On one extreme end of lake Nakuru national park, there is a residential camp of the rhino monitoring unit. The endangered rhino has close surveillance 24/7. That means that the people working in the unit have to live where the animals are. A visit to the camp reveals a very interesting scenario.

There are about twenty circular iron sheet camp huts, all located within a quarter hectare compound. An old house serves as the bar and canteen. An evening visit to the camp is like opening a page in the old country western books. The patrons here are all male, trained wardens in combat gear. They look hardened by life in the bush and have one thing in common. They all carry loaded riffles.

Unlike the camps meant for the public, this one is right inside the park where animals cannot keep away. In fact it is forbidden to venture out of either your hut or the bar on foot. There is a vehicle here that is available twenty four hours or for all the time the people are awake, to transport them between the canteen and their huts, a distance of only about fifty metres, yet extremely dangerous.

A night spent in the camp, revealed that the wardens do not exaggerate anything. It can be extremely dangerous to venture outside. Due to the availability of water during the day, the grass tends to be tender and well irrigated outside the huts inside the camp. This attracts a lot of grazers, mainly gazelles, that come right outside the doors to the huts.

On their trail are the Africa's deadliest cats of the night, leopards. The phantom of the shadows love to set themselves strategically as they wait for their prey to make one silly move that will create an opportunity for them. There is no better positioning than on the roof of the huts. It happens often and it always works for the leopard. If the occupant of the hut flouts the rules and decides to venture out, there is the risk of finding a leopard in waiting and the consequences could be dire.

buffaloes also pass by. Although herbivores, the buffalo is the most dreaded animal to encounter in the wild. It is vicious and intolerant. It requires no provocation to attack and when it does, it unleashes its full wrath. It is surely the animal to avoid. The buffalo is also a likely danger early in the morning.

The hyena always makes its round of inspection. The possibility that some bones or left over could be available here is too strong a temptation. When they come, one can tell from the noises they make outside the huts. As if to emphasize why this camp is strictly for armed wardens, lions make their appearance as well.

In one of the nights a colleague spent there as an intern, lions were all over the place as early as ten in the night. They seemed to be relaxed outside the house and one could hear their panting. Separated by only a thin sheet of iron, from the strongest cat in Africa, it is a chilling experience especially when one is alone and unarmed in a hut.

But one of the wardens in the adjacent huts was looking at it differently. He thought the lions were a nuisance and started hurling insults at them. At first it felt like the cats will obey and run off because the panting ceased for a brief moment. But what followed was an experience anyone inside the camp will never forget.

The roar of the male lion, right inside the camp, was so loud and deep that it vibrated the walls of the huts, to an extent that one felt like they were cracking. Like a very powerful speaker, one felt the vibrations in the sound reverberate through the body system. It happened at intervals of one prolonged roar, followed by several other sounds whose sound is hard to explain. It happened thrice, but it felt like it lasted forever. When the king of the jungle was finished, you could hear a pin drop, because all other sounds including the night cricket were silent. There was no dispute who is in charge here.