It’s 1972 in Hwange National Park, Rhodesia. Newly weds Len Harvey, a veteran Rhodesian game warden, and wife, Jean, are honeymooning at an old elephant control camp at Shapi Pan. Also vacationing at the camp are fellow senior ranger Willy De Beer, his wife, daughter, and stepson, Colin Matthews. The surrounding area is beautiful… the perfect place to relax and enjoy the peace and tranquility of the African bush. Each couple stays in their own pole-and-dagga hut, rustic mud structures constructed with burnt mopane poles for walls, and thatched grass roofs. Openings left in the sides of the the structures serve as windows, keeping the buildings cool during the warmer months. On their first day in camp, the rangers notice 3 lions exhibiting strange behavior. The cats seem to pay little attention to the presence of the couples in the camp, showing no fear. They’re so bold as to actually enter the camp in broad daylight, picking off chickens kept by the camp’s normal staff, and right in plain view of the guests. To the experienced rangers this is a red flag. It isn’t typical for lions to be so brazen. But despite their threatening behavior, there’s nothing to be done. The lions haven’t shown any outward aggression towards the campers, and even if they had the men are unarmed. At the time of their stay, a bush war is taking place in Rhodesia and so firearms not being actively used are ordered to be kept under lock and key within the National Park, stored at the camp’s armory to prevent theft for guerrilla purposes. The next day, the lions return, patrolling the perimeter of the camp. Their posture sparks unease among the visitors, the behavior becoming increasingly fearless. The rangers know this situation has become potentially dangerous. However, the lions eventually disappear and after an uneventful but nonetheless stressful day the couples retire to their quarters early for bed after turning off the camp’s generator. It’s just after 11pm. Aside from the constant nighttime drone of insects, the old elephant station is still and silent, As everyone is sound asleep, one of the lions, a 260lb lioness, has returned to the camp. Now alone, it stalks the perimeter under the cover of darkness. Stealthily the cat makes its way to the mud hut where Len and Jean lie sleeping inside. It hears the soft breath of its unsuspecting prey behind the earthen walls. Seeing the open window, the lion leaps through, landing on top of Jean. The woman screams breaking the night silence as the predator immediately bites her in the small of the back. Her cry startles Len awake who without hesitation jumps on the back of the lion and begins to fight the brute bare-handed, punching at the big cat’s head until it releases it’s grip on his wife and turn’s it’s attention to him. The lion suddenly rears back, hurling Len to the ground, quickly turning to grip his shoulder in its powerful jaws. He pleads for Jean to leave the hut and find safety. Badly injured and bleeding, she makes her way out the door and begins running across the camp towards the de Beer’s shelter, but stops several paces in. Instinctively she wants to help her husband who had thrust himself into the fray to save her life, but as she stands staring at the hut she’s just escaped she hears the struggle taking place between her husband and the lion inside and knows that Len is beyond saving. Indeed, the lion has shifted its grip to around Len’s throat quickly ending the altercation. It now begins to feed. Jean again starts towards the de Beer’s hut and bangs on the door. Willy answers to find the terrified bloodied woman and brings her inside where she alerts him to what has just happened before passing out from exhaustion and blood loss. De Beer quickly wakes up Colin Matthews and instructs him to start the camp generator while he runs to the station’s main office to retrieve their weapons. De Beer grabs two rifles from the armory, one for Colin, and one for himself, loads them, and runs back towards the scene. He links back up with Matthews in route and hands him a bolt action .243, and the two men make their way through the darkness to the Harvey’s quarters. When they arrive outside the tiny hut they’re met with stillness… it’s dead silent. It’s so quiet they’re not sure if the lion is still inside. De Beer softly calls out to Harvey in hopes that perhaps the lion has fled and he’s somehow survived the ordeal. His heart sinks when, instead of Harvey’s voice, he hears the low, guttural growl of the lioness guarding over her prey. He very slowly advances towards the window, rifle at the ready. He can now hear what sounds like the lion feeding on the other side of the mud wall. It would be easy to take a blind shot right through the structure and hit the lion at near point blank range, but the ranger isn’t sure if Harvey is dead or simply unconscious, and a misplaced bullet could kill him. He needs a visual of the lion to ensure a safe shot.