Mbube in Mabula, A-Weemawack or Wimoweh?

On the Cape Town's Hop On/Hop Off Bus, we heard a song that sounded very much like The Lion Sleeps Tonight. 

Upon returning home, I learned this was Mbube, a Zulu song first released on vinyl in 1939.  While to me, this original version by Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds isn't a particularly good rendering, it did become a hit in South Africa. It was subsequently covered by many other artists.

Folk singer Pete Seeger had heard the song somewhere and added it to his repertoire, calling the song Wimoweh.  That was basically the only lyric.  Seeger's father was an academic musicologist, which would be a possible source, though it is said that he picked the song up on his travels.  Seeger thought this Zulu folk song was older than the recording by Soloman Linda.

Seeger made it an audience participation number in his show, basically teaching the building blocks of what I would call the landscape setting to be built on later.  A lot of folk singers covered his version.

It was in 1961 when RCA Records brought in songwriter George David Weiss to write English lyrics for a Doo-Wop band called The Tokens that The Lion Sleeps Tonight became the worldwide hit we all know and love.

At the bottom of this post is a series of videos showing the evolution of this song, which at least I find interesting.  On a personal note, when our children were young, many a family gathering ended with us singing our misinterpretation of the repeating lyric --- "A weemawack" --- while my brother-in-law Sam did a good falsetto for the "Oo-oo-oo-oo-oom-bah-ba-way."

Why bring all this up?

It's my roundabout way of getting to the point that on the morning game drive on our second day in Mabula, we set out in search of lions.  

When we found them, the pride of one lion king, two lionesses and their seven cubs, they were sleeping. 

All of us in our safari truck did our best to stay silent, as directed, but that was not probably the best way to handle that, in retrospect.

When we drove away and another SUV from our group drove in to view them, the lions awakened and put on a good show for them.   They shared photos with us.

Before we drove off on our morning game drive, we met for coffee and pastries on the patio.

At 5:30 AM, we were bouncing our way into the wilderness, spotting animals as we went.

It had become much like snorkeling, where we become accustomed to familiar fishy friends, enjoying it all the while but looking closely in hopes of finding more unusual denizens of the deep.

Every now and then, we would pass a male wildebeest that Vincent said was rubbing on a tree to await a mate. 

When we would see him again, Vincent would say, "Still waiting."

Giraffes earned special attention, but our primary goal was to find elephants and lions on this morning.

Failing to find elephants at places in their most likely hangouts, the guides shifted to lion hunting.

Vincent received word on his radio that lions had been spotted in the open, which would be a treat, he said, because lion viewing is often obscured by brush and trees.  Several of the open-air safari vehicles converged, with only two at a time being allowed into prime observation spots.

We were happy to be early in the queue, but as it turned out, the lions were doing what the song says. 

While we were disappointed that the lions were not too active beyond raising a head here or there and kicking legs in their sleep, perhaps we should consider ourselves fortunate for not being attacked by hungry lions.

Soon after spotting lions, we took a coffee break in the wilds.  No need for us to become hungry wild beasts.

The setup wasn't as extensive as happy hour, but we all enjoyed the cookies and caffeine.

Upon returning to the Mabula Lodge, we enjoyed meals that we ate out on the patio, took a walk around the property viewing animals and lounging by the swimming pool.

I took a couple of laps and stood beneath the artificial waterfall letting water splash on my head.

Out mid-day break concluded with another tea time on the patio where we had breakfast and lunch earlier in the day.

For the afternoon game drive, our primary objective was to find those elusive elephants and rhinoceros.  

We came up blank again for elephants that day, but we did find rhinos.

No matter how many photos that I include, I cannot convey the excitement of the experience, which far surpasses the images.

You never know what waits around the next turn or what these wild animals will do.

We didn't get too close to the Cape Buffalos as they are known for being unpredictable and aggressive. 

This member of the Big Five has earned nicknames like "The Widowmaker" and "The Black Death."

After a long afternoon of animal sighting, we arrived at a lakeside meeting point for a beautiful sunset happy hour.

That evening, I wanted to have a gin and tonic in the little bar next to the dining room, simply because it looked like the kind of place where Ernest Hemmingway would have been downing drinks on safari.

The waitstaff kept saying I should go into the dining room to order drinks, but I insisted.

It turned out they were trying to protect me from paying full retail, although still our beverages were less than they would be most places in the US, so it was worth it.

Dinner was terrific.  I don't recall what we ate, but we sat with an English couple who said they had been to Africa several times, something we may wish to emulate based on our experience.

Porcupine Wandering Around the Lodge

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