the short happy life

I've just read Hemmingway's short story, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. It's a story about a man who goes hunting but runs away in fear from a lion. It has inspired me to relay stories I've heard about simba.

Man-eaters

"All that is found when a ranger is taken by a lion is his boots and broken beer bottles." There are terrible stories of people being taken by man-eating lions. However, most of the time when someone is taken, it is the town drunk.

"Whatever you do, don't run." 

J has a former hunting partner that he has vowed never to hunt with again (J doesn't hunt anymore either ...). They were on a hunting trip that had already gone fairly badly when they happened across a lion about 100 yards away. The lion moseyed away from them and J therefore didn't end up shooting it. He watched this happen through the scope of the rifle and when he spoke to his partner there was no answer. He looked around for him and he was about 100 yards away in the other direction still running. This endangered both of them and J was furious.

Camping 

When you are camping, do this:

• do up the fly of your tent. Really. This makes a difference. A lion will go through an open fly but not a closed one. And men used to get pulled from tents when the British army had those tents with a 6" gap between the tent and the ground. 
• if you need to leave your tent to go to the bathroom, you will be safe(r?) if you can open your tent and look around and really focus for two minutes. If you can't do that, you probably don't have the wherewithal to determine if you are prey or not. 

story: Our friend moved to Africa from Ireland. His family was skeptical of all this but his brother was willing to make an effort. He came, they went on safari, the first night he was alone in his tent when a lion let out a full-throated roar beside his tent. He lived but they left the sleeping bag behind.

story: A few years ago J was asked to shoot a lion that was cruising around the beach of a resort up the coast. He said he did not want to but he would be the second. The two men spent a couple of nights up their looking but found nothing. On their way out they discovered that the lion had been taken by a local hunter. J inspected the animal and determined the animal had been shot from 10 yards away (at night). Also, the man had only a single shot gun and two shells. And some balls.

story: A bunch of wageni (tourists) were on safari and sitting around the campfire. Suddenly the guide stopped the conversation and told everyone not to panic. When he took the flashlight and shone it around the perimeter, there were nine pairs of eyes looking back. They had happened along and pulled close to the fire to enjoy the heat. One of the tourists asked if he could take a picture and the guide slapped him across the face.