I got to walk with the lions today. I met the guide last night at a BBQ in the townships with some of the locals. He recognized me right away and gave me the VIP treatment. He took a ton of pictures for me and I got to spend quite a bit of time with the lions. The program that puts this together is called ALERT. They are Africa's first genuine program to ethically re-introduce the offspring of rehabilitated captive-bred African lion back into the wild. There are 4 stages to the program. The walk with the lions are with lions in the first stage. The money produced supports the rest of the program. Stage 4 is actual reintroduction into the wild which has been unsuccessful so far. They tried it once, but the males ended up killing each other.
The first walk was with two cubs who were 6 months old. They were fairly timid, but a lot of fun. They give you a stick used to grab their attention in case they try to nibble on you. :) The second walk was with an older male and female who were 18 months. The male was somewhat aggressive, so we had to keep our distance. All in all I would highly recommend this walk, how often to get this close to lions and interact with them. At a $125, it is a bit expensive, but the money is going to a great cause.
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