The Kill

“Must be kill over there” proclaims Dennis, our guide, and a Masai Warrior. He looks at a group of vultures and Malabo storks circling in the sky, ominously indicating the presence of death. Its my first time seeing the Malabo storks and I am amazed at their cartoon ugliness,  but  contrary to their ridiculous appearance, they are the true evil meanies of the plains.  They are bigger, meaner, more aggressive, and by far uglier than the vultures.

We speed off in the direction of the circling birds and when we get close we see a beautiful and powerful lioness walking slowly in our direction. We stop the truck and watch her breathlessly. She exudes power with every step. We are in awe as she slowly and confidently walks toward us, her bellow bloated from a recent meal. Her face is covered in dark red blood. The kill must be fresh and nearby.  She passes our car, not even condescending to look at us, and saunters into the bush to rest from her royal labors. 

Ahead of us is the kill. With the lioness out of sight, a gang of vultures and storks descend upon the remains of a wildebeest. They are croaking and squawking, fighting over bits of flesh. We can approach very close to the kill because the mob of birds are preoccupied, battling to get a piece of the dead beast.

With a sudden burst of wings, the birds jump away from the carcass and a large female hyena appears, snapping at the vultures. She crashes through the mob and starts to gobble the remains as fast as she can; eating and fighting off vultures at the same time. She is ferocious, but the vultures are many, and equally ferocious. 

They peck and snap at her rear when she tries to eat. The slashes on her flanks are beginning to grow, and must hurt her more than even her empty stomach does. In a last ditch effort to ward off her assailants she spins and becomes a whirlwind of snaps and growls, her teeth are everywhere at once. But there are too many enemies to fend off by herself, so with a yelp, she runs off defeated.  She leaves the carcass having eaten, but not satisfied. The birds swarm in again and the sky turns black.

Nothing but bones were left the next day.

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