Relentless Enemies Page #2

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within the Tsaro territory for weeks.

While there has been a feast on this side

of the channel,

there has been a famine on the other.

The lions to the north, the Skimmer pride,

has been without food for too long,

and now their hunger

drives them through the water.

They are nowhere near the size

of the Tsaro lionesses,

but they have other skills.

Now, the Skimmer pride has to risk

making an insurgent sortie.

Just four small adult females

with 1 0 hungry and ineffectual cubs,

they have to do this stealthily.

They are taking a huge risk.

If they panic the herd too early,

the Tsaro females are bound to

hear the chase and react.

Too vigorous an attack, and the cubs

could fall underfoot of a stampede.

When a single female sees her target,

the risk increases even more.

The only option now is a frontal attack.

This is almost suicidal.

Incredibly, she fells

an adult cow buffalo unaided,

and drowns its muffled bellows in the water.

Their desperation sees off any intruders.

A hurried meal is all they can risk for now.

To the south, the big Tsaro females

are ready and waiting.

In a sophisticated and well-honed tactic

of herding the buffalo,

they first panic them with

a strange, growling charge.

The object is not to attack,

but to stampede the herd into the water.

Only then do they pick off

the struggling young

as they flounder out of their depth.

It is Silver Eye who makes the first contact,

dragging her prey underwater

to deliver mortal wounds

before the mother can retaliate

and rescue her calf.

Then the hunt goes into phase two.

Now, like sheepdogs,

the lions herd the buffalo together,

relentlessly pushing in.

It is clinical, this constant probing

for weakness,

the following through the flood waters

for up to seven hours at a time.

The lone female hangs back for a moment,

but the cub is eager to join in

despite his instinctive fear of water.

Water is an element that all Tsaro lions

must conquer early to become what they are,

true swamp cats.

And then, the stabbing attacks begin.

Each attack weakens the spirit of the herd.

This is the hunt they were born to.

And this is when the blood races,

adrenaline coursing through their muscles,

throbbing in their heads.

The young are jostled between

anxious mothers and defensive bulls,

and this is what the lions

have been waiting for, mistakes,

that given time and constant pressure,

are bound to happen.

And this is what the masters

have been waiting for.

Each kill is eagerly observed from a distance.

Ready to add more battle scars

to his profile if need be,

he is here to claim his bounty.

The lionesses have come to accept

this unchivalrous behavior.

It is their sacrifice for the protection

that the males give to the pride.

And knowing that the buffalo

are about to escape across the river,

they continue the hunt.

The females that have run and hunted hard

will need the next kill to be theirs.

This kill must be large enough to both feed

those that stayed back protecting the cub,

and sustain the lionesses

that have been injured in this last attack.

For the females,

the next hunt had better succeed.

The buffalo on this island have developed

an unusual tactic for defense.

It seems to baffle the lions.

Under threat, they present

an impenetrable wall of horns

by simply dropping down to sleep.

There are just a handful of hyenas

on the island.

When a new mother tries to move her cubs

out of the way of the herd,

she is well aware that she is being watched

from both sides.

She doesn't want to be caught

in the middle of this battle.

The unruly cubs had better head for cover.

Lions will hunt down and kill hyenas

even though they don't eat them.

But these lions are focused on killing

something edible,

so, for today at least, there's no danger.

When the herd finally sets off,

the lions slip into place.

Only half the females are here today,

injuries from the last hunt

have taken their toll,

and the mother has gone off

to search for her missing cub.

Expert buffalo hunters that they are,

the Tsaro females don't always

get it right the first time.

The remnants of the pride are hard-pressed

to outmaneuver the young male

they have selected.

Now the real hunt begins.

Defiant young bulls,

determined to make it to their prime,

are filled with the confidence

the testosterone gives them.

The bull refuses to give ground

to this handful of irritating lions.

He will turn and fight another day.

The buffalo are moving east again,

out of the Tsaro territory.

It is their chance to cross off the island.

In their path, other lions, the Pantry pride,

look forward to their arrival.

These are the risk-takers.

Once a formidable hunting coalition

of eight lions,

this pride could take down a buffalo

whenever they were hungry.

Fortune smiled on them.

But then, one day fate turned against them.

They would take on even the largest

in a battle of the titans,

they'd take risks, frontal attacks,

wrestling the bulls to their knees.

They'd collapse their prey forward,

unlike other prides who will avoid injury

and stay well clear of the sharp hooves.

These were the bold lions of Duba,

to whom the slashing points of a bull's horn

were nothing more than an obstacle

to be overcome with brute force.

Their raids on this buffalo pantry

were like medieval duels

in which they seemed invincible,

but the injuries took their toll.

The pride withered away from eight to four,

and finally, after this kill, just three.

The Pantry pride is doomed.

By contrast, the buffalo are steadily

building in strength.

Within this seemingly chaotic mass

is a surprising, almost military organization.

Kinship groups like small regiments

making up brigades

in their clans and herds.

As they hone their weapons

against trees and shrubs,

they signal their aggression.

Constantly reinforced bonds

protect the young

and bolster their group strength.

The buffalo are more than just prey for lions.

Tsaro in action again,

coordinated and working as

a unit to fell a young cow.

But the fallen cow belongs.

It is her saving grace.

Time and time again, when the lionesses

separate her out of the herd,

her clan rallies to find her.

And it is here that the whole pride is needed

to distract and counter,

to face down the charging family

and to outflank the injured cow.

But not today.

Three lionesses haven't

shown up for the hunt

and the buffalo are getting stronger.

The Skimmer pride,

hungry again on the northern bank

and with nothing to do.

The cubs urge their mothers

towards the channel,

ready for another insurgent adventure.

The mothers take the bait

even though they're wary of alerting

the resting Tsaro lionesses.

This time they bring

their own male with them.

Slightly younger than the old Tsaro males,

he looks ahead and swims on

into forbidden territory.

Now, in the tense world of a forbidden land

on the wrong side of the river,

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