'I want to be a lion! So said Apolo Ohno at the winter Olympics in Canada'.

• Author: Wiesner, Pat
• Position: [on] MANAGEMENT

Only one hour after we had landed at the little airport just outside of the game park in South Africa it was getting dark, and we were in an open Land Rover headed for the jungle. All this happened about 15 years ago, but I always remember it like it was yesterday because it was such a strong, vivid experience.

There were seven people in the Rover, five of us clients, a native spotter who was on a raised seat in the back middle, and the guide, who drove. We stopped to watch the sun go down, which was worth the entire trip in itself. Then off we went into the total darkness of the nighttime jungle with our imaginations working furiously to picture what was waiting for us just outside the small circles of light created by our headlamps.

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It began when we heard the low barking kind of growl of the lions that shook the earth, the air and even the trees. This frightening sound got louder and louder until it seemed we were in the middle of the hunt. There they were! Clearly lit by our headlights and a spotlight on top of the Rover. And they were very close, four big females and one even bigger male lagging behind.

They didn't pay any attention to the light as they were going about their business. We were no farther than 20 feet from the closest. Earlier the guide had told us that we would be OK as long as we stayed in the Rover; the lions were used to it and considered it just another animal.

The male decided to take a rest. He lay down without paying the slightest attention to the females. He just sat there and yawned a few times. It is one of the pictures we snapped (either my wife or I), and we still have it enlarged and displayed in our study. It looks like he was going to take a big bite of something, but he was merely yawning.

The females were the hunters. You could tell; they were really paying attention. Suddenly they all leapt into a large clump of bushes. Out came a springbok, followed by three ferocious lionesses that would not be denied a meal. It was brutal, final, bloody and natural. The male yawned once more and joined them after the hard work was done.

You can't say "lion" to me without me thinking of these magnificent animals and their strength, persistence, frightening power and resolve. We have traveled to quite a few...