After visiting the area where this incident took place, I wrote this account in Feb. 1998.
The Likouala Region of the Republic of Congo is completely covered by the rain forest of the Congo basin. This forest is the home of a wide variety of animals uniquly suited to life under the dense green canopy including elephants, gorillas and leopards. To the north of the Congo however, in the Central African Republic, the rain forest gives way to Savannah. As the confines of the forest open up into grasslands, the lion becomes the apex predator.
In 1964, a young male lion of the Central African savannahs was looking for a territory of its own. He accidentally entered deep into the rain forest. In seeking to return to the Savannah he mistakenly traveled south. Lions feed on the antelope of the African plains. The antelope and duikers of the forest required more stealth to catch than this lion was able to muster. He got more hungry by the day.
Eventually he traveled 90 miles and arrived at the Congolese village of Mindjoukou. Many lions that are no longer able to feed themselves become man-eaters and this one was no exception. It struck terror into the hearts of the villagers killing and eating 4 people. After several failed attempts, they were eventually able to kill it with an enlarged version of a traditional leopard trap.
If you go to Mindjoukou and ask about this tragedy, however, you will hear a different story. One day a fetisher from Mindjoukou discovered his wife left him for another man. Vowing to get even he walked 5 miles to the village of Moumpoutou. Here he went to see a fetisher from the Central African Republic who had settled in the Congo. This Central African had brought with him a lion who hunted for his master because of a mystical relationship between them.
The Congolese fetisher asked and received permission to borrow the lion. He used it as his instrument of revenge. The lion killed his former wife while she was working in her garden. Her family became concerned when she did not return. The next day her lover went to find her and met the same fate. The lion then killed and ate 2 more members of the family because they did not intervene in this marriage dispute on behalf of the fetisher from Congo.
Gripped by terror, the villagers in mass seized both fetishers demanding the death of the lion. They responded that as a result of having 2 masters the lion was now out of their control. In order to avoid death at the hands of the frenzied mob, they were able to describe the kind of trap that if baited with a live goat, would catch the lion. The third attempt was successful and the lion was killed inside the trap. The 2 fetishers were then delivered over to the police in the Regional capital Impfondo. The two contrasting stories illustrate the need for cross cultural workers to function at the world view level of host people.
Adventures in Suburbia 