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Authors: Anthony Bourke
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the Tana River, rather than get wet.
Christian picking his way carefully through the thick thorn bushes at Kora.
Bill and Virginia had three young children and several dogs, and from his compound Christian watched their movements closely. He would have loved to be included in their games. At Sophistocat, if Christian had to be in the basement, he was unaware of what he was missing upstairs. Christian did not like to be left out of anything and expected to have the freedom to decide if he wanted to participate. At Leith Hill a twelve-foot-high wire fence prevented him from joining in, but not from seeing the tempting games from which he was excluded. Unless we were with him, he paced the fence with frustration, and very quickly wore a path along it. By now it might have been a cage he was pacing in the same pointless way. After the initial mutual curiosity between Christian and the dogs, they quickly lost interest in one another. But if one of the dogs strayed too close to the fence, Christian would tensely crouch and flatten his ears, imagining he was invisible, but he forgot about his tail, which swished in excitement. Then he would charge the fence and succeed in frightening away the dog, and because of the number of times he succeeded in stalking and almost knocking us to the ground, we felt his natural instincts had not been impaired.
We decided to begin Christian's preparation for Africa in a small way at Leith Hill. By comparisons we had made with other lions at Longleat Safari Park or at zoos, Christian was big for his age, but he needed to be as strong as possible for his new life. With constant exercise and this outdoor life, he looked even healthier and continued to grow rapidly, his body now more in proportion with his head and paws. On a rope from his tree we hung a sack filled with straw, and lie adored attacking it, often swinging entirely off the ground. This was good practice for Kenya, and helped to develop his muscles. He had learned to keep his claws sheathed when we were playing with him; sharp, inch-long claws are an important weapon for a lion, and attacking the sack strengthened them and taught him how to use them efficiently. We also changed Christian's diet. Lions in the wild usually kill in the evenings and have a varied diet. Christian was now given a small milk and Farex meal in the morning and one large evening meal. In addition to raw meat, he had dried meat, carrots, and cow's liver, and sometimes we gave him the head or stomach of a cow. His presence at Leith Hill had not been publicized, and the local butcher, mystified by our meat orders, asked, "What on earth are you two feeding, a crocodile?" As he knew we were living with Bill and Virginia, a lion would have been a far more reasonable assumption.
His new diet improved his coat. It became thicker and softer, and was a beautiful lion-caramel color. His partially black mane became more pronounced, and lie was growing into an extremely handsome lion. He spent more time cleaning and grooming himself, although he was never as fastidious as most domestic cats. His tongue was so rough that his licks on our faces could almost draw blood. He had lost his milk teeth, and he initiated his new ones by destroying several rungs of the ladder to his caravan.
He also had more scope to express himself at Leith Hill, and because we had more time to spend with him and appreciate him away from the demands of the city, our relationship with him grew even deeper and more affectionate. Unity came down from London several times each week to spend the day with him, and new games were invented. He particularly enjoyed playing "wheelbarrows" with her and became adept at tapping ankles and tripping people. He had a variety of toys, a new tire, and several shrubs to play lions behind. He was content, and we found him irresistibly entertaining. Considering his size, he played extremely gently with us and remained easy to manage. It was perfectly safe for any of our
Christian picking his way carefully through the thick thorn bushes at Kora.
Bill and Virginia had three young children and several dogs, and from his compound Christian watched their movements closely. He would have loved to be included in their games. At Sophistocat, if Christian had to be in the basement, he was unaware of what he was missing upstairs. Christian did not like to be left out of anything and expected to have the freedom to decide if he wanted to participate. At Leith Hill a twelve-foot-high wire fence prevented him from joining in, but not from seeing the tempting games from which he was excluded. Unless we were with him, he paced the fence with frustration, and very quickly wore a path along it. By now it might have been a cage he was pacing in the same pointless way. After the initial mutual curiosity between Christian and the dogs, they quickly lost interest in one another. But if one of the dogs strayed too close to the fence, Christian would tensely crouch and flatten his ears, imagining he was invisible, but he forgot about his tail, which swished in excitement. Then he would charge the fence and succeed in frightening away the dog, and because of the number of times he succeeded in stalking and almost knocking us to the ground, we felt his natural instincts had not been impaired.
We decided to begin Christian's preparation for Africa in a small way at Leith Hill. By comparisons we had made with other lions at Longleat Safari Park or at zoos, Christian was big for his age, but he needed to be as strong as possible for his new life. With constant exercise and this outdoor life, he looked even healthier and continued to grow rapidly, his body now more in proportion with his head and paws. On a rope from his tree we hung a sack filled with straw, and lie adored attacking it, often swinging entirely off the ground. This was good practice for Kenya, and helped to develop his muscles. He had learned to keep his claws sheathed when we were playing with him; sharp, inch-long claws are an important weapon for a lion, and attacking the sack strengthened them and taught him how to use them efficiently. We also changed Christian's diet. Lions in the wild usually kill in the evenings and have a varied diet. Christian was now given a small milk and Farex meal in the morning and one large evening meal. In addition to raw meat, he had dried meat, carrots, and cow's liver, and sometimes we gave him the head or stomach of a cow. His presence at Leith Hill had not been publicized, and the local butcher, mystified by our meat orders, asked, "What on earth are you two feeding, a crocodile?" As he knew we were living with Bill and Virginia, a lion would have been a far more reasonable assumption.
His new diet improved his coat. It became thicker and softer, and was a beautiful lion-caramel color. His partially black mane became more pronounced, and lie was growing into an extremely handsome lion. He spent more time cleaning and grooming himself, although he was never as fastidious as most domestic cats. His tongue was so rough that his licks on our faces could almost draw blood. He had lost his milk teeth, and he initiated his new ones by destroying several rungs of the ladder to his caravan.
He also had more scope to express himself at Leith Hill, and because we had more time to spend with him and appreciate him away from the demands of the city, our relationship with him grew even deeper and more affectionate. Unity came down from London several times each week to spend the day with him, and new games were invented. He particularly enjoyed playing "wheelbarrows" with her and became adept at tapping ankles and tripping people. He had a variety of toys, a new tire, and several shrubs to play lions behind. He was content, and we found him irresistibly entertaining. Considering his size, he played extremely gently with us and remained easy to manage. It was perfectly safe for any of our
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