- Watching the lion violently take down the helpless animal was a hair-raising and chilling encounter that left Hassan shaken to the core.
- He was thankful that he quickly managed to lead the rest of the herd away to safety.
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Like any other typical pastoralist family, Former IEBC Chairman Issack Hassan grew up herding his father's cattle.
Born and raised in Bura, Garissa, his father owned a large herd of livestock that he was tasked with taking care of oftentimes, in the company of other herders.
His father usually hired two to three herders for an agreed consideration, to take them to the wild in search of feeds.
In his book Referee of a Dirty Ugly Game, the former IEBC boss unpacks the quintessential life of a herder exposing life-and-death instances one goes through when searching for pasture.
Whenever Hassan would come from school, he would most of the time be the one joining herders in looking after the livestock.
"Occasionally, I would be with the hired herders, while other times, I looked after the animals by myself. I never got to know why my father made this decision concerning me and not my siblings," Hassan narrates.
He describes his homeland as mostly arid and one that was scarce with pasture.
But even so, in that ecosystem, an encounter with dangerous wild animals was a norm.
"We were never too far from danger, as we would encounter hyenas, lions and other wild animals that were in much of a quick catch," he said.
Hassan said encounters with hyenas were frequent and this meant that they will occasionally lose some animals.
"However, I was quick to chase them away, and they relented, as they are mostly wary of human beings. The safety of the herd was my highest priority," Hassan said.
In his usual herding activity, Hassan narrates encountering a hungry lion that had attacked his father's herd and mauled one of the animals.
He had noticed the restlessness of the herd just before the attack.
He said it was evident in the anxious noises the cattle made, with their tails raised to the sky, while urinating, it was evident that danger was looming.
The animals had their own intuitive way of sensing when danger was close by, and a herder would be alerted to take action.
"Nothing could have prepared me for such a terrifying experience, not even the numerous daunting ordeals I had heard from other herdsmen," Hassan said.
Watching the lion violently take down the helpless animal was a hair-raising and chilling encounter that left Hassan shaken to the core.
He was thankful that he quickly managed to lead the rest of the herd away to safety.
"The unwritten rule among the herders was that it was better to lose an animal than a human life," he said.
Any lion that killed a herder had to be hunted down and killed.
This is because it was feared that if the killer lion got used to human flesh, then the entire community would be in danger.
Hassan said he enjoyed his life in school as it offered him great relief and a break from the harsh life of herding.
He said he was never really considered a real herdsboy by those who lived their entire lives looking after animals.
"This was because I only took up the role during my school holidays, and even then, I had to start from the lowest rank of a herdsboy, referred to as a dabadon, implying one who was a follower or a fledging intern," he said.