Kimba the White Lion

The story is set in the Timbavati region of South Africa (the jewel in the crown of Southern Africa). A Lion pride of related females has not had a successful hunt for numerous days altogether and is stalking a party of Englishmen who are on a hunting expedition. The pride targets the men because they know that these humans are a threat and feel justified in targeting them not just for food but also to keep their land safe and as a kind of retaliation in losing their male to these hunters. A Lioness who leads the pride is the most powerful among her sisters and motivates them to stand up to the hunters when the pride is afraid of the men’s weapons. The tactics she teaches them are how to avoid fire from the men’s weapons through aggressive and rigorous yet exhaustive running which not only protects them but helps to build strength and day by day they begin to target the men and their pack animals, notably their horses and hunting dogs. While three of the Lionesses are lost to the men’s gunfire, most of the other Lionesses are able to kill some of the men and even their pack animals such as their horses; they have a more difficult time with their dogs since the dogs work together in a pack although the Lionesses have an advantage as a large pride. Finally only two men are left and one night they attempt to make a stand against the pride on foot as their friends, horses and dogs are all but gone. One of the men is mauled and his friend is knocked down but the pride immediately scatters on hearing gunfire and the barking of dogs, signifying that help has come for the men.


The pride having been robbed of their last meal then happen upon a large bull giraffe whom they initially have difficulty in bringing down but then a handsome male Lion arrives and miraculously leaps an incredible height to deliver a killing blow to the giraffe. The pride is saved from hunger at long last and the leading Lioness in charge pledges herself as his mate as a sign of gratitude as well as a sign of love while he establishes himself as leader of the pride. After a few days, the Lioness is  pregnant and as is custom of Lions, she leaves the pride to give birth in a secluded place near the Timbavati River. Out of all her cubs, one of them is pure white. The Lioness is often visited by her mate who hunts for her and her cubs. While the Lioness is initially weary of her mate at first given that male Lions tend to play rough with their cubs,  he proves to her that he can be trusted and unlike most Lion males, is as gentle with the cubs as any Lioness would be. Sadly one day, the male is killed by a leopard who despite her smaller size is able to afford a chokehold on the male which kills him. Having witnessed his family she then begins to stalk them picking off the Lionesses' cubs one by one until only the white cub survives. Seeking revenge against the leopardess, the Lioness kills the leopardess's own cubs prompting the leopardess to track her down and a vicious fight breaks out, resulting in the Lioness killing her opponent and she and her cub have a good meal. As the cub grows, he begins to explore his surroundings and is sometimes at risk from other animals wherein his mother has to come to his rescue. One day she kills an eland fawn and the fawn's mother having witnessed this challenges the Lioness to a battle. Both females engage in a vicious battle while the cub escapes, unaware that both his mother and the eland have died from their wounds during the fight.

After running for miles, the cub happens upon a Shangaan village and one of the elders who see him with the others is ecstatic as a White Lion is a symbol of God. The man's son Gisani attempts to be friendly with the cub and knowing the cub may react strongly, starts to gain his trust by offering him food. The cub slowly starts to open up to him and soon allows physical contact coming from the young Shangaan who goes on to name him 'Kimba'. Kimba visits Gisani each day and the two go on to become best friends. By now Kimba has grown into a handsome male Lion. However while the White Lion is allowed to come into the village given that his docility is trusted by many of the people in the village, they will not allow any Lion to live there. At the advice of his father who knows how much he loves Kimba, Gisani watches over the White Lion from afar, protecting him and ensuring his safety. The two still see each other wherein they share meals, watch the scenery or take exercising walks. One day, Gisani decides to go into town to get supplies for his village and Kimba accompanies him much to the appalment of everyone in town even though Kimba having learnt that it is not allowable to attack man from Gisani does not let his curiosity lead him astray by playing rough with someone. A gambler David Halloran and his wife Francesca who are known for arranging fights between animals after learning Kimba's name want to buy him and despite protests from Gisani who refuses, threaten to hand him over to the police if the Shangaan will not comply. As the days go by Kimba after being jeered and laughed at becomes more and more aggressive, somehow shedding his gentle nature that he once learned and ignoring the rules and regulations once taught to him. However it is exactly what David and Francesca want for themselves.

Soon Kimba is pitted against various animals, namely Lions and leopards, all of whom he manages to kill, earning his cruel owners tons of money that they bet on. Later on multiple animals such as wild dogs, hyenas or jackals are released as a new level of battle for Kimba but still against the odds, he manages to defeat them. He begins to get the title of 'Kimba - the fighting White Lion'. When fights against predatory animals begin to lose their popularity given that Kimba is bound to win, David arranges for herbivorous animals to challenge Kimba such as warthogs, baboons, buffalo and giraffe although he knows that rhinos and elephants could kill Kimba and he evidently does not want that to happen so he turns down offers from people who wish to put these animals against Kimba. Kimba is still victorious and David and Francesca are both frustrated and desperate for more money. Finally, an Indian trader Rohit Dev who is visiting South Africa brings with him Sher who is the first Tiger to enter Southern Africa. Rohit's tiger is as powerful a fighter as Kimba and having defeated numerous opponents back in India Rohit is looking for new opponents for his tiger. After being approached by David and Francesca to see if he would be interested in pitting his tiger against Kimba, Rohit agrees and soon Sher is released against Kimba. At first neither big cat is interested in fighting each other as they have never seen each other's kind; Sher has fought numerous Lions but has never seen a white one like Kimba who in turn has never seen a tiger before. However Kimba, thanks to his aggression, gives in to his anger believing that Sher is deserving of death and fights him. To the dismay of his betters, Kimba keeps getting knocked down and soon the tiger has the Lion at his mercy when he sinks his teeth into Kimba's neck. Kimba is near death but Gareth Smith, a local South African happens upon the fight and breaks it up by killing the tiger and threatens the deceased animal's owner as well as David and Francesca that if they talk to the authorities about his actions, he will have them run out of town, causing a heartbroken Rohit to return to India shortly after Gareth takes Kimba into his care

Gareth is a former gold miner who gave up his career so he could take to helping his favourite animals, who happen to be Lions to live in the wild if a Lion could not take care of himself. He does this by taking Lions on walks into the wild and once they get used to the wild, leaving them in their new home once they have interactions with wild Lions and have gotten used to living on their own in the wild as long as they do not return to him, many of whom were once under the care of Gareth. He does not get paid much for this occupation only earning 20 shillings from the work he does but enjoys it nonetheless. Having learnt about Kimba's aggression and believing that his former owners brought that upon him, he places the White Lion separately from other Lions while Kimba regains his strength and health, recovering from his wounds. After a long patient effort, Gareth succeeds in winning over Kimba's trust the same way that Gisani did for him and is soon able to help Kimba view other Lions as friends which the White Lion has not experienced since the death of his parents. However when it comes to attempting to reintroduce Kimba into the wild, the White Lion keeps returning to Gareth who not knowing what to do turns to one of his Shangaan friends for help. That Shangaan happens to be Gisani who is very happy to be united with his old Lion friend after so long and the feeling is mutual with Kimba. Both Gisani and Gareth slowly start spending more time in the wild with Kimba and make him observe other Lions in the wild as well as getting him to hunt by first killing animals in front of him then encouraging him to bring down animals. Gisani's father gives permission to use some of their goats as practice for Kimba. Eventually, Kimba, realizing that his home is in the wild is able to run back into the welcome of the Timbavati region

One day, Gareth is visiting his wife and children who despite not living with him due to a divorce that stemmed from Gareth's preference to work with Lions allow him to visit. He takes them to see Gisani and the Shangaan's family one day and they go on a trek of the region hoping to see Kimba but the White Lion is nowhere in sight. Just as they are about to leave, they are ecstatic to find him with a family of his own; a beautiful Lioness and her two cubs, the male being the colour of his mother and the female being the colour of her father




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