Shumba's Big Adventure: 12-16 category winner Eloise Sparkes

When Shumba awoke to find himself alone in the dark, his first thought was that his family had gone out hunting and had somehow forgotten him. He sat up and sniffed the air anxiously. It was then he realized that something was very wrong.

Morning in Africa usually meant the pink glow of dawn over the savannah and the joyous chorus of birds. It meant his mum washing him behind the ears with her rough tongue and the thrill of seeing antelope race across the plains.

Now there was only a peculiar clanking and roaring and the stink of what he’d later learn was a mix of engine oil, urine and salt water. He tried to walk but his nose collided painfully with cold steel.

At two months old, his legs were only little, yet his prison was so small he could barely take two steps in any direction. He peered through the bars. His vision was blurry but he could make out the shapes of what appeared to be other kidnapped animals.

All of a sudden a human hand appeared. It fiddled with the lock and the cage door swung open. A person with a long, tawny mane like his dad, but who appeared to be a female like his lioness older sister, knelt down in front of him. He wondered what lioness humans were called. Humannesses maybe.

“Poor little lion cub,” said the humanness.

“You don’t know what’s happening to you, do you? You don’t know that you’ll never know freedom again. You’re not aware that for the rest of your life, whether that’s one year or thirty, you’ll never see your mum and dad again, or watch the sun come up over the African bush, or just lie on a rock and glory in your own magnificence. You haven’t a clue that when you get off this ship, you’ll spend the rest of your days trapped in a cage, probably eating supermarket chicken and having tourists throw things at you or pop flashbulbs in your face. And what’s worse, none of the other animals here” – she waved a hand in the direction of some gorillas – “know that either. I’d like that not to be true, but it is. Sometimes I wish…”

A tear rolled down her cheek.

“Oh, what’s the use of wishing.”

She closed the door again.

“Right, one bowl of cat food coming up.”

Shumba couldn’t bring himself to eat it. He was used to fresh meat and couldn’t bring himself to think of the smelly brown lumps as food. Besides, the ground kept rolling under his paws and making him feel quite sick.

For the next few weeks, things went from bad to worse. No fresh meat ever came his way and the humanness told Shumba he had to learn to eat the smelly brown lumps or starve. He couldn’t stretch his legs, couldn’t play, couldn’t get warm by snuggling up with his brothers and sisters, close to his mum’s soft belly.

Instead he was forced to listen to the heartbreaking cries of the other wretched prisoners: two miserable gorillas, crestfallen parrots, shivering meerkats and some monkeys huddled together.

Shumba knew he should be brave, like his dad, but sometimes when he woke in the night, terrified and lonely, he couldn’t help but cry silently.

As they journeyed north across the ocean it grew colder and colder. The humanness brought him a blanket but it didn’t really help. Shumba’s golden hide craved the sunshine.

Day after tedious day they rolled and bounced through the ocean, until one afternoon there was an almighty crash. Shumba fell flat on his face. When he managed to haul himself upright he heard the parrots squawking and saw the gorillas, whose crate had toppled over, pounding their chests.

The humanness and some humans called sailors were rushing up in a state of agitation.

“We’re sinking!” cried one.

“We’re going down like the Titanic.”

But after a while everything settled down, and it turned out the ship wasn’t plummeting to the bottom of the ocean after all, but had merely become lodged on a sandbank. Shumba found this out because the humanness came to explain it to him.

“Even if we were sinking, we’d probably survive because we’re only a short swim from the Old Harry Rocks near Bournemouth,” she told him as she refilled his water bowl. She pointed east.

“Look, you can probably see them. We’re almost home. We’re almost in England.”

The animals were kept on the top deck of the cargo ship, and Shumba, who’d spent the last hour gazing in fascination at the view - a wall of pale rocks topped with the kind of green grass that only came to Africa at the height of the summer rains - stared at the sight with renewed interest. A small strip of choppy blue water was the only thing separating the ship and the cliffs and fields.

A new feeling came over him. A feeling of courage and boldness. It was as if his father was lending him strength from afar.

At that very moment, disaster struck. The earlier collision had knocked the gorillas’ crate on its side. Unbeknownst to the humaness, the crate had broken. One of the gorillas had just climbed out and was advancing on her with a ferocious expression. She leapt for safety and the sailors joined her. With the gorilla pursuing them, they ran screaming for their lives.

Little Shumba watched wide-eyed. Several minutes went by before he realized that the cage door was open. The humans were nowhere to be seen. They’d fled below deck. The gorilla was thumping his chest in delight.

Shumba considered his options. The railing of the ship was only feet away and he could jump it with a single bound. The Old Harry Rocks beckoned. A thrill of fear and excitement came over him.

Freedom was his if he chose to take it…

Continuation below by winner Eloise Sparkes

Shumba had no time to waste, a little swim and he would be there then he could find a way to get home. He hobbled towards the railings feeling pain with every step he took, he hadn’t walked in weeks and the ground was hard not sandy.Shumba hadn’t thought of this, if it hurt walking how could he swim?

Shumba ducked under the railing and immediately began to regret his decision, the water looked uninviting and what was hiding at the bottom? Suddenly the humanness appeared, she had come to capture the animals and lock their cages.

The fear of being trapped in a cage again and eating cat food was too much for Shumba so he jumped!

The water was surprisingly cooling for his bones which soon eased up. Luckily he got the hang of swimming. Soon he reached the mainland.Shumba jumped up onto a rock and sized up the cliffs he had to climb.Shumba was tired and couldn’t face those towering rocks today so he fell asleep.

Shumba woke in the night to a strange sound it was a boat horn.Shumba was scared and couldn’t get back to sleep so decided to start climbing the cliffs immediately.

For a few meters they were easy to climb but after a while the cliffs became steeper but finally he reached the top and collapsed. He knew that he wasn’t safe here because he could hear people talking, but Shumba was too tired to move after an hour of climbing.

Shumba then heard the strange voices coming closer, it sounded like a humanness and a human so Shumba opened his eyes slightly and saw that they were heading straight for him.

Shumba got up and the humanness screamed, she seemed fairly young, maybe ten, but she seemed frightened. They surely must have seen a lion cub before.Shumba was terrified when the human continued to advance.

The next thing Shumba knew, he awoke in a smelly, cold, bright room. He must be dreaming what else could it be? The human and two humanness’ came in chatting.

“We were out on night time patrol for the Purbeck Wildlife Trust, when my daughter Chloe saw him. I immediately called you to sedate him so he presented no threat.”

“Yes you did a great job thank you,” replied the humanness in a white coat bearing the name “Tina”

“But Dad, how did he get there?” asked Chloe.

“We think he came from the ship full of animals which hit a sandbank. He was probably brought here to perform tricks as you wouldn’t find a lion cub on the edge of a cliff!”

“Strange I know” said Tina “but what will we do with him as we don’t know which country he’s from?”

“He can’t go into captivity, he has had enough of cages!” said Dad.

“He can live with us!” suggested Chloe “NO!”

“Dad please, we have a huge house with a private beach and two acres of fields he could live on”

“She has a point” said Tina “lions are used to sand”

“But I won’t be there most of the time as I’m always on out patrol”

“Let mum look after him then”

“No, it’s too much to ask, he is a lion cub remember.”

“I could help too!” said Chloe.

“I said no and I’m not changing my mind, he’s a lion and could hurt someone”

“Excuse me! This is a veterinary surgery so stop arguing, it’s too dangerous to keep him, what will happen when he turns into a fully grown lion? I’ll take him to the Royal Bath Hotel - they have lovely gardens and a room for him to stay in, it will only be for a few days until he gets a new home, “said Tina.

It was all agreed and the Royal Bath Hotel said they didn’t mind if Shumba was well behaved. So the next day Shumba was in a car being taken to the hotel when Tina suddenly decided to stop as she was passing the shops, so she could buy a present for her son’s birthday.

Tina braked hard, sending Shumba’s cage rolling over and hitting the boot door with a loud BANG! Shumba looked up and saw his cage and the car boot had clicked open in the force of the collision.

When Tina had left, Shumba saw an opportunity to investigate his surroundings and leapt out of the car and ran towards Beales. Once inside he saw two lions! He padded over excitedly to them but they didn’t respond. He looked up and saw two sales assistants talking.

“They’re lions from The Pride in Bournemouth wild art event” said an assistant.

“One is called Temba and the other is Winston.”

Both lions were lovely thought Shumba, and was glad he had made friends.

Shumba crept quietly back to the car. When Tina returned she was surprised to find the boot open but thought she had left it unlocked by accident. She put her shopping inside and made sure the boot was firmly closed before setting off for the hotel again.

Upon arriving, Shumba was very happy as the hotel room was beautiful and the staff had left him a dog bed to sleep in and some real meat to eat. However Tina was not happy as she had not found him a permanent home.

That evening Tina saw Shumba on the television - he had become a tourist attraction at the Royal Bath and was lead item on the news!

The next day, Tina received a call from a lady who was very touched to hear Shumba’s story and offered Shumba and the lions of The Pride in Bournemouth a home on her private island in Poole Harbour. Tina was so happy Shumba had a home where he could live in peace with other wild animals.

The very next day Shumba found himself on Round Island sleepily watching the sun setting in the flame red sky.