Lion Called Christian (13 page)

Later we took him for a walk, and he seemed relieved to be away from Boy and Katania. The countryside stretched endlessly, broken only occasionally by outcrops of rock. George had chosen the campsite for a variety of reasons, but Kora Rock, the large rock outcrop overlooking the camp, was ideal for the lions to use for observation. It was unattractive here in comparison with the Tana River, but still rather beautiful--various shades of gray and brown, and splashes of green around dried-up water holes. Barren, and mainly covered by low, thick thornbushes, it was a harsh area for the lions to live in. Christian had come to what could be described as another "World's End."

Back in the camp he teased the Africans constructing the huts; he bit a few bottoms and kneecaps, and jumped on whatever they happened to be carrying. These Africans adjusted to Christian but were always wary of him, as lions are their traditional enemies. George was interested to see that Christian, unlike most other lions, showed no color prejudice. Boy, who would accept Europeans, growled fiercely each time an African came too close to his compound, but Christian did not share this dislike and amused us all for the afternoon. He seemed a travesty of a lion.

In high spirits, Christian now became rather provocative with Boy. He focused his attention almost entirely on him, and a little later he strode boldly up to the dividing wire and lay down. Boy charged and Christian turned and fled. But he came back a few minutes later and appeared to be teasing Boy, who was outraged by this impudence and again charged angrily. Christian even poked his head through Katania's hatch, but hastily withdrew it when Boy spotted him. Perhaps he had tired of having no contact with them, yet strangely it still seemed more natural for Christian to be with humans rather than lions. We certainly appeared to appreciate him more.

The next day George decided that it was time for Christian to meet Katania, who had been unwilling to leave Boy and come through the hatch to Christian. It was unusual for a fully grown lion and a four-month-old lioness to have such a strong, affectionate relationship because in a natural pride the adult lion has little contact with the cubs. But since they had been living together at Naivasha, Boy, probably to his embarrassment, had been cast in the role of mother-substitute.

George led Boy out of his compound, and Christian, safely on the other side of the wire, stalked him as he walked past. Boy rushed at the fence, but his charges now seemed less convincing, and we suspected that he was rapidly becoming bored with this necessary display of authority. Interestingly, when he charged this time, Christian snarled as usual, but for the first time rolled over on his back, the gesture of submission from the younger lion that Boy demanded.

With Boy outside we could then take Christian through a gate into the other compound. He walked up to the other end, where Katania was pacing, distressed by her separation from Boy. Christian approached her confidently, and they exchanged a beautiful greeting, their heads gently touching. He was intrigued and continually licked and smelled her. Boy jealously watched all this from outside, but after an initial charge at the fence to demonstrate his disapproval, he appeared resigned.

Christian and Katania played together, and although he was much bigger he was very gentle, and she squealed on the few occasions he was too rough with her. He followed her, tapping her back legs and tripping her. This was a game that he and Unity had devised at Leith Hill. Christian was delighted to have a lion to play with, and afterward we thought that he was rather smug and offhand with us!

Boy was led back into our compound, and Katania ran through the hatch to greet him. After smelling her he grimaced, baring his teeth to show his displeasure at Christian's scent, but another step had been taken. We were very uneasy about Boy spending the night in our compound with us, as we had not been introduced to him either. To our horror he chose to sleep in our tent, and we did not dare argue. This really unnerved us. We did not know him and he did not know us. We were associated with Christian, who as a young male must have appeared as a threat to him. On several occasions he gently raised our arms up in his huge jaws and teeth and it was hard not to panic. Unexpected quick movements can alarm and frighten lions, with dangerous consequences, and we tried to appear relaxed and not radiate any fear. He urinated where he liked, staking out his territory, and we just tiptoed around him. We found Boy quite unknowable and privately felt he had had too many injuries, operations, and anesthetics.

On the following day George thought that enough time had elapsed for Christian to be safely introduced to Boy outside the compound. It was a meeting we had all waited for anxiously, but aware that if there was a fight between them, Christian had no chance. The decision was George's, and we relied on his experience and judgement. We led Christian up onto Kora Rock behind the camp where he wanted them to meet. Then George led Boy and Katania up from a different direction. Boy and Katania lay down about fifteen yards from Christian, who was watching intently. For twenty minutes we stood nervously and watched and waited. Although impatient to make contact with Boy, Christian correctly sensed that it was not for him to make the first move.

Katania finally became bored with the tense situation and wandered toward Christian, and they greeted one another. Boy immediately stood up and charged at him. It was a very frightening moment, intensified by their roars and snarls. Christian rolled over on his back submissively, and, satisfied, Boy lay down a few yards from him. Although they appeared to be fighting savagely, with paws and legs flailing, very little physical contact had been made, and Christian seemed to be unhurt.

After an interval of about ten minutes, Katania, who had wisely run off during the encounter, again came over to Christian and triggered off another frightening performance. This time Boy walked away, leaving Christian badly shaken and looking miserable. He then came over to us and, comforting him, we walked back to camp, noting a few scratches and a slight limp.

Although it was an orchestrated situation, we had witnessed a natural introduction between an adult lion and a younger lion. Despite our feelings for Christian, we felt we were intruders in animal society and their protocol. Christian had instinctively known what his role was, and he had followed the conventions of the lion world by his submission. George commented that Christian had shown considerable courage by his determination to face Boy and not flee from him. Christian was obviously growing fond of Katania, but it was Boy's acceptance he was so anxious to win. To gain this, he had to endure some ongoing unpleasant but necessary formalities.

We could now all live in the same compound. Over the next few days, Christian stayed as close to Boy as he would permit. If Christian was too daring, Boy would charge, but the charges had lost their intensity. Christian concentrated adoringly on Boy and even imitated his movements; he followed him around, sat down when he sat down, and lay in the same position. We often saw him lying just around a corner from Boy, a clever trick to get closer to him than would normally be allowed. He sometimes played with Katania, but she was a poor second to Boy. Christian was still affectionate toward us, but he was definitely a lion's lion.

Each morning we went walking with George and the lions until they chose some shade in which to spend the hottest hours of the day. Christian followed behind Boy and Katania, but sat down and looked in another direction whenever Boy noticed him. In the afternoons we would find the three lions together, but Christian was always a few yards away, not yet an accepted member of the pride.

We had an extraordinary human-animal coexistence living with the lions at Kora. It was a potentially very dangerous environment, but expertly created and controlled by George's experience and knowledge of lion behavior. George's confidence in both lions and humans was sometimes questioned over the years by his detractors, but overall, his faith had been justified. We spent ridiculous nights with the three lions often in our tent. While Katania bit our toes or stole our blankets, Christian hid under a bed, and Boy roared thunderously, followed by any number of defiant grunts.

After a few days Boy greeted us in the same way he greeted George, and his huge head would rub up against us. He had a seemingly placid nature, but a total assumption of superiority. Like all cats, everything had to be his idea, and he did only what he wanted to do. Filming had continued at Kora, and we often had to wait hours until Boy was suitably positioned. In contrast we just carried Christian into the correct position, or simply rolled him over to face the cameras. We found ourselves describing Boy as a "marvelous" lion, and physically he was, but compared with Christian's youthful exuberance, he seemed to have less personality. Our praise of Boy was really just relief that he had eaten neither us nor Christian.

Christian had now been in Africa for several weeks. He was tougher and his pads had hardened and he was growing into a very handsome lion. Bill described him as the "Jean-Paul Belmondo of the lion world," referring to a French film star of the time. Christian had always been healthy, but one day he was suddenly listless. We thought he might be depressed by Boy's reluctance to fully accept him, but because of the whiteness of his gums and his hot nose, George took his temperature and diagnosed tick fever. Christian had no immunity against this disease, and George, fortunately anticipating it, was able to inject him with the appropriate vaccine. He believed that Elsa had died from tick fever, and that if he had had this vaccine then, he might have saved her. Christian was very sick for two days but quickly recovered.

Now that Christian had been introduced to Boy, Bill and the film crew returned to England to edit the film. George suggested that we should also leave Kora for a short time so that Christian could get used to life without us. We decided to visit other parts of Kenya and Tanzania before returning to say good-bye.

I
n Kenya we visited the Maasai Mara, and in Tanzania the Serengeti, Lake Manyara, and Ngorongoro Grater. We saw a variety of animals such as wildebeest, zebra, antelope, herds of elephant, cheetah, leopard, and huge flocks of birds like flamingos, often in spectacular surroundings. We were most impressed by the dramatically beautiful Ngorongoro Grater, and for the first time met some of the elegant Maasai people, who have staunchly defended their right to a traditional lifestyle with their cattle, even more threatened today by the competition for land and resources. It was there that we saw our first lions in the wild: three cubs and two lionesses. While tourism is an important industry and gives employment to many Africans, there was something disturbing about "wild" lions that appeared unconcerned by the Land Rovers that totally encircled them, and the tourists leaning out of the windows taking photographs. One woman in a game reserve who had been driven by a guide to see the unusual sight of a lion guarding his freshly killed buffalo from vultures said, "I've come to see kills, not carcasses. Drive on."

Conditions in the lodges where we stayed varied from nights under canvas to the luxurious. All the lodges were expensive and full of enthusiastic middle-aged tourists, who seemed to feel that the cost of their African holiday was justified if they saw one lion. While these tourists were obviously loving their African experience and expanding their awareness of animals in the wild, we were less easily satisfied, having flown with our own lion to Africa. We had been spoiled by our weeks at Kora, living with several lions, and at a pace at which it was possible to absorb a deep feeling for Africa. Rather than have many animals paraded before us, we preferred to see a few of them unexpectedly, or to sit quietly by the Tana River for hours watching the shy waterbucks, baboons, oryx, and elephants come warily for their evening drink.

We decided to visit Joy Adamson at Elsamere, her house on the shores of Lake Naivasha, a drive of one and a half hours from Nairobi. Prior to relocating to Kora, George had been staying there monitoring Boy's recovery from his injuries and operations.

Joy Adamson was born in Austria and first went to Africa in 1936, where she met her second husband, Peter Bally, a botanist. Joy was a very talented woman with great enthusiasms, often allied to her partners' occupations. She was a very fine botanical artist, and also painted many animals, birds, and a definitive series on the tribes of Kenya, which are in the Nairobi Museum. Joy and George first met in 1942 and had a volatile marriage and relationship up until her death.

After Elsa the lion cub was raised and rehabilitated by them, their lives were devoted to the conservation of animals and returning different species to the wild. Joy wrote
Born Free
from George's diaries, which was published in 1960 and followed by a film version in 1966. Both were huge worldwide hits.

Joy had set up The Elsa Wild Animal Appeal in 1961, which is now called The Elsa Conservation Trust. The documentary about Christian's rehabilitation and the allotment of Kora for this purpose gave George financial independence from Joy for the first time and a place to live with his lions. Joy resented this, so it was with some trepidation that we drove up to Elsamere, where to our surprise the sofas were upholstered in lion skins. When we dared ask her about them, she brushed our concerns aside with, "There are good lions and bad lions."