I'm sat on the verandah of our luxury island lodge, looking 30m across the river at impalas drinking from the water, monkeys in the tree above me and a cat sat on the chair next to me. I don't know where it lives but it appeared at our door yesterday morning and keeps coming back. We're at Antelope Park, a private game reserve near Gweru in Zimbabwe that runs a lion conservation programme, aiming to increase the number of these very quickly diminishing animals through breeding in captivity and then releasing them into the wild once they've successfully demonstrated they have the skills to survive. The reserve does not sell lions to hunt, nor does it offer hunting so no Cecil's are going to be killed here.
The 4 stage release project is lengthy and costly and as such, the reserve offers many activities and different accommodation options to raise funds. It is a not for profit organisation. The site is also affiliated with other conservation sites across Africa.
We were offered the opportunity to upgrade from our tent to this lodge for the heavily discounted price of £60p/n. We decided to treat ourselves to the double outside power shower, elevated claw foot bath in the bedroom, double sinks and huge bed, all within a beautiful wooden a frame lodge with thatched roof and long wooden veranda overlooking the river. It's also a mozzie free area so even better! We came armed with cheese, crackers, crisps, dips and most importantly, wine. After 14 consecutive nights in the tent, this is amazing! They also have a coffee shop so I've refuelled on decent coffee and great internet so I've been able to catch up with family and friends, helping reduce the home sickness which was appearing.
We decided to try as many of the lion related activities as possible including lion feeding where you watch the lions charge towards their food, in this case, half a donkey, a few legs of Impala and God knows how many kilo of stinking offal and watch as the dominant males fight over their preferred piece of meat. Once they've chosen it, they either run away with it or if two want the same piece, fight over it and in this instance, sit there on it not allowing the other to take it. This can go on for hours!
We've also been out with the researcher at 6.15am to track the lion pride which started off being born in captivity but has gone on to produce Cubs that haven't been in contact with humans and which will hopefully by the end of the year, be released into the wild if the site that has been identified is considered to have enough prey for them to eat. This was really interesting as you witness the different dynamics within a pride; the young male bullying his half siblings to show his dominance, the dominant lion following his love interest around and not allowing anyone near her, the two sisters sticking together always. We've played with elephants which have lived in the park for years after being rescued during droughts, and best of all, we've walked with 14month old Cubs, a boy called Africa and a girl called Alika. We had quite a safety briefing for this and had to sign a disclaimer. Thinking about it, I'm not sure our insurance would pay out in the case of anything going wrong!
We were given sticks as our only protection and had 2 lion keepers with us who kept getting the attention of the lions if they became a little too interested in us! These too only carried sticks! Apparently though lions have short attention spans so you can attract their attention simply by doing something different, i.e. giving them a stick to play with. I'm not sure this would work with a fully grown adult male in the middle of a kill! The BBC have been out filming these two cubs for a programme to be aired in the UK in January so look out for it.
The lion walks give the Cubs the opportunity to track the animals that live in the park and hone their hunting skills. Sometimes on these walks you witness a kill. This time the female started stalking Impala but she needed her sibling to run around the other way to help round one up but he wasn't playing. Female lions are definitely the better hunters.
These two cubs were hand reared, hence their acceptance of humans and seeing us as part of their pride. As long as we didn't touch their heads, step in their tail ( obviously!!) and approached them from behind, we could stroke them if they allowed us to. Still, when one turned its head and started to stand up and reverse onto me, I was petrified. Even more so when I'm being told to stand my ground and not be scared or they will detect I'm weak and easy prey!!
In 4 months they will move to the next stage of the project where they won't have human interaction and will hunt for themselves as well as pre prepared meat being dropped into the large enclosure where they will live for them to find and eat. If they demonstrate they can survive in this way, they will in future be released into the wild.
It was a scary and yet exhilarating, and probably a once in a lifetime experience and I feel privileged to have had this opportunity.
Tonight we are off on a night drive where the Cubs are released into the semi wild for a few hours so they can hone their hunting skills further and potentially make a kill in their natural environment, which is witnessed by guests using infra red light.

The night hunt:
The three Cubs didn't make a kill, I think they were more interested in playing out and going for a wander. They spotted zebra early on but didn't really do anything and then later they chased some Impala but to no success. They kept roaming off and so the lion keepers, fearlessly jumped out of the jeep with their sticks to find them and shepherd them back towards the vehicle. The nearest they came to a kill was almost getting in the orphanages vegetable garden and chicken coop. The lion keepers once again ushered them away. The children would have been a little upset to find all their chickens gone. They have before now lost the lions as they had successfully picked up the scent of animals without any help and had run off to hunt. That night they didn't bring them back in until 5am, in the 11 hours they were out they made two kills. A positive result demonstrating they are developing survival skills despite being born in captivity.
Despite no kill on our drive it was still an interesting experience watching the lions close up. We saw a spectacular sunset and then as it was a clear sky, the night was ablaze with stars. We got back at 9pm to veg curry and popadoms and then headed back to our lodge, across the river to warm up in our double outdoor shower, showering under the twinkling stars.
This morning we've had breakfast on our sunny veranda, good coffee in the coffee shop and now we're en route to Matobo National Park where tomorrow we will spend the day tracking black and white rhino which so far have proved elusive. This is also the burial site of Cecil Rhodes, the founder of Rhodesia, or Zimbabwe as it is now known. Not as I exclaimed in front of everyone, the burial site of Cecil the lion! I'm well known for confusing people who have the same name; Lionel Richie and Blaire, Freddie and Eddie Mercury and now the two Cecil's!
Tomorrow night we catch the overnight train to Victoria Falls.
I think this may have been my best Africa experience yet and lions may now be my favourite animal....even if their roaring/communicating with each other does keep you awake all night!!