I’ve been to East Africa 26 times. It never gets old because the plains change from day to day. The weather changes, and the climate causes the animal residents to come and go, so every day is a chance to enjoy a new site.

Some of the favorite animals on my list of “must-sees” are lions, cheetahs and servals. I love the powerful, muscular bodies, their stealth, the way they move and attack, and the gentle way they take care of their young. I also sympathize with them when they become injured. They are the top of the food chain, so injuries are not supposed to happen.

In the Masai Mara in Kenya lives a lion pride called the Marsh Pride. Siena, the alpha lioness, became injured by a Cape buffalo when she was hunting. She was gored in her left hind quarter. Her leg was almost ripped off, but no bones were broken, and no organs were damaged. However, she lost a lot of blood, and it was painful for her to walk. She probably would not live without human intervention, and neither would her cubs.

The Masai Mara Wildlife Vets were notified, and they swiftly went into action. Siena had been injured once before in a fight with another lioness, so they were familiar with her. The vet team flew into the Masai Mara and quickly found the Marsh Pride.

After Siena was tranquilized, the vet cleansed the wound with saline, sterilized the entire area, cleaning shredded pieces of muscle, then sewed up the massive wound on her left thigh. An antibiotic poultice was applied, and the lioness was slowly revived from the tranquilizer. The entire treatment lasted 1½ hours.

Often on the plain, authorities will decline to intervene when something like this occurs. Siena was lucky. Her organs remained undamaged, and she had no broken bones. Plus, there was the welfare of her three young cubs to take into consideration.

Siena, being young and strong, quickly returned to rearing her three young cubs. She was monitored by the Mara Vet Unit to make sure she did not need any follow-up treatments.

When she was again spotted by the vet team two days following the surgery, she seemed to be recovering well. However, later the same month, it was apparent that she had licked away some of the stitches and some of her skin, so she was tranquilized again, and the little patch of skin was sewn back into place. The wound was cleansed with peroxide. Iodine and surgical spirit were applied, as well as antibiotic spray and green clay to prevent infection. She was given more intramuscular antibiotics, and revived.

The pride, which was waiting for Siena to recover, killed a Cape buffalo while they were waiting, so Siena’s first meal following surgery was a big hunk of Cape buffalo.

The next sighting of Siena and her cubs was at another Cape buffalo kill. All of them were looking happy and healthy.

We live in a wonderful time, when a lioness can be saved by wildlife vets instead of dying on the plain along with her three cubs. Just a handful of years ago, such a traumatic injury would have most certainly meant death.

Siena was 11 years old when she was injured by the Cape buffalo. She is now 12½. An average lifespan of a lioness in the Mara is 14. But Siena has shown no signs of slowing down. Perhaps she has many more of her nine lives to live in this lovely place on Earth.

But I think she might be a little more cautious around those Cape buffalo.

Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel is executive director of the Community Hiking Club and president of the Santa Clara River Watershed Conservancy. Contact Dianne through communityhikingclub.org or at zuliebear@aol.com.