As today is a holiday and I imagine you can do with some entertainment, I decided to post a few videos about elephants. Please put up with my usual lack of photographic/filming skills and enjoy the moment!

1. What I call the Babalala Tusker for lack of another more appropriate name until it is -eventually- named by the Kruger National Park authorities.

2. I believe this to be a magnificent view of elephants at a waterhole in Hwange National Park in October 2013. This sight really hooked me on the pachyderms (with help from family and friends…)

3. Another view of elephants drinking at a smaller waterhole.

4. Elephants are the only animals that show “emotions” when approaching the water! Just watch…

This story was told to me by a fishing guide at Kanyemba, a great place for tiger fishing on the Zambezi, Zimbabwe. I was assured that it is a true story.

A number of tour operators organize canoe (kayak-type) trips downriver in the Zambezi. They usually start in the Chirundu area and end at Mana Pools National Park or thereabouts.

A group of European tourists were doing one of these trips. This was a party of six, including a very experienced guide and hunter that knew the area very well and who was a frequent visitor to these waters.

The party was progressing slowly between the river banks when suddenly a hippo attacked them and sunk their boats. Luckily, not only did the culprit depart soon after the damage was done, but the tourists capsized in shallow water (chest level) and managed to hold onto some oars!

Fearing a return of the attacker and fearing attracting crocodiles’ attention, the guide instructed the tourists to stay put in the shallow bank while he swam to the Zambian shore to look for help. He knew the farmers on the other side. He calculated that he would return a couple of hours later with a boat to pick them up. Before he left, he strongly recommended that they stay put and use the oars as their defense in case of hippos or crocodiles.

He started wading the river and then swimming. He was very fit and made progress rapidly towards the other shore. However, the river is wide at parts and, about half way, the horrified tourists saw a crocodile swimming towards him and, although they shouted and waved arms and oars, the guide did not hear them and the inevitable happened. The crocodile attacked and took the guide by his right arm. A struggle ensued and, luckily, the guide broke free and managed to reach the shore, injured and having lost a considerable amount of blood.

The guide, now severely weakened by blood loss, was clearly in trouble! Although aware of his lucky escape from the crocodile, he realized that he would not be able to move very far from the river’s shore and there were many dangerous animals in that area, particularly the feared buffalo but also lion and hyena. Before his strength waned he found the best possible place and sat down leaning against a tree trunk. He was no longer bleeding but he could not move, as he was very weak.

Before he fainted he realized that he was in trouble. After a while -he did not know how long- he came to and heard an animal approaching. As it was almost night-time, he did not see at first what it was but there was little he could do anyway so he prepared for the worst. He strained his eyes and managed to see a large shape approaching and he knew that it was a buffalo and that he was a goner. The buffalo was coming straight towards him so he closed his eyes and waited. Nothing happened! Nevertheless, he could smell and hear the buffalo breathing very close. He slowly opened his eyes and his heart missed a beat. The buffalo was lying a couple of metres away from him!

He passed out again and he woke up with the first light. The buffalo was gone and, for a moment he thought that it was a dream. However, the flattened grass confirmed that the animal had been there! His arm was not bleeding and he had regained some strength so he decided to walk to the nearest farm to seek help. He did not make it but was luckily found, unconscious again, by one of the farm workers on patrol.

Our battered guide was immediately taken to the farm. He was in a terrible state so the farmer decided to evacuate him to South Africa for emergency medical attention. As there was no time to waste, an ambulance plane was called and within a couple of hours the farmer and the injured guide were on their way to Johannesburg.

As is the case during a medical evacuation, the doctors started treating the guide as soon as he was on board and in about an hour he regained consciousness. The caretakers realized that he was trying to speak and, attributing this to the fever caused by the infected wounds, told him to relax as he was out of danger and in good hands now. The guide, however, became increasingly agitated until, gathering all his strength managed to say “tourists, Zambezi” “You are not in the Zambezi anymore, you are on a plane to South Africa” came the reply from the doctor.

Eventually he got the message across and managed to describe what had taken place and told them that his clients were still in the Zambezi! Panic ensued and frantic messages from the pilot to Lusaka airport were recieved before the plane’s landing in South Africa.

Eventually the news was relayed back to the farm and a search and rescue party was dispatched with the result that a few hours later the survivors were found, still in the same spot, with the water up to their waists, hanging on to their oars, unharmed and overjoyed to have been found.

The guide recovered from his injuries and continued working for a few more years. Sadly, he died while trying to finish-off a wounded buffalo.

The Bushsnob is back in action, at least for two posts! I am not sure when I will be able to post again so I will do the “Beast 5 Revealed” below.

At the moment we are 1600 km north from the river Plate, at our small farm in Salta, Argentina from where I will post a few interesting entries (I hope) for you to enjoy.

They were forced to jump through rings of fire, to walk across thin wood bridges, to sit on two paws and to run in small circles. They didn’t want to, but they did. They had to survive. So they abode to the rules of their masters and ran in circles, sat on two paws and jumped when they were ordered to.

They lived in perfect misery. Their food was thrown on the floor, where it mixed with their faeces. Drinking water was very often filthy and their manes were knotted, for they were so dirty. A miserable life.

Yet, they were royals, enslaved yes, but still kings and queens.

They were lions kept in captivity in seven or eight circuses working in rural Bolivia, mainly in the tropical lowlands, where the climate is warm and humid. Some of them had been captured in Africa when they were still young, then sold to many owners and eventually found themselves in South America. Others were born in circuses and small zoos but were still of royal blood.

The circuses presented the lions in small towns where laws and regulations could be ignored easily.

In 2009 Animal Defenders International (ADI) surveyed the use of animals in the entertainment industry in Bolivia and found a surprisingly large number of circuses owning a great variety of animals. That finding led the Government to pass a law banning the use of live animals for human entertainment. In 2010, ADI decided to rescue the animals held by circuses. A “covert” operation was then developed with the ultimate aim of rescuing the animals. ADI staff, disguised as clowns, jugglers and cleaning workers infiltrated the circuses to glean the exact number and species of animals kept, and to get photographic evidence.

The ADI, supported by the Government body in charge of biodiversity conservation -the Dirección General de Biodiversidad (DGB)- seized animals from more than seven circuses; the lions were confined in cages. All were in bad condition; they were undernourished, weak, covered by wounds and scars and suffered various diseases. One of them even had deformed bones as a result of chronic malnutrition. Another one had become so aggressive that he lunged against the bars of the cage every time a person approached it. A female that gave birth to three cubs had barely enough milk for all. One was almost unable to endure the trip to Santa Cruz due to its condition. While some owners decided to accept the laws and cede the animals, others refused and resisted. One threatened to stab the ADI and DGB staff.

Following the request of the ADI and DGB, some local workshops built new cages to transport the animals to a temporary refuge. The Bolivian blacksmiths did well on this novel work.

Circus by circus the ADI and DGB seized the lions, sometimes confiscating the cages, others compensating the owners. The lions were transferred to the newly built cages. For some towns, the seizing operations were the most exciting event had happened in many years. In some towns, children gathered for an impromptu farewell. All in all, the ADI and DGB seized 25 lions.

A “lion den” to hold them was organized in Santa Cruz to keep them until their condition improved. The lions travelled more than 800 miles by land, on difficult and dangerous roads to get to their destination. Transportation was carried out with the utmost care, as having an accident with a cargo of lions on winding roads that brush the edge of deep cliffs would have been unwelcome. When the lions came under ADI’s protection, they were dewormed, and given proper food, vitamins, clean water and more space. They were also given good bedding and places to rest but, most important of all, the shows were over. No more jumping, crawling, running and sitting on two paws at their tamer’s orders.

While this was happening, a large, permanent refuge was being built in Denver, Colorado. The lions would go from summer in the tropics to winter in the North. Special lodges had to be built to help the animals grow accustomed to the hostile winter.

Finally, the lions were transferred to cages appropriate for plane travel. The ADI team ensured that while every animal was in one cage, families could be together, animals could see each other and mothers would travel with their cubs. An old DC-130, a veteran from the Viet-Nam war, took off from Santa Cruz and arrived twelve hours later in Denver. There, the ADI team and a number of supporters–including the renowned TV conductor Bob Barker and the CSI star, Jorja Fox, were awaiting their arrival.

The lions were set free in what is now their permanent refuge. They have formed families. Most have recovered from their injuries and illnesses. Far, very far from Africa, they are finally free from the circus and the tamers. They cannot be reintegrated into the wilderness, for they lack the hunting and surviving abilities a lion must have, nor they will be allowed to reproduce, since the population would increase, posing a further problem. However, they will live a much better life.

I wonder if those lions, when the sunset comes, remember their African savannas. Maybe they do, and in their dreams they see themselves hunting, fighting, killing and dying as the royals they once were. After all, they still have blue blood.

Gonzalo Flores (don.gonchi@gmail.com)

* This story was told in a film titled “Lion Ark”, directed by Tim Phillips. It was awarded seven awards, including the Mississippi Film Festival’s Best Documentary and the San Diego Film Festival’s Audience Choice Best Documentary.