Walking With Lions

 

I am going to skip down from Rwanda to Zimbabwe. Life on the road has been super busy and exciting. I find it hard to write on the bus trips and even when I do I barely have Internet. 

Lions are unbelievably gorgeous creatures. Looking at them you can tell how powerful they are. Just like many other animals, I have always had a desire to be close to a lion 

 and if possible, touch one. Heading to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe I knew that I would possibly get the chance.

Grabbing my sun screen, camera, neutral colored clothing and borrowing closed toed shoes since I don't have any, I set off. The driver picked us up and headed off. When I visited the Tigers in Thailand they took us to a whole resort where the Tigers were in enclosures. I expected this to be the same thing. I was wrong. Once we were outside of the town and down into the bush (wild) the car stopped and we got out. Wait! What? We are not going to a whole sanctuary.I stood there looking around with my guide JP at the wild surroundings. Immediately my nerves set in as I thought about the terror of being attacked by a lion. I was already nervous thinking about just petting one but now that I was in the wild I was even more concerned.

 

We started to hike in through the dying African grass. It is currently dry season so all the grass is a crisp golden color. After about ten minutes hike our guide pointed in the distance. Sure enough there up ahead two lions emerged from the grass. I froze in terror and my guide just laughed saying it was safe and they would like me because of my lion mane colored hair. Sure they will I shakily answered back.

My guide handed me a walking stick. Often lions like to play around and chew on things. The stick served as my extendable arm so the lions could chew that instead of me!!! 

Before I knew it we were getting closer and closer to the lions. They continued to walk and the guide told me to walk behind them. Quickly he reminded me to not pet the head, shoulder blades, or pull the lions tail. Cautiously I moved up to the lions backsides and strolled behind them. Slowly I moved my hand and crouched down while walking and began to pet the lion`s backs!

 

My nerves slowly rolled away as I became mesmerized by the situation. Here I was on a solo trip in Africa petting lions out in the wild!! This trip just gets better and better. I immediately thought of the people who chose to not come and sit at camp instead. I wish they could feel this experience with me. 

 

For the next forty minutes Barb, Helen, and I took turns walking next to the lions, taking pictures, and sitting with them when they stopped. A few times one of the lions would get excited and jump on the others back. They were a brother and sister and spent all their time together. At one point I became terrified as they were playing around and looked straight at me as if to say "do not mess with me!"

 

During the walk they would often stop at little branches and sit down. During this time I crouched next to them or sat down and gently pet their backs. The whole time I spent talking to them to keep them calm. 

 

I personally think lions are one of the most beautiful animals in the world. When their golden eyes stared at me I was totally paralyzed with their power. The time went so fast and I cherished every second even the ones I spent nervous. Right before leaving one of the lions sat down and I was able to give him a little tummy scratch just like it was my kitty Bazinga! With that last pet the time was up and we had to leave them to be alone again. After we went to a little hut a short walk away and learned about the program.

Walking With Lions is an organization that is starting to try to bring the lion population back up. Although lions are not endangered their numbers have declined more than 85% over the past 50 years. Human development has pushed their numbers down to around 20,000. To do this the organization breeds lions that are in captivity and releases them into the wild. While the lions are growing they keep an eye on them and offer to let people go out into the bush and walk with them In their natural habitat. Once the lions reach two years old they are then relocated to locations around Africa that have a declining population to create new prides (Family of lions)! I learned all this after the experience of being dropped off in the bush! I would have still done the experience but I would have mentally prepared more for walking out in the wild to find the lions. 

Overall, I was totally impressed with the organization and my experience. As with all animal related things often you have to be careful with how it is run and the conditions the animals live in. Never in a million years did I think they were living out in the wild for this program and was thrilled to experience and learn first hand how it works.