The Troublemaking Cubs of Tanzania

Story by Gabriel McCrea, FNN 4th grader reporter from Friendship Online Academy. 

 Photo from Google.

March 2021. Here in Tanzania you might hear the locals say “Asubuhi njema watu”, which is Swahili for “Morning people”. However, there is as much English spoken there as in the United States.The movie Black Panther, The land of Wakanda, reminds me of beautiful Tanzania. Tanzania is located on the lower corner of Lake Victoria.  

It was so wonderful to wake up in the motherland of Africa. The best day of my visit was when I saw the cutest lion cubs getting in trouble by going into the lake. Their mother caught them before they went into the water. The mother did this because Lake Victoria has crocodiles and hippos. If the cubs go in, they will probably get eaten. Yes, the king of beasts is not the scariest animal in the Serengeti.  Lions might rule land but crocodiles and hippopotamuses rule in the water. 

Serengeti National Park is considered an ideal big cat country, largely because it's home to an estimated 3,000 lions. There are more big cats, cheetahs and leopards who live there too. Adult cheetahs run about 50-80 mph, but babies don't run that fast until they're a year old and begin to hunt with their mothers. It is their mother's job to keep them out of trouble.  Lion and cheetah cubs start to eat meat at about three months old. Lions and cheetahs eat zebras, gazelles, and antelopes. But I noticed meat eaters including the crocodiles eat anything they catch. That is why cubs are so much trouble for their parents until they are old enough to outrun and outfight whatever tries to eat them.

Everything there was so interesting to see.  And, yes, my mother kept a very close eye on me during the visit.  I was her little trouble maker.