Lion Called Christian (17 page)

We were shocked when we heard about these incidents. Christian could have killed them if he wanted to, or killed them accidentally by seemingly minor wounds. George and Tony felt that Christian was frustrated, adolescent, and lonely, and in a territory where he may never be able to live or establish a pride. The lionesses had mated with the wild lions, and while this was ideal for their rehabilitation, it left Christian on his own. While we sympathized with Christian's situation, we thought George and Tony's attitude was magnanimous. We appreciated how unique and fortunate our relationship had been with Christian, who in very unnatural circumstances in England had never attacked anyone.

Now that he was adolescent and stronger, would our relationship with him change? How would he now react with other visitors to Kora?

In August 1972, over a year since our reunion, we asked George if we could visit him and Christian and meet Tony Fitzjohn. He responded enthusiastically but warned that he could not guarantee Christian would be around camp because the wild lions had driven him farther up the Tana River, and he often spent weeks away. Nevertheless, we decided to go, as there was never any certainty that George could remain at Kora, and there might not be another opportunity.

Tony met us in Nairobi, and we immediately saw what an asset he must have been at Kampi ya Simba and why George liked him so much. It is remarkable to think that today, so many years later, he is continuing George's conservation work at Mkomazi National Park in Tanzania and is the Field Director of the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust.

We arrived at the camp to find George with flu but happy to see us, especially as we came with whiskey and gin. He had been hearing Christian mating with a wild lioness, and it was not until the third night that to our great relief he appeared. Although he did not jump up on us like before, his greeting was as exuberant and as physical. He was just as vocal, although his excited grunts were now much deeper. But he was enormous, and milling between us he knocked over George, who was not amused.

George believed that Christian was possibly the largest lion in Kenya, and certainly the largest lion in the immediate Tana area. He estimated his weight as close to five hundred pounds, though he was still only three years old and would continue to grow.

Over dinner we listened to George and Tony's accounts of Christian's adventures, his fights with the wild lions, his frustrations and assertiveness, and their accounts and interpretation of Christian's attack on them both. They both loved him and did not bear any resentment. We sat up talking all night with Christian interrupting us, entertaining us, and trying to push us off our chairs.

Ace also wrote to his parents about this visit to Christian.

We saw Christian every morning & evening for a walk and a chat. He is much calmer & much more self assured than last year, and stunning to be with. Just as silly. Huge. Jumped up on me only once as before on his hind legs and he did it extremely gently. He licked my face as he towered over me. He nearly crushed John by trying to sit on his lap!

Over the next few days we observed how much he had matured. While happy to greet us, he was even more independent than he was the last year. He dictated when he wanted to be with us and for how long, and he spent a lot of time outside the compound.

George was delighted by Christian's progress and he was obviously a favorite. Christian had now fully accepted Tony, who had never worked with lions before. Tony was to become an expert in bushcraft, and his diverse technical and mechanical skills were invaluable at Kampi ya Simba and greatly improved their communication with the world.

This time we stayed nine days and saw more of the surrounding countryside. We went fishing with Terence, who often provided a welcome addition of fresh fish for the camp. He was an expert on plant life, and he pointed out among the thornbushes and acacias the more exotic myrrh and frankincense shrubs. To us, the shapes of many of the plants and the washed-out colors looked different from the equivalent semi-arid bush areas in Australia, but both continents have a lot in common: a wide variety of climates and vegetations, open spaces, a far horizon, bright sunlight, clear blue skies, and an ancient peace and quiet. Interestingly, both George and Joy spoke to us about the possibilities of some African animals at risk being bred in remote wilderness areas of Australia and in other countries, but on any scale this would be a threat to already fragile ecological balances.

We read George's detailed reports to the Minister of Tourism and Wildlife and they were a fascinating and invaluable day-by-day record of a pride of lions over several years, particularly charting Christian's successful rehabilitation. In the past both George and Joy's work had been criticized by some for not being "scientific" enough, as they had not methodically recorded information to prescribed formulas. But after living with and observing particular animals over many years and several generations, by keeping diaries and notes, writing books and many letters, they have made the greatest contribution to our documented knowledge about lion behavior.

The lionesses had mated with the wild lions, leaving Christian rather isolated and Tony was trying to get a slightly younger male lion from the Nairobi Orphanage to help ease Christian's loneliness. He may have been the nominal head of a pride, but the lionesses consorted with his enemy, and on his own he could not establish a territory here to raise his own cubs.

Christian was clearly ready to get on with a new stage in his life in the wild, and he had already spent extended periods away, possibly looking for a more suitable place to live. While Christian had survived successfully so far, we realized he may have to move far away, with the likelihood that none of us would ever see him again.

Back in Nairobi, we staged a viewing of
The Lion at World's End
documentary to various people who supported and appreciated the significance of George's work, including the Permanent Secretary, the Minister for Tourism and Wildlife, and the Russian Ambassador to Kenya. Kampi ya Simba was an expensive camp to maintain, and there was no support from Joy, who was behaving predictably and blocking any funding for George's work from the Elsa Conservation Trust. Bill Travers had moved on to other projects, and was currently working on a documentary with Jane Goodall about her work with chimpanzees. Income from Christian's documentaries helped fund George's work, and various visitors, supporters, and admirers also contributed.

Back in London Tony Fitzjohn visited us with the news that Christian was extremely well, and a rather unusual peace treaty had been brokered between Christian and one of the wild lions. They were not friends, but they roared to each other and left each other alone.

On the other hand, more worrying news was that some Somali tribesmen and their cattle had moved close to the camp. Christian had killed a few of their cattle, and George was very concerned that Christian would get speared in retaliation. As it was illegal to have cattle in this area, the Game Department and police moved them on, but like the poachers who kill many animals for ivory, body parts, hides, and trophies, the Somali and their cattle would continue to create problems for George.

E
arly in 1973 Christian crossed the Tana River, I going north in the direction of the Meru National Park, a much more attractive area and a good hunting ground. In a national park, animals were safer from poachers, hunters, and tribesmen with cattle. Sadly, George finally stopped counting the days and months of Christian's absence from Kora, and he was never seen again. For the next few years we waited for any news. We liked to imagine that he had established a territory and pride of his own a long way away, too far to return and visit George. We hoped that he would have lived another ten years and that his descendants live in Kenya today. He had miraculously returned to Africa, survived the most dangerous years, and was big and strong. We could not regret anything.

During the first seven years at Kora, George introduced seventeen lions. His rehabilitations were successful but the vicissitudes of life in the wild claimed many lives. Christian's rehabilitation was a complete success. In his autobiography
My Pride and Joy
, George refers to Christian's "pyramid" rather than "pride." Although George had heard Christian mating with wild lionesses on several occasions, he could only assume Christian had progeny and his own biological pride. However, Kampiya Simba was made up of lions of various ages that George had selected from different sources, and through his knowledge and patience wove a coherent man-made "pyramid" of lions around Christian. Juma and Lisa mated with a wild lion and had cubs, and some of them in turn had cubs. George did not want to import any more lions as he would have created an imbalance of predators in an area where there was little game. He worked on his autobiography and continued documenting his observations of these next generations, including, we noted, that adolescent male lions at Kora were the most dangerous.

Kora was gazetted as a national park in October 1973, which gave George and his lions government protection and official endorsement for his lion rehabilitation program. George viewed Kora as a monument to "the cheerful, mischievous, and courageous young lion from London." George continued to live at Kora until 1989. One day a visitor to the camp offered to go to the airstrip to meet other visitors but the car was attacked on the road by poachers. George heard the gunfire from his camp, and was murdered by the poachers when he rushed to help her.

We were honored to have met George, and we had such gratitude for his loving care of Christian. We witnessed the extraordinarily deep understanding and communication George had with his lions and their love and trust of him, even allowing him to treat their injuries. Today he would be called a lion whisperer! His documented contribution to the world's knowledge about lions and conservation is immense, and like many others who were influenced by him, we have supported wildlife and conservation causes ever since.

After
Born Free
there was an explosion of interest in Africa and wildlife, and Joy's publisher Sir William Collins went on to publish many important books. These included Jane Goodall's
In the Shadow of Man
(1971), Mirella Ricciardi's photographic classic
Vanishing Africa
(1971), and various other books related to natural history and man's origins, such as Robert Ardrey's
The Territorial Imperative
(1967) and David Attenborough's
Life on Earth
(l979). People like these laid the foundation for today's conservation movements, and Joy was one of the first to articulate the urgency of man's damaging and degrading relationship with the environment, as evidenced by the current forecasts about the effects of global warning.

A sobering statistic is that there is now one-third the number of lions in Africa since Christian's time, making George's archive of information invaluable for the future. We are actively supporting related conservation projects, especially through the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust.

John visited Kora by himself in 1973, and over the years has supported and visited other conservation projects in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. He is a Trustee of the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust (GAWPT), and he lectures on their behalf, including at the Royal Geographical Society in London. He works as a journalist and public relations consultant on travel and wildlife. In 3008, he was executive producer of
Mkomazi: The Return of the Rhino
, a film about the relocation of four black rhinos from South Africa to Tony Fitzjohn at Mkomazi in Tanzania. John has been working with GAWPT to revive the Kora National Park, which was virtually abandoned when George was murdered.

Ace returned to Australia, where he has a career as an art curator specializing in Australian Aboriginal and colonial art. In Africa we bought textiles, carvings, beaded necklaces, and artifacts for the first time, and we have both continued to collect art. Influenced by his visits to Africa, Ace wanted to know more about the original Aboriginal inhabitants of Australia. He discovered an extraordinarily diverse and rich artistic tradition and culture with an exciting contemporary expression, but also post-colonial dispossession and much social and economic disadvantage.

With the YouTube-induced revival of interest in Christian, we have enjoyed reliving and reflecting on our time with Christian, looking at photographs, falling in love with him all over again, and missing him. Looking back, we cannot quite believe it turned out so well and we actually succeeded in returning Christian to Africa.

Christian had great charisma, which defined his life. He was chosen to be sent to Harrods for sale because he was attractive and had an even temperament. We found him irresistible, and against all reason bought him, while we were not tempted by his sister Marta. When Bill Travers first contacted George in Kenya, he described Christian as "a very beautiful lion." Christian starred in his own film. He became George's favorite and friend, and he was popular with people and lions. Kora was established because of Christian, and Christian's successful adaptation ensured that George remained there for nineteen years, and that Kora became a national park.