Have you ever been charged?

I am a member of SANP - South African National Parks – group on Facebook.  I also visit the SAN Parks website on a regular basis – the forum section mainly, to see the latest news on Kruger National Park, my favorite place in the world.  People post photos of animal sightings and begin conversations on various topics. This week, someone asked if anyone had actually been charged by a wild African animal.  I sat in my chair and pondered the question.

First, I wanted to know the true definition of the word charged.  There are many.  The definition that applies in this case is:  To rush forward attempting a violent attack.  The answer to the question then is, definitely yes – I have been charged.  And when I put my memory to test, I am surprised at how many times. 

That is indeed him!

The first time I was charged I actually have on video, (somewhere).  I was in an open vehicle with a couple of other people and a guide/driver.  We came upon a huge male lion that had segregated a female away from her pride to mate.  Mating lions would have made a nice photograph so we hung out for a minute to see what would happen.  The male lion was not happy about our presence and let us know with a couple of deep belly rumbling low growls.  The pupils of his eyes were small making the green of his eyes large and menacing.  But we paid no attention to this and continued taking photos.  There were other signs he was about to charge; his twitching tail and his body posture just to name two but we didn’t pay any attention.  When the lion did lunge forward roaring at the top of his lungs he then got our attention.  The lion pounced up with force in our direction with a growl that would change the rhythm of your heartbeat.  The correct response to a lion charge is to stand your ground.  We stood our ground alright but that was only because we were stunned stupid. It worked though. The lion stopped about twenty feet from us, kicking up dust as he skidded to a stop.  He then turned around in a noisy huff and went back to his girl.  I transformed from frozen in complete horror to shaking like a leaf in a wind storm.  Many lessons were learned that day. 

That, however, was not my only charge.  I have been charged by monkey in Kruger National Park while walking along minding my own business.  Monkeys charged me once when I was trying to shoo them away from my food at a camp in Kruger.  I have had my canoe charged by elephant in the Okavango Delta in Botswana and again by a hippo in Zambia.  I was even charged by a crazy spider that was huge and hanging around the campfire in northern Botswana acting completely neurotic charging everyone sitting around the fire that night. 

All of these incidents scared the daylights out of me at the time.  Now, they are fuel for my old age fire; stories I can tell and relive for as long as I am alive.  I don’t regret any of them.  I would almost go so far as to say that if you have not been charged by a wild African animal then you have not truly experienced Africa!