Walking with Lions!
Lions are majestic and impressive
creatures in and of themselves. I've seen lions at the zoo multiple times but
that's nothing like seeing them in the wild. When my family was here to visit
we went on a 3 day safari through the some of the main game reserves here in Botswana
and at the Moremi Game Reserve we stumbled upon 3 lions (2 male and one
female). It was awesome and frightening to watch them as they lay in the shade
and moved around the safari vehicle. Even though seeing the lions on safari is
great, getting to go on an hour walk with 18 month old lions is an even greater
feeling!
When I was up in
Zambia I did just this. In Zambia there is an organization that rehabs and
rehabilitates lions when they are young and then releases them back into the
wild. They work through the organizations called ALERT. To find out more about
them you can go here. Part of the process of rehabbing and rehabilitating the
lion cubs is allowing them to have human contact. This is why I got the
opportunity to walk with two 18 month old male lions.
The experience was
great. The lions were pretty sleepy but I got to pet both of them twice and
even had one walk beside me for a portion of the walk. It was a really cool
experience, but a little scary at times. They are wild animals so there was the
risk the lion could have decided I was something to play with. The whole time of the walk, we had guides and
other volunteers who work closely with the lions, so it was very safe. I also
had to carry a stick with me, just in case. Throughout the walk the guides told
us a lot of info about lions and at one point one them lions tried to climb a
tree. I'm just glad my fellow volunteers' prediction of me being most likely to
be eaten by a lion, didn't come true! Now I can say I petted and walked with
two lions and survived. Pretty awesome!
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