Walking with Lions

This photo might justify all the crappy bus rides I have had to take to get my ass down to Zambia from Tanzania. At the very least it will make the final cut for my 2010 Christmas card.

Play nice kitty

So after a big night in Livingstone, where we imbibed a little too much with our new local friends, we woke up at 6:30 hung-over and a little worse for wear to go on a Lion walk. There is some non-profit down here where they let you walk with the cubs as they are trying to rehabilitate and re-introduce them to the wild. Overall it was pretty cool to hang out with these cats up close, and I mean VERY up close.

They basically pick you up, take you to a nice luxury lodge in the middle of a very small and controlled game preserve, give you a cup of coffee, and after a short brief  you sign a waiver. About 5min later they drop you off and you walk up to the lions who are hanging out in the bushes sleeping with some trackers/guides/volunteers. Some of the other big 5 are in park so they want to make sure the area is clear before you show up. We walked around with two 16month old cubs for about an hour.

The lions want to sleep. They sleep about 20hrs a day and the trackers roust them by clapping and yelling. It’s about the same thing you would do to get your housecat or dog off the couch or out of the trash but a tad more aggressive. I immediately started thinking shit ,did I just pay $100 bucks to watch some guys abuse and harass some lion cubs? but the trackers address your concern before you can voice it with a decent explanation. They say hey, we have got to walk them everyday, tourists or no tourists, to get them acclimated to sights, sounds, and smells of the jungle so they can continue learning and growing. Their mother prods them with the swipe of a claw and a growl, they could eat me so I clap and shout…which seemed reasonable.

These cubs are acquired at about 3-6 weeks old as orphans or are bred in captivity, this group then walks them and rehabs them until 18 months where they are then released into a small park as a part of a pride. When they are not being walked as cubs they are kept in an enclosure, depressing I know. After some time in the small park with a limited number of competitors and predators (other cats, hyenas), they move the pride or some of the lions into a big fully functioning  park or ecosystem. This system works and they have been successfully re-introducing animals for a few years. In thirty years the African Lion population has dropped from over 200,000 to less than 30,000 primarily due to loss of habitat due to growth and encroachment of the human population.  The $100  tourist fee helps fund the program and though it seems a little contrived/commercial and not quite right to have tourists interacting with the animals in such a way at least these two will eventually end up in the wild and not in a zoo.

Tiger by the tail. Lion fur is not as soft as a housecat, but about the same feel as a North American deer or Elk.

claws teeth

These cubs had just been fed a day ago so they were accused of being lazy, but they were more then happy to be manhandled in turn for some affection, petting and scratching. Despite the seemingly affectionate relationship with the guides, this pair at less than a year and a half old had taken down several of the parks herbivores on their own in the preceding few months and were more than capable of hunting and feeding themselves. You could tell when they would get a touch of instinct or aggression in their behavior toward people. The trackers would shout “watch your back” to whoever they would advance on and a shout or some confrontation would distract them.

They give you a little brief of Lion behavior beforehand, what to do, how to establish dominance, what upsets the cats and what does not. Pretty interesting. Though familiar and comfortable with the guides I had the distinct impression that these guys could and would definitely eat you if the circumstances were not in your favor.

Overall a very cool experience , a definite highlight of the trip. If I had more time I would look at volunteering at this place.

http://www.lionalert.org/