‘Do as I say and not as I do’, seems to be the message, as these ego-driven opportunists spit venom at the many other predator-petting facilities that have mushroomed all over South Africa. And luxury brands flock to these Instagram icons, paying big cash for the association, and so the big cat bandwagon rolls inexorably onwards. “To add to the confusing din surrounding lions is the clarion call of increasing numbers of self-appointed lion’ protectors’, many of whom post pictures online of them hugging their ‘special lion friends’. Lionesses in the rain at Kampersboom waterhole in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa © Willem Kruger Industry spokespersons justify this evil industry as ‘sustainable utilisation’. Increasing numbers of tiny cubs born in captivity are taken from their mothers after a few days – to be petted by gullible tourists, later to accompany the same ilk of tourist on lion walks, before being shot in small enclosures by a new kind of trophy hunter – the kind that seeks instant peer status at a discounted price. The lions not hunted are mostly slaughtered and the bones sold into the insatiable Far East market, often in the guise of tiger bones. “And, the commercial exploitation and commoditisation of lions continue unabated, with a small band of ruthless and opportunistic South Africans, reducing them to factory farm products. It was peak dry season, and the prides were hanging in for the rains and the arriving herds of wildebeest © Simon Espley

These 14 lions (12 in photo and two bringing up the rear) strolled determinedly past the photographer in the Serengeti. And, to top it all off, trophy hunters surgically remove the remaining large male lions from vast unfenced areas and as they migrate (or are lured) out of conservation areas. They also have to make do with reducing suitable habitat and with less available natural prey, as man increases his footprint. “Unfortunately, lions compete with livestock farmers for access to land and resources and suffer fatal consequences. Lions are essential players in Africa’s wild spaces, ruthlessly executing the role of an apex predator and so helping maintain biodiversity and ecosystems, which change fundamentally when lions are removed from them. “There are few sounds as evocative and exhilarating as a lion roaring his challenge into the African night triggering in us all a primordial reaction of fear and awe.

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