Boarding Pass

As I write this, four big dagga boys — bachelor buffaloes — have chased a hyena out of the waterhole where he was hiding from the bushveld heat. This drama is playing out not 50m from the deck of a tented camp in the Timbavati where I am staying. This morning, we saw three cheetahs loping in from the Kruger National Park, and a pride of lionesses shepherding their eight cubs along as they track a herd of 80 or more buffaloes for a second day.

This afternoon, the buffaloes may lose one of their number to the lions. Just as the impala herd did yesterday when a pack of painted wolves ran one down just metres from the camp.

To see animals in the natural state is a gift and a privilege.

It is a gift we have to pay for, at least since we humans upset the natural order of things and destroyed habitats and herds and wiped out entire species. Humans have long ago lost the connection to nature. It’s called progress, apparently.

Looking after nature costs a lot, which is one reason most of these game lodges are so expensive. This is the new reality — if wild animals and wild places are going to survive, then they have to earn their keep and anything that boosts wildlife tourism in Africa is to be welcomed.

So, as weird and counterintuitive as it is, I am happy to read that the remake of The Lion King could be a massive boost to lion conservation in Kenya. Who would have thought that CGI could save the wild?

Whatever it takes, I say. roll on, Simba.