THE SHRILL CALLS OF CICADAS RESONATE through the heavy air as the woodland behind me shimmers in the rising heat of the day. A ring-necked dove, unseen in the canopy, urges me to “work harder, work harder, work harder,” but my damp shirt and red skin argue that I already am. The dove wins and I continue searching the long, yellow grass that has thwarted my efforts for hours.
Somewhere in that grassland is the legendary lioness that has brought me to this remote corner of Zambia. She is an indomitable survivor, a warrior who is a testament to the resilience and fortitude of wild animals and the people who make it their duty to protect them.
Her name is Tripod, and her home is a veritable Eden. She lives in Kafue National Park, a wilderness of 22,400km² (a similar size to Wales) blanketed in vast swathes of woodland interspersed with a mosaic of grasslands, wetlands and floodplains and cleaved in two by the lazy oxbows of the Kafue River. Her pride’s territory lies to the east of the river, where hippos, crocodiles, water birds and a rich bounty of antelope are attracted to an expansive lagoon that holds water throughout the year.
