Features

Walking with lions

Gerard Hancock has an experience of lifetime when he goes walking with lions. He joins other tourists on a walk through the bush holding the tail of a full grown lion! The project is run by ALERT (African Lion & Environmental Research Trust), an organisation trying to reverse the steep decline in numbers of African lions. The feature also considers the controversy behind this type of project.

It was one of those experiences you simply have to do to understand. “Walk with the Lions” said the bit of paper I was holding. Seems simple enough, I thought. We go for a walk........with some lions. What is there not to understand? Everything was clear to me, I had images in my mind of small, fluffy, cub-like creatures which would respond warmly to being stroked and bottle-fed. Easy. When we actually saw the lions and were told they had brought down a young giraffe the day before, we quickly realised that bottle-feeding was definitely out of the question and this was the real thing, or I suppose as near as you get to the real thing. As for easy, the unwitting tourist simply has no idea of the complexity, challenge and controversy behind what on the surface seem to be well-intentioned and fun experiences.