Jungle’s Odd Couple Put Teeth in Slumping Kenyan Tourism

Forget the burning question of who will succeed President Daniel Arap Moi when he retires this year after nearly a quarter of a century in office.

Or why crime continues to ravage this East African city.

Instead, many Kenyans are trying to unravel the bizarre saga of a lioness that has apparently defied the laws of the jungle by adopting two baby oryxes in the past six weeks.

Explanations have been pouring in fast and furiously. The lioness, some scientists say, is apparently maternally deprived. Unable to have offspring or suffering from the loss of a cub, she has decided to adopt an animal--even one that she would normally crunch for lunch.

Others in this majority Christian country see a lion walking side by side with a baby oryx as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Isaiah 11:6, they proudly note, prophesies that the calf and young lion will dwell together.

And this week, another theory has begun to take hold: The lion was given the second oryx by people who wanted to boost tourism and lure visitors to the Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya.

“It is most unusual for a lion to exhibit this kind of behavior twice,” said Daphne Sheldrick, a wildlife expert who runs an orphanage for elephants, rhinos and other animals here. “This is Kenya. The level of corruption is high. It’s not beyond the realm of possibilities that this is being stage-managed.”

Whatever the explanation, the strange friendship between predator and prey continues to preoccupy Kenyans--and many others around the globe.

Daniel Njaga, a spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service, said he has received numerous calls from reporters in the United States, Europe and Africa inquiring about the unusual companions.

Game wardens decided that the lioness’ latest relationship was not in the best interests of the newborn and took the oryx away over the weekend when the lioness left it to go hunting.

The oryx, about a week old and frail from starvation, seemed to “have the will to pull through this,” said Sara Spendrup, a spokeswoman with the Lewa Downs private game sanctuary, where the oryx was being nursed with cow’s milk. The calf was to be transferred today to an animal orphanage in Nairobi, the capital.

Meanwhile, the Daily Nation newspaper reported that the lioness “could be set for a third wonder,” as she had been seen trailing another herd of oryx. “We expect to see it guarding another baby from the herd,” the paper quoted an unidentified game official as saying.

Lodges in the area, which had been hit by a slump in tourism, have since reported brisk business, with tourists and nature experts flocking to Samburu to catch a glimpse of the lioness with the mysterious maternal instincts.

No one suggested that a conspiracy was afoot when the lion was first seen last month traipsing around Samburu with a baby oryx. That relationship lasted 15 days before a male lion snatched the oryx from the lioness and devoured it.

Ditte Dahl Lisbjerg, an employee with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization here who specializes in animal behavior, suggested that a confluence of events was probably responsible for the odd couple. Before its hunting instincts can come into play, a predator needs its prey to flee. The oryx probably didn’t--hence the lioness’ lack of ferocity.

The oryx, whose species lives in herds of up to 200, may simply have been behaving according to its herd instinct, trailing behind the only animal in the vicinity left to follow--the lioness.

For Lisbjerg and others, news that the same lioness had befriended another oryx--and on Valentine’s Day--sounded too good to be true.

“It’s highly unlikely that this could happen a second time,” she said. “I would have to see that to believe it. If someone didn’t give her [the] second oryx, then I’d say that this is a lioness with a psychological disorder.”

Njaga, the Kenya wildlife spokesman, said it was a possibility that someone might have “introduced the second oryx to the lioness because of the economic advantage publicity of such an event generates.”

“We hope that people do not intervene in this way and that they let nature take its course,” he said.

Even after game wardens seized the second oryx so it wouldn’t suffer the fate of the first, tourists, wildlife experts and looky-loos have continued to flock to Samburu to see if the lioness will adopt a third oryx.

“We’re very busy today, and tomorrow we have a full house. All 62 rooms are taken,” said Herman Mwasaghua, manager of the Serena Samburu Lodge. His competitors also reported booming business.

Mwasaghua denied that the event with the oryx and lioness was choreographed.

“This is a lioness with an affinity for oryxes,” he said. “It’s just a unique, special lioness.”