In the wild, wolves mate or bond for life and I have become her dominant male and Kenya is part of her pack. 

Akela is now 9½ years old and, while she makes friends with women and children (sometimes with embarrassing affections), she has never let men touch her.  She just backs off; even from men she has known all her life.

The only man she ever expressed a very cautious interest in was Lindsay Hunt  who owned Solole Nature Reserve near Kommetjie. He’d been sleeping with a baby buffalo or somethething that he was acclimatising to its new home, so maybe that was the reason.  But he also has a rare empathy for animals.

But she’s met someone on the farm who has treated her differently from all others.  The first time JP met her, he lay on the ground to stay lower than her.  He has always respected her reticence and never tried to sneak in a quick stroke.

Today we rode into town with JP in his bakkie, part of the journey in the back and part in the cab with him.  I left her in the cab with JP when I went into the shops and was astounded to find her rubbing up against JP when I got back, enjoying his attentions.