The man-eating lions of Tsavo National Park

Camping in Africa is the ultimate adventure. This past week I went to sleep to the howl of hyenas and checked for elephant herds before I went to the bathroom (usually a guard escorted me with an AK-47). Every morning I would wake up and ask the Maasai how many lions came into camp the night before because their growls woke me up again. At night mysterious eyes would appear in the distance and then circle around our campfire. It doesn’t take much to make your imagination go crazy…
Camping for a week in an extremely remote area with 45 people is quite an ordeal. Our “herd” consisted of 28 American students, 4 professors, Daniel the naturalist, numerous Maasai askaris, cooks, mechanics, drivers, Kenya Wildlife Service guards etc. along with a weeks worth of food and water. I’m sure we looked like a traveling circus as we drove for 4 hours across the bumpy dirt roads. Most of the way the majority of us were all hanging out of the sunroofs and windows to get a better look at the red cliffs and lava flows that make up the beautiful landscape of Tsavo.
Tsavo is the largest game park in Kenya and is known for its man-eating lions with no manes. At the beginning of the 20th century over a hundred railroad workers mysteriously disappeared and their skeletons were later found in a lion’s den. Tsavo also has one of the most successful black rhino sanctuaries in Africa where 72 rhinos of all ages are heavily protected and monitored. We spent an entire day with the people that ran the sanctuary and learned everything about the extent Kenya has gone to in order to protect this endangered species.
Since the game park is so big and densely vegetated it is somewhat difficult to find animals, but we were extremely lucky. Throughout our stay we did an extensive study on different species habitat preference and were able to see all of the “big five” animals (which are the 5 most desired animals to see in Africa). They consist of leopards, rhinos, elephants, buffalo, and lions. The leopard was a beautiful young female that was delicately resting on branch 15 feet up from the ground. After every game drive I was completely caked in dust to the point where you could no longer tell the color of my clothes and I looked like I had white circles around my eyes when I took off my sunglasses. Even my teeth were covered in dirt.
Being in Kenya again is like experiencing a continual deja vu. Memories that have been stuck in my mind for years and have had such an influence on me are changing and being recreated throughout everyday. The more I spend time in Kenya the more I realize how much I love having such wild daily routines in what really is “the mighty jungle”.