Cecil the lion was killed by an American dentist in a reserve next to Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe on August 25, 2015. We arrived in the area on September 10th. Our tour guide and our safari guides were talking about this incident quite a bit. We all thought about it while we were there as we saw plenty of lions on this trip. So I’ve decided to give everyone some insight into how tough it would be to shoot a lion in southern Africa.

The American dentist paid some $50,000 to shoot Cecil. The story goes that his guides baited Cecil with food of some sort to lure Cecil out of Hwange National Park. Never mind that the dentist and his guides did not have a permit to shoot a lion, inside or outside of the park. At any rate, the daring American dentist and his guides lured Cecil out of the park, where they lay in wait to kill him. The American dentist eventually shot Cecil with a bow and arrow and then followed him for 40 hours until Cecil died. Ah, a trophy at last.

My question to everyone is this: how difficult do you think that was? And do you think it was dangerous? Was there really any sport involved? The dictionary defines the word “hunt”: to pursue wild animals for food or sport. The American dentist was not interested in food. He was no doubt eating high off the hog at his lodge. So was his pursuit of Cecil “sport”? I would say not. The American dentist was simply trying to acquire a trophy, the lion’s head. I’m sure he felt it would make him seem like a big man to have a trophy to show off to prove what a real stud he is. I’m going to give you some insight into just how silly this is in reality.

We were in Chobe National Park driving along the Chobe River’s edge when we spotted a pride of seven lions. They were about 100 yards away, across the Chobe River, in Namibia. Some of the lions were sitting while others were lying down in the short grass. We stopped our land rover and parked. Our group of eight tourists were chatting excitedly and snapping photos like crazy. We were right out in the open, sitting in our land rover, not being quiet, and making lots of camera noise too. We were not stalking these lions or trying to lure them in any way. You can see five of them in the first photo, which is substantially zoomed in.

After a few minutes, the lions began to get up and walk towards us. In the second photo, you can see six of them walking in a line. If you look between the third and fourth walking lion, you can see the head of the seventh lion sticking up in the grass about half-way back up the ridge. Still, we were not lying quietly in wait for them. We were chatting and snapping photos with the rest of the tourists.

The lions continued to walk in somewhat of a zig-zag pattern but always in our direction. They would stop and rest, then resume. Several of them stopped for a drink in the river. They would separate and then sometimes come back together. You can see three of them walking together in the next photo.

Two of the seven lions walked by our land rover so close that I could have hit them over the head with a hammer. You can see one of the lions that walked right next to our jeep in the fourth photo. Do you think you could have shot this lion from that distance, without any danger to yourself? You can see the brush behind the lion in this photo and that’s where the lions were heading. The temperature was rising as the day unfolded and the lions were looking for a cool place to take a nap. The bushes right behind our land rover was that place.

All seven lions eventually found a place in the bushes to lay down for a nap. Most of the seven ended up being right next to each other. This would have been another easy opportunity to shoot a lion. It was only about ten yards away from us. So, pursuing a lion for “sport” – I don’t think so. Did a dead Cecil prove the American dentist was a real man? Not in my book. Shooting a lion in Africa is like shooting fish in a barrel.