Sleeping with Lions

Our bush chalet was an impressive Robinson-Caruso-like enclave with only two walls. The view you see is straight into chalet - one sleeping room and a bathroom-like room. The white on the right is our mosquito net covered bed. It is all very open to the WILD JUNGLE.. 

On the first night we had dinner at the main lodge and then borrowed a lamp to light the way down winding path to our hut. We heard large rustling sounds in the bush and came running back for help. A guide went with us but all 3 of us ran back twice before we were able to maneuver safely around an elephant feeding.Tiff spent the first hour in our hut crying as she feared for our lives.

 
We had the last in a row of chalets in the camp. It seemed that much of the animal life that came through the camp liked to walk right by our front door, just a couple of steps down. This is a picture of the sand path that would take us back to the main Oddballs hut. Always it was full of all kinds of animal footprints. 

The mating lion roars at night were quite loud. It made a normally restless Tiffany quite anxious and sleepless in the Delta.

 
However, one morning the footprints were special. In the picture see Hans' footprint (has ECCO in the middle) at the bottom, now see overlaid on his footprint, a lion print - upper left, shadowy . That means that hunting lions had walked past our door the night before while we were sleeping - no more than 10 feet away! ....gulp.... 

As one of the guests said when she recalled a scary story, "at some point it's just not fun anymore."

 
From that night on this is all I could envision as I tried to fall asleep, I don't want to even talk about what I'd have dreams about! 

Hint: Have you ever seen the true story movie 'The Ghost and the Darkness" with Val Kilmer and two african lions who terrorized an English rail construction crew back in the 19th century.... really scary-bloody-man-devouring stuff.

 
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