Up North
The lion stood no more than twenty yards from the car. Pardon the expression, but the massive male West African lion froze in the middle of the trail and stared like a deer in the headlights. It crept into the bushes as we approached, quickly creating space between it and us until it stopped, assessed us, and relaxed. We watched it for several minutes until it sauntered away. It was then we spotted two other lions further down the trail. For about a half an hour we rolled the car back and forth along the trail to catch better glimpses of these rare West African lions. They prowled through the bushes, laid around, and even chased each other, much to the delight of us smartphone-wielding Volunteers. It hadn’t occurred to me how dangerous such a large, strong, and ferocious cat could be until it came within 15 yards of our vehicle. Then I was happy to be behind metal bars in a big, scary thing called the automobile. I was on a three-day safari with five other Volunteers in Pendjari N