“Bam, bam, ting”, “Bam, bam, ting” went the unusual sound that echoed loudly through the Savannah on this particular Saturday morning.  “What is that?” cried out Spunky, “It’s not like any bird, I’ve ever heard and I have exceptionally great hearing!”  The young lion cub who was relaxing on a warm rock with his friends, BuzBuz and Star could not resist an adventure.  He was already starting to make his way towards the noise. “Come on, let’s go check it out!”  he bellowed.  Star, who was equally adventurous needed no second invitation, “Let’s go BuzBuz” she said and they ran to catch up with Spunky on their new found quest in search of the “bam, bam, ting” noise.

Now as we all know, or soon come to learn, noise travels quite a distance and sometimes sounds like it’s coming from one direction when actually it’s coming from another. Oh dear, I think this trio may be in for a long walk! “We’ve been walking for ages and I think the noise sounds farther away than it ever did” observed BuzBuz.  They had made it all the way to the river, which was a good thing because they were now really quite hot and thirsty and definitely in need of a splash in the water to cool down. “We are no where near the noise! Now it sounds like it’s coming from back the way we came!” Star cried out in despair. “Bam, bam, ting”, “Bam, bam, ting” came the faint sound!  “Let’s not give up now, we must find out what that is” cried Spunky.  “I think we need to go that way” he said and pointed to a dirt trail that had been made by one of those machine things the park keepers are always in.  “Oh no, we are meant to stay away from the people, remember mama said they are afraid of lions and it’s not safe for us either” exclaimed BuzBuz.  “Yes, I know but we are not going to visit the people, just find out what that noise is.” “Ok” BuzBuz replied, “As long as  we obey mama.”

After taking one last drink they headed off down the trail and sure enough, the noise became louder and louder! Finally it became so loud that their ears were starting to hurt! “Ok, I think it’s around this last corner!” shouted Star, “We should get off the trail now and stay hidden in the long grass.”  “Great idea” said BuzBuz and Spunky.  Although they were excited to finally discover what this strange noise was, they were also getting a bit nervous because it was all so new and they were pretty close to the people’s campsite now. As they rounded the last corner, safely hidden in the grass, they saw such an unusual site – it was a young boy holding two sticks and banging on these round barrels and bits of tin.  The lion cubs had never seen anything like this before.  “What is it?” whispered Spunky, “I still don’t know” replied BuzBuz!  Just at that moment a lady came out with a glass of juice for the boy.  “Mother, listen to the music I’m making with my drum set!”  shouted the child.  Immediately he began to beat the sticks on the drums, “bam, bam, ting”, “bam, bam, ting” louder and faster than before!  “Well done son, that is beautiful music”, said his mother as she went back to the tent.

The young lions watched a moment longer then started to make their way back home.  “Wow!” “Drums and music” shouted Spunky, “I’ve never heard music like it, how amazing!”  They talked about what they had seen the whole way home and even after dinner as they were getting ready to go to sleep, they still remembered the “bam, bam, ting”, “bam, bam, ting” of those drums.

The next morning, back on the rock, as they lay sunbathing, Spunky decided that yesterday’s adventure wasn’t enough, he wanted to make his own drums to play on!  “What a great idea!” shouted Star, “Let’s all get our own drum to make music on”.  “Yea and we can play a song for the whole family, like that boy did for his mother” said BuzBuz.  And off they went, in search of anything that could be used to make music.  They eventually found old thick branches that made a good noise when they hit them with their paws and dragged them over to the rock area so they could practice.

“Whew, this is hard work” exclaimed Star, after spending the whole afternoon creating music that they could play for their families.  “Yes, but I think we sound great!” Spunky joyously proclaimed, “Let’s surprise everyone tonight, after dinner!” “Yes!” They all agreed.

The time had come. The young lions had managed to get everyone to gather at the big rock for a surprise!  Remember lions don’t normally play drums, so they are in for a big surprise!  “Welcome to our special show” announced BuzBuz, “Let’s begin!” And with that the three cubs played their drums loud for everyone to hear.  All the lions were amazed at the youngsters and really enjoyed the drum show!

“What an adventure” said Spunky as they settled down to sleep that night “And we get to play all over again tomorrow” he mumbled as he fell into a deep sleep, dreaming about drums! The end.