OUT OF AFRICA

In a quest to save wild African lions from extinction, filmmaker Rogue Rubin went undercover, posing as a big game trophy-hunt photographer and putting her own life at risk. She reveals her terrifying journey.

- GENEVIEVE GANNON

On her first night undercover with a team of wealthy trophy hunters, filmmaker Joni Rubin, who goes by ‘Rogue’, was taken to the skinning shed, where her heart began to pound. Rogue is tough and full of moxie, but in that room of slain animals, it suddenly hit her that she was alone in the middle of nowhere with a band of men who shoot wildlife for pleasure and profit.

She had come to Africa after making the shocking discovery that wild lions are at risk of extinction. She’d created a fake identity to get up close to big game hunters and had been invited on a hunt. But on that night, in the African wilderness, she realized what a huge risk she’d taken, and her determination began to give way to fear.

“I don’t think I would have done it if I had thought it through more clearly or been more introspective. I just jumped,” says Rogue, safely back in Australia.

“I came into it bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and with ignorance. I wasn’t anti-hunting,” she says. “I didn’t really know what it entailed. I would have much preferred to have genuine, open conversations with them. But that was never going to get me to the truth.” However, she adds, “I’d be stupid not to go in with fear. I’m a female by myself. I had solid fear.”

In Lion Spy, the documentary Rogue has made of her investigation, we see night-vision footage of her on that first evening, pulling heavy furniture in front of her cabin door. Her voice is quiet and frightened as she says, “I think I’m in over my head.” But she steeled herself and rose at dawn, ready to play the part of the photography intern who would document the hunt.