Part of the Pride

Kevin Richardson was born in Johannesburg in 1974. He works as an animal behaviourist at The Lion Park, one of South Africa's best-known lion habitats. He has been involved in a number of successful film and documentary projects involving his work with the big cats, including
The White Lion
and
Dangerous Companions
. This is his first book.

My life among the big cats of Africa

KEVIN RICHARDSON
with Tony Park

First published 2009 in the US by St. Martin's Press
This Macmillan edition published in 2009 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney

Copyright © 2009 by Kevin Richardson with Tony Park

The moral right of the authors has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Richardson, Kevin, 1974-
Part of the pride: my life among the big cats of Africa /
Kevin Richardson, Tony Park.

ISBN: 978 1 4050 3968 0 (pbk.)

Zoologists–South Africa–Biography. Lions–South Africa.

Park, Tony, 1964-

590.92

Book design by Rich Arnold

Printed in Australia by McPherson's Printing Group

Papers used by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

These electronic editions published in 2009 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney 2000

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.

Part of the Pride

Kevin Richardson

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For Mandy, who always trusts and believes in
what I do. Thank you.

CONTENTS
 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 

Many people have helped me through my life and given their support to me—sometimes when I might not have deserved it.

I'd like to thank my mother, Patricia Richardson, for putting up with my teenage madness and helping me get through school and university.

Rodney Fuhr gave me opportunities that changed my life, and without him I might never have had the many joyous and inspiring experiences that have shaped my life to date. He and his wife, Ilana, have treated me like a member of their family, and I thank them both.

Thank you to my family and friends for all your support and help, especially Trevor and Corrine.

To Stan, Judy, and the rest of the Schmidt family and the extensions thereof, thanks for always inspiring me to follow my heart and passions.

To the South African Lion Park's and the Kingdom of the White Lion's staff and colleagues, thank you for all your support and understanding during the filming of the documentaries and the feature
film
White Lion
. A special thank-you to Ian Melass, Ebrahim Patel, and Ian Fuhr for your continual support and guidance.

To Tony and Nicola Park, thanks for helping me write my story. I know it must have been difficult hearing me waffle on for hours and hours at a time, sometimes politely going without food and drink, when I was on a roll.

I'd also like to thank Michael Flamini and the team at St. Martin's Press for their interest in my story. You have all been such a pleasure to work with.

Even though they can't read this, I have to thank the many other friends I've made on my journey so far. To my “brothers,” Tau and Napoleon; my “girls,” Meg and Ami; to little Homer; to all my other lions, my hyenas, leopards, and all the other animals and birds who have been a part of my life, I say a humble thank you! I hope that I have enriched your lives as much as you have mine.

PART
of the
PRIDE

PROLOGUE
 
Tsavo

 

 

 

He was called Tsavo, after the place where man-eating lions devoured scores of workers during the building of the railway from Mombasa, Kenya, into the heart of colonial Africa.

Tsavo had come from a different Lion Park than the one where I was working and he'd had a troublesome upbringing. I felt sorry for him, because he'd been declawed, and a lion without claws is like a human without fingers. It was incredibly hard for him to eat and his paw pads were so scarred and calloused that he walked with an unusual gait. His spoor—the tracks he left in the dust—was almost unrecognizable as a lion's. I used to think it was such a shame, what had happened to him, and I wanted to make a difference in his life.

He was about three years old, but he was a big boy for his age. He must have weighed about a hundred and eighty kilograms, or nearly four hundred pounds, and he had a nice, full mane. Between the ages of two and three, a lion is like a human teenager. They've hit puberty, their hormones are raging, and they think they know everything. They don't want to listen to advice and they're up for a challenge. I was the same at Tsavo's age.

Tsavie, as I sometimes called him, was actually quite a friendly lion. I used to say hi to him through the fence, and when I was in the next enclosure with Tau and Napoleon—two younger lions I'd known from a very early age—Tsavo would run up and down beside us as I played soccer with the other two.