The Fire....

I have seen forest fires in my life having lived in Labrador but what happened last Saturday was nothing that I have ever experienced before in my life.

Nix (general manager) received a call around lunch hour the our release site was on fire and out of control. The release site is attached to our enclosures for our 12 older lions. Immediately we had to gather people to go help fight the fire but we didn't know exactly how serious it was. Jordan, my Dad and a few other guys were asked to go. We ended up having 2 trucks to I hopped in as well along with some of our staff. It was going to take us about 15 minutes to get there and as we looked on the horizon in the direction of Dambwa we saw the smoke and we knew it wasn't good. The heart rate started to rise and as we approached and then we saw the wall of flames right at the entrance just about 50 meters away from the lions. There were flames to the right and flames to the left and about 7 feet tall. We all jumped out of the truck and received our instructions to go to the left because the right side was under control and the lions were fine. We ran into the bushes with only branches from trees to fight the fire. By smacking the flames and the ground to push dirt onto the fire you can manage to put some of the flames out. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of effort to do so and sometimes it's a lost cause and you just have to wait for it to get to a point in the grass where it's low. I felt like I was in a movie and every once in a while I screamed out Jordan and my Dad's name to make sure they were o.k.

Once that was ok we moved on to another part of the site to try to do a controlled burn to save part of the release site. As we got down there and lit some of the grass the wind changed directions and we were in trouble...it jumped the road and went in the wrong direction. At this point we had to run away from the flames they were so hot. You could feel your skin tingling from the heat. We ended up splitting up unintentionally and now I was with two other guys Cephis and Bernard. I didn't like the feeling of not seeing Jordan and my Dad but I know they were with a bigger group and they would be o.k. but I still worried. The 3 of us tried to beat the fire and control it from jumping another road. It felt like such a losing battle and it was getting us down. At this point we hadn't had any water and we were starting to fade quickly. Cephis and Bernard had also been there a few hours before us so I really don't know how they kept going. I guess it came down to passion...they wanted to save the release site. There were many times where tears started to well up in my eyes just seeing the destruction happing and you felt like it was such a losing battle. There were also 2 of our lions out in the site that we couldn't find which was worrisome seeing that it was burning quickly. We weren't worried about them harming us because there was no way they were going to come close to the fire.

Water finally arrived both for us to drink and try to use some to fight the flames. It was basically a drum of water on the back of a pick-up truck with a hose attached. There are no fire trucks that could get to the site and there are no water bombers that would be helping us. Once we were a little hydrated we started to beat the fire and things seem to start getting under control. By this time I was also back with Jordan and Dad which gave me a sense of relief that everyone was o.k. All of sudden a call came in that a fire was right beside the lion enclosures and only about 10 meters away from them. I have never in my life seen such an amazing example of team work! At one point Richard (other GM) said if we wanted to leave we could but of course everyone stayed. 6 hours later as the sun started to set and things started to seem controlled.

It a weird way it looked beautiful as the sun set and the glowing embers twinkling through the grounds. We found out that about 40% of the site burned down. It was going to be o.k. though and by next year those areas will be back to life again filled with grass and food for the wildlife. We have about 65 wildebeests, 5 zebras, 70 impala and 7 puku and of course our 12 beautiful lions and they all seemed fine. The lions had been found as well and they were enjoying themselves at another end of the site.

There were definitely some scary moments and at times I felt like I was in a movie. You would see people just standing in the middle of black or us on our knees trying to catch our breath with flames just a few meters away from us. I would do it all over again though because we all know as a team we saved that site, those animals and also the neighbouring farms that it could have spread to very quickly. I am very proud of everyone that day!

If you are interested in finding out more about the release coming up you can visit ALERT - African Lion Environmental Trust. You can even made a donation to support the project.

Thanks....:)