PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz
After a few hours of tracking wild spoor, he saw them. Guns raised at their shoulders, aimed at the feeding rhinos. Kruger raised his camera and then stopped. Shouldn’t he do something? The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
His camera clicked softly, capturing the perils of life as a rhino. Then through the lens, he saw a monstrous lion lunging at the two poachers, claws and teeth sinking into shoulders and backs. Guns dropped to the ground. Kruger snapped away capturing the perils of being a poacher in the territory of the savannah’s most fearsome lion.
100 words
Rhinos are nearing extinction and Southern African countries have taken up a mission to protect our indigenous wildlife. I’m proud to say that Botswana has a zero tolerance attitude to poaching and have even committed its security forces to protect our wildlife. The current president Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama is a champion of this cause. And Prince Harry is a patron of Botswana’s conservation project: Rhino Conservation Botswana.
Another organisation is the Save The Rhino Project based in the UK.
Please do click on the links, especially the Rhino Conservation Botswana project . And see what is being done to save this incredible animal, why they’re important and what you can do to help.
Written for Friday Fictioneers hosted by Rochelle Wiesoff-Fields where the challenge is to write a story in 100 words or less.
Click the blue frog icon to read more flash fiction.
FFW 
Karma indeed. It pays to have the local lions on your side…
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Indeed it does… though perhaps a little too convenient.
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I’m not sure what it says about the man that he just snapped pictures, but I get your point
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I think it is an ongoing debate about the place of journalists in war zones or wildlife documentaries etc. Should they just be filming or should they be helping? They need to be neutral and so helping comprises this neutrality, and yet they have their human instincts for altruism to overcome too.
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The hunters become the hunted, while the other hunter becomes haunted… This story although maybe a tinsy bit cliched, was nicely written. Well done, Fatima.
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*Gasp* you said the C word.. ha! Thanks for your feedback, Kelvin. 🙂
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Crickey – I did. 😎
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I think we’re all on the side of the lions here.
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For sure! Thank you, Iain.
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Yay to the lions! And no, the camera-person was not meant to intervene…
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Thank you, Dale!
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The hunter becomes the hunted. Looks like the lions did what Kruger really wanted to do. Nice one.
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It definitely turned out that way in the end. Thanks for reading, Subroto!
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‘Sweet karma’ indeed! Well done for a nice story, and bonus points for your campaigning on behalf of the rhino. Botswana’s stand featured on UK television a few nights ago. Go, Botswana!
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Wow, I’m so pleased to hear Botswana featured on UK television. And especially if it is about our wildlife conservation efforts. Thank you, Penny 🙂
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Fatima, Thanks for the learning lesson. “wild spoor” really caught my attention. I had never heard nor seen the word “spoor” before. I was stuck on “Wild Boar” Great story, great message. Well having said that, I’m gonna scat.
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I had meant to put a note on that word. It’s not very common word, and I suppose it originates from the dutch-afrikaans language (or similar). It’s the trail left by footprints, hair, dung or other telltale signs used in tracking animals in the wild. Thank you, Dan.
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Dear Fatima,
What goes around comes around. Although I can’t imagine standing and watching. Good story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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It must have been gruesome to watch, you’re right. Thank you, Rochelle 🙂
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Ah, the biters get bitten. I think that often a cameraman does stand apart from the action, whatever it comprises.
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Yes, I think they do have to keep some neutral ground amongst the action.
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I wish more people had “a zero tolerance attitude to poaching”
and go lions
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I wholeheartedly agree, Prior. And thank you 🙂
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If only there were no market for the horns. . . but I suppose that’s a daydream. Too bad there’s nothing marketable about those poachers.
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Ha! Nothing marketable about the poachers indeed. Yes, if there was no market, the poaching would naturally reduce.
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I think I just read a news article about a poacher having a karmic interaction with a lion. Also, I just read about the ailing last male white rhino. We humans never seem to learn.
Thought-provoking story, Fatima.
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Wow, that article would have made for awesome flash fiction too! Yes, we will continue to consume even when there is nothing left. Move on to space and mars when earth is ravaged. Thank you, Sascha!
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