Simon Thomsett

Category: Raptor Expedition | Date: May 07 2009 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

On our second day in Etosha, I told Simon the pressure was on for him to find me exciting wildlife for my birthday. He spotted a distant lion but that didn’t cut it. We sat by a waterhole and watched a Kudu and zebras. As we drove away from the waterhole, I noticed a small falcon landing in a tree. We got nearer and Simon identified it as a Western Red-footed Falcon, my first! We spent quite some time watching it as it ate and preened. A Lappet-faced Vulture flew over me and I photographed it, only noticing later when I looked at the picture that the vulture had rings on its legs.

Ringed Lappet-faced Vulture

Not much further, we stopped to scan the area and there, right next to the road, was a lion. Our excitement quickly turned to sadness when we noticed how weak it was. It was about 18 months old and must either have lost its pride or been kicked-out. We asked a lady driving a tour-bus to call someone to come and help but nobody showed up so we went back to camp and pushed and pushed until the rangers were called. We then returned to the site and saw the lion, which we now saw was a female, struggling to walk towards some shade. We stayed until some rangers arrived and showed them where the lion had gone. They asked us not to stay around as they might do something unpleasant. We said we could handle it but wanted to stay and they said we had to leave, “policy,” as we might report things to the newspapers. We didn’t feel very hopeful that they would try to help the lion.

Weak lion cub

We drove a few hundred metres away and watched through binoculars. The rangers drove up to the tree, around it, then drove a little distance away. We couldn’t figure our what they were doing until we saw them get out of the car and heave a carcass into the back of their truck. At first we thought they had shot the lion, but then figured it was a Springbok as they returned to the tree where the lion was and pushed out the carcass. The rangers then drove towards us and told us that the lion was eating and seemed OK.

As we drove past some long grass, we noticed some drongos and kestrels dive-bombing something in the grass. It was an African Wild Cat, another first for the day! But I just got a glimpse of it as it ran away. Not a bad birthday!

Tags: ringed lappet sighting, sick lion in etosha

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