Springbok Kills Lion

From Great North Road

By Bill Hunt.

The MacDonald family, formally of Mufulira, moved to Zimba in the early 1950s & started to work a tobacco farm. Andy the middle son, had already established himself as a world class rugby player having played for the Boks in the 1960 All Black tour to South Africa & was also part of that sad, politically disrupted tour to New Zealand in 1965. Andy was rated by that great All Black, Wilson Whineray, as the strongest lock forward in the world. He was still very much part of the South Africa selectors plans for the Bok’s next International Series but fate ruled otherwise!

As I recall a lion had been killing livestock in the area so Andy & his African assistant went off to deal with the miscreant. They tracked the cattle thief down & Andy mortally wounded the black-maned Simba. The big cat took off into the bush. Andy & his assistant followed a heavy blood spoor. This streetwise lion set up an ambush behind a thorn-bush & before Andy could loose of a killing shot, the lion pounced on him. The African assistant, who was also armed with a rifle, took fright & ran back to the farm to seek help. Although dying, the King of Beasts attempted to finish off Andy: He bit off part of an ear & tried to crush Andy's head in his massive jaws, all the while doing much damage to Andy’s legs & lower body with his dew claws. Andy jammed his one hand into the lion's jaws to protect his face & had some fingers bitten off. Andy then decided to play dead, & the lion, now weakening rapidly, moved off a short distance to die.

Andy waited a while until there was quiet, & tried to move away. The big feline returned & attacked him again. This cat & mouse game went on for some time. Eventually the lion expired. Back at the ranch, the assistant had arrived & alerted Andy's brother. They took off at high speed in a Land Rover. Andy, meanwhile, had managed to get to his feet & began making his way back to the farmhouse along the bush track.

Adding to the drama was that Andy’s panic stricken gun-bearer was unable to accurately direct the brother to the site of the attack. In the haste & confusion they drove right past the hapless Andy. His face & body was covered with a mix of dark congealed blood & dust & the rescue party drove right past him, thinking him to be a Black African traveller who had fallen on hard times! Eventually after turning back they found Andy, who by that time had almost made it back to the farmhouse under his own steam!

Part of Andy’s own physical training program involved dragging a 2.5 ton Massey-Ferguson tractor with embedded plough for 100m at a time. His body was so developed that he had to have his playing shorts tailor-made in Lusaka to fit his massive thighs!

I guess the lion’s last thoughts must have been “What the hell was I thinking when I took on this guy?!!” His strength & rugby prowess at executing a pushover scrum had stood him in good stead, but alas did not save his chance to play for the Boks in the next Test Series.