 has arrived and this land was his!


We came into a clearing and established a safe exit route for the vehicle if we needed to use it. And then saw something I have never seen and have no explanation for. In the foreground a large buffalo carcass, writhing with reddened hyenas from at least two different clans. But behind them something strange, almost supernatural loomed in the moonlight. A massive grey wall over three metres high and over forty metres long, towering above the kill. Twenty five elephants, standing shoulder to shoulder, with youngsters behind them, stared down at the nervous but blood-crazed scavenger-hunters. They neither charged nor fled. Just stood and watched. For almost an hour. Jerry whispered that they had come to try help the buffalo.
I heard something running in from behind the vehicle. It was coming quietly but fast. I grabbed the spotlight from Jerry and shone behind us just as an enormous male lion burst into the clearing, roaring his arrival as thirty hyenas screamed in horror and scattered in all directions. The leader of the six had arrived, and this land was his. His roars came from the base of his gut, louder than any roar I’d ever heard. He stared at the wall of elephants, which stayed their ground for about five minutes before turning and moving away.
For four of our guests this was their first evening in Africa. We drove home in silence.

Written by James Kydd,Aug 06, 2007

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