Walking with Lions, Zimbabwe

At Antelope Park in Zimbabwe you can walk with lions, play with cubs, watch lion feeding, go on elephant rides, etc - if that's what rocks your boat then great. Personally, I prefer to see animals in the wild. Antelope Park claims that their work with lions will help to increase numbers, but I'm not convinced that exposing lions to this level of human contact is a good thing. Lion numbers are reducing due to human population growth meaning that there are fewer suitable areas for lions to live and game for them to hunt. Some prides are becoming interbred due to the lack of lions in certain areas.

The method employed by Antelope Park is a four stage process. For stage one, lion cubs born in captivity are taken out on walks in the bush by their handlers so that they can get used to a wild environment. I'm not sure how "humanising" them ultimately helps, but it's a great money spinner as there are plenty of people willing to pay for the experience of walking with lions. Once the lions are 18 months they are then taken out hunting where they are driven in the direction of game and hopefully figure out how to kill (more on this later). Stage two is releasing a group into an enclosed area where there are game for them to hunt but no other predators. Hopefully they form a successful pride that can then be moved onto stage three where they live in a much larger area and effectively operate as wild lions. They no longer have human contact and will have to compete with hyenas for food. This pride then produces genuinely wild cubs which can be used for stage four which is actually releasing lions into the wild in areas of Africa where numbers are dwindling. The ALERT (African Lion and Environmental Research Trust) has been running at Antelope Park since 2005. As yet, they have not got past stage two. The last attempt at forming a pride failed. I appreciate that it takes time for lions to mature but right now this place seems to be more about making money via tourists than a genuine attempt to increase lion numbers.

Given my views, I felt it would be hypocritical of me to partake in any lion walking, cub playing, feeding activities. However, I did go on a "night encounter" in the hope that this would give me the opportunity to see lions operating more naturally (and yes, I admit it, a lion chase and kill!). The night encounter involves letting three (hungry) lions out of their enclosures and taking them out into the game park and teaching them to hunt. You would think that they would just head off into the bush but they actually stay very close to the jeeps initially. They are so used to humans and they don't really know what to do because normally an older lion would teach younger ones how to hunt. The spotters on the jeeps try and locate game and get the lions to go in that direction. The lioness was somewhat smarter than the two male lions and eventually she headed off and we lost her. The other jeep continued on with the two lions whilst our jeep tried to locate the missing lion. You have to laugh when you are sat in the middle of the bush on an open jeep with the handler whistling and calling this lion! The other jeep then managed to lose their lions so we spent quite a lot of time just driving around trying to locate them. Eventually the two male lions reappeared but then set off fast so we had to do some crazy driving through the bush to keep up. Clearly they had scented the lioness and eventually all the lions were reunited (they were very pleased to see each other again) but we still hadn't even seen any game. It was now time to head back to the enclosures. Just as we got there a whole herd of impala were seen and the lions went chasing after them. More fast driving - probably the best bit about the whole experience was being on a fast jeep trying to keep up! Anyway, the lions didn't have any luck. Impala are fast and lions are only fast for a very short distance and don't have a great deal of stamina. Once the lions reappeared, they just lay down panting by the jeeps. They went home hungry. Apparently the same lions are being taken out again tonight so some of our group are going a second time as they are convinced they will kill this time. I have to say that it is quite exciting to have lions so close to you. The handlers do have amazing trust in these lions as they were quite happy to get out of the jeep either when the lions were close by or when they didn't even know where they were.

Enough of lions, yesterday I also went horse riding. The horses were nice enough but the tack was terrible. I tried not to think about how unsafe it was when we were galloping along! It was a very fast ride (which in fairness we had requested) and we basically trotted and cantered the whole time apart from when we stopped to look at game. Got really close to giraffes, zebra, wildebeest, impala and kudu. It's a good way to do safari as you can go off into the bush whereas normally in jeeps you are supposed to keep to the tracks. We did a long gallop at the end of the ride and I am aching today. Both Claire and I have bruised and battered legs from the leathers pinching us (riding in normal trousers rather than jodphurs or chaps is not good especially when you are going fast).

To add to my aches and pains, I went canoeing this morning. I was expecting a leisurely meander down the river but we had under estimated the current coming back upstream and it was hard work so now my shoulders and back also ache. And I'm going riding again tonight. They offer a lunar ride over the full moon period so we will be riding by moonlight which sounds quite fun. I believe it is done at a more leisurely pace which is just as well because my legs won't be able to cope otherwise...