THE WHITE LIONS OF TIMBAVATI

This story
is taken from the book by Linda Tucker called Mystery of the White Lions.

The arrival
of white lions at Timbavati was predicted by the tribal shamans long before
they were encountered in the region. When they were first seen it was assumed
that they were a random mutation. The Shangaan trackers believe that they are
no ordinary animals and are sent as a gift from God and are prophetic of
changing times on earth. Of course they are also viewed as a high-income-yielding
commodity by others and since their first sightings in the early 1970’s they
have been hunted to extinction by big game hunters in the Timbavati region.

Most of the
white lions in existence today are in zoos and game parks and are often used
for canned lion hunting. One of the most disgusting practices one can imagine.
I have seen film clips of how lions, tawny and white, are drugged, placed in an
enclosure and then shot through the bars or the wire, but some gun-toting hero
so he can take a trophy home with him. It can cost R1 000 000 or more for the
pleasure of owning such a trophy.

End of
September 2006 when I went on the Aura-Soma Sacred Journey in the Timbavati
region, I was privileged to meet Linda Tucker and her helper and assistant
Jason. We, as a group, were the first outsiders allowed into the lands where
Linda and Jason had introduced a mother white lion, Marah with her three cubs,
Letaba, Regeus, the boys and the female Zihra, and were allowed to observe
these beautiful Star Lions. I cannot even explain the impact these lions had on
me. They have blue eyes and they look right into your soul. At the time we were
there, they had a huge mission to free Marah’s soul mate, Aslan who was held in
a canned lion camp. The hunters hated Linda because she had managed to get a
law passed, prohibiting canned lion hunting. If they had known that she wanted
to purchase Aslan to free him, they would have killed him.

We did an
amazing amount of energy work while we were there and I had the total
conviction that within less than 2 months, Aslan would be free. We had some
amazing people on the course from all over the world and they set wheels in
motion. We South Africans had to be very careful not to be seen to be involved
so as not to threaten Aslan’s safety. On 15 November 2006 I received the
message that Aslan had touched down on Timbavati soil – mission accomplished.
Aslan, the star lion was free!!

This is
Linda’s story:

Linda is
South African born and was working in London. She had visited the Timbavati
region on many occasions and was there again on 10th November 1991.
She was at a game lodge, together with her sister, Serena, her future
brother-in-law Andries and as it was Andries birthday, they spent the moonless
night, sitting around a camp fire, having a small celebration. One of the group
was Leonard, a game ranger and a long-standing friend. The earth was rumbling
with the roaring of the lions and Leonard said that one of the lionesses was
about to give birth.There was always the hope that a white lion cub would once
again be born at Timbavati. The roaring became exuberant and urgent and on
impulse, the group decided to drive out into the bush to see if they could
watch the lioness give birth.

They jumped
into the Land Rover which had two sunken seats in the front and three raised
bench seat at the back. The whole thing was open. Linda, and her then husband,
John, were perched at the back where the seats hung over the rear axle.

The Land
Rover bumped and bounced over the open veld in the pitch dark and as the
headlights picked out the glowing amber eyes of a lion, there was a rasping
sound and the vehicle ground to a shuddering halt. There was a tree-trunk
jammed under the axle and it was impossible to move the vehicle. Leonard
recognized the pride which was now starting to surround the vehicle. Nobody
knew where they were. Cell phones do not work in the bush. This was a
life-threatening situation. They had a spotlight, but this would only work as
long as the battery was alive. Everyone started to panic and somebody suggested
they make a run for it. Leonard pleaded with them not to do this as anyone
running would be brought down by the lions.

Linda’s
words:

“I have
never known the intensity of fear that I experienced that night – nothing since
has ever approximated it. Personal fear seems magnified many times over by
communal terror.”

At the
highest pitch of communal hysteria, a ghostly presence slowly came out of the
blackness. They could only see shapes in the darkness which came nearer and
they perceived eventually that it was an old woman, whom Linda later found out
was Maria Khosa, a Shangaan shaman. She was carrying a baby on her back while
behind her walked a young African girl and a wide-eyed youth. They were walking
in a trance-like state, each holding on to the other.

Very
slowly, step, by step, they came nearer, and still in a trance, climbed into
the Land Rover. They had walked right through the pride of angry lions.

Then
Andries spoke, as if infused with an entirely new spirit, he pushed past Maria,
grabbed the youth and said, “Kom, laat ons waai!” (Come, let us go!).

They jumped
out of the Land Rover and disappeared into the night. The other’s sat in frozen
silence, waiting to hear sounds of a hunt.

Andries and
the youth walked through the lion-infested darkness and back to camp unharmed,
collected the other vehicle and came to rescue the rest.

Linda
returned to Timbavati in 1994 and was told by Maria that she was to become the
new protector of the white lions.