One morning in June 2021, my Twitter feed blew up with a video appearing to show a lion pacing inside a luxury villa. Strange, yes. But stranger still, I recognized the villa adjacent to our complex. It was clear that this video was taken from a Romdoulian’s balcony. All day, the Romdoul Bopha Mafia (our building’s WhatsApp group) was ablaze with gossip and disbelief about this new addition to the neighborhood. That evening, I walked past the villa and saw it for myself. Peering out over a small fence on the second floor was a very large lion.

Our editors picked their favorite articles of 2024. This was one.