The Lost World: Jurassic Park continued the narrative established in the first Jurassic Park film but took things in a totally new direction. By getting rid of the fences and the theme park facade, the humans of the movie now had to survive in the wild where dinosaurs roamed free. But where one side merely wanted to observe them in their natural habitat, another wanted to take them away for a new park closer to the United States. Peter Ludlow, CEO of InGen, led an expedition to capture dinosaurs to use for his new park but still needed a T-Rex as the main attraction. While the film introduced the hunter for the job, Roland Tembo, as a skilled and deadly big game hunter, a deleted scene showed that his real reason for hunting the Buck was far more somber.
In The Lost World, Roland wanted nothing more than the personal glory of hunting a male Tyrannosaurus Rex. However, it's never fully explained why and therefore implied that he did so for the thrill of the hunt. This became even more obvious as he never treated Dr. Ian Malcolm's crew as hostile and instead felt more akin to them, as they, too, appreciated animals, though not in the same way he did. Even though Roland saw the relationship between humans and animals as a challenge, he respected why they were put on this Earth and the cost of failing to win against one. But in a deleted scene that set up the character's first appearance, it was explained why his reasons for hunting the Rex were his own.
In the Lost World scene, Roland's close friend and confidant, Ajay Sidhu, met Roland while he was enjoying a drink in Kenya. But rather than catch up, he instead propositioned him with the chance of a lifetime, working for a company that could pay him well. But rather than happily accepting the proposal, Roland instead met Ajay with skepticism and a lack of drive to hunt. Roland felt he and Ajay never got the chance to hunt something that offered a true challenge and made the victory worth it. Instead, he believed that the two were more like a firing squad. Nevertheless, Ajay stood by his belief that this expedition would give him exactly what he wanted.
Roland never wanted to hunt to kill; if anything, he likely wanted to feel a connection and mutual understanding with the animals he was looking for. In capturing a T-Rex, he knew that this could be the challenge he was finally after and one he felt he deserved. But instead, he only gained pain, as the Raptors eventually killed Ajay. Even though Roland captured his Buck, he couldn't relish in it because he felt that his desire to capture the animal got in the way of what was important to him. The film left him questioning many of his choices and likely had him finally give up his hunting profession for good.
Jurassic Park has had its fair share of hunters and mercenaries trying to capture or kill one of these dinosaurs. But Roland Tembo was easily the best of the bunch. He never hunted the creatures for anything more than a connection between these animals and the chance to have bested them. The T-Rex was meant to be his final hunt, but in getting exactly what he wanted, challenge and all, he lost someone he cared about. It was a harsh lesson that only one of these types of characters learned in the franchise and may have contributed to why, even now, he is still regarded as one of the best additions to the franchise.
The main cut of The Lost World: Jurassic Park omitted the real reason Roland wanted to hunt a T-Rex. As a result, a bit of his character development may have been lost in the process. But from trapping the Rex's infant to finally capturing the animal, his drive was still evident. But had the deleted scene stayed, a much clearer look at his humanity would've been made evident. Doing so would've shown that he now lived in a personal Hell where he got what he wanted, but his desire for a challenge cost him nearly everything.