The Upendi Day Celebration

The Beginnings of a Special Day

Dawn arrived as the sun slowly ascended over the horizon, casting its brilliant morning light all over the African Savannah, marking the beginning of a brand new day. All around, animals from all walks of life rose from their peaceful slumber and moved about to start off their day's activities within the Savannah. These majestic lands of the Savannah were better known as the Pridelands, one of Mother Nature's finest creations where animals, insects and plants all coexist in tune of the natural flow of the Circle of Life.

The Pridelands had many places of interests, one of which happened to be Pride Rock; a huge rock formation that towered several feet above the land with the pinnacle providing a splendid view of the vast Pridelands for as far as the eye can see. It was also a home for a special pride of lions that ruled the entire Pridelands. And on this particular morning, a young member of this royal family was laying on her side, still peacefully deep in her slumber…

Kiara, a cream-coloured lioness cub and royal princess, remained completely oblivious to the arrival of a brand new day, as she lay fast asleep at her usual spot on the Rock. Gentle snores and occasional purrs escaped her mouth as she dreamt of her future self, being the future queen to rule the Pridelands. An unconscious smile formed on her lips as her dreams depicted her future self as a fully-grown adult lioness, beaming with pride as animals all around her bowed down before their Queen as she walked past them.

Meanwhile, another lion cub was just a few feet away from her, who was stealthily and craftily creeping towards the sleeping princess by the second. His name was Kion, a young lion cub with a brilliant-golden coat of fur and was the royal prince and whom also happened to be Kiara's younger brother. A smug grin spread across the young prince's muzzle as he prepared to give his elder sister the wake-up call of her life.

When he finally got close enough to her, he quietly placed his mouth just inches from Kiara's left ear and shouted, "KIAAARAAAAA!"

"AHHHHH!" the startled lioness cub screamed as she sprang several feet into the air before landing back onto the ground on all fours.

She looked all around her in panic, thinking for a wild moment that the Pride was under attack. But when she saw Kion laughing heartily at her reaction, she let out an angry growl to accompany the equally frightening glare that she shot at towards her younger brother.

"KION! YOU'RE DEAD!" she cried out as she instantly leapt into the air, ready to pounce on the laughing Kion.

Unfortunately for her, Kion was much faster and managed to leap out of the way in the nick of time, just as Kiara landed at the spot where he was just milliseconds ago.

"Catch me if you can!" he playfully called out to his sister before making a break for it.

Kiara frowned and instantly chased after her younger brother. "You better pray I don't, you little… grrr!"

Kion simply laughed as he sped off with Kiara close behind him. While playfully trying to escape his sister's fury, Kion leapt across a lion and a lioness who were lying down and cuddling each other while they were in the midst of their slumber. The couple were the cubs' parents: King Simba and Queen Nala. The moment Kion leapt across his parents, the two adult lions instinctively woke up and sat up to see what's going on.

Simba and his mate turned to their left to see Kion running away from them. At the same time, the Lion King also heard movement coming towards his right. He turned his head just in time to unfortunately see Kiara just inches away from smashing into his face.

Kiara had wanted to follow Kion by leaping across her sleeping parents as well, but it was unfortunate that they were both awakened by Kion's movements and decided to sit up just as she had launched herself into the air. And now, her forward momentum prevented her from doing anything to stop herself from smashing straight into her father.