By the time Christian was a year old and 185lbs in weight they felt, with regret, they could not keep him for much longer. It was a lucky chance meeting with the actor Bill Travis, who played George Adamson in Born Free, who put them into contact with George and he agreed to try and reintroduce Christian into the wild along with a much older male lion called Boy and a female cub who you see in the middle part of the video. The three of the them making up Christian's first pride. To cut a long story short he did this successfully over a long period of time until eventually 9 months had passed since George had seen Christian who had, by then, his own small pride and cubs.
Christians owners, John Randell and Ace Bourke, decided to pay one last visit to see if they could say goodbye to Christian as he had not been seen for so long even though George warned them they were wasting their time, they went anyway. Bill Travis had decided to make a documentary following Christian reintroduction into the wild to help raise money for the Born Free foundation which he and his wife Virginia McKenna had set up since making the film. Knowing this could very well be the last time anyone would see Christian they decided to try and film the event.
When the boys arrived in Kenya they were informed by George much to their amazement but not Georges, who believed Lions had a strong sixth sense, that Christian was waiting for them! He had arrived near camp the night before with his family and was waiting for them at his favorite rock after nine months of not been seen. When John and Ace went out to see him they called to him and Christian came towards them cautiously at first until the certainty of recognition was confirmed the rest speaks for itself!
What is interesting is that over the next few days Christian introduced his new family, two females and cubs, to John & Ace who accepted the strangers because of Christian's love for them. You must bear in mind that the females and cubs were 'real' wild lions who at first were not happy about Christians affections towards the men. The video is edited which makes it look like their acceptance happened straight away which it did not.
If you are an animal owner, whether it be horses, dogs or cats and you have enjoyed the deep, complete love of an animal you will understand and recognise the unrestrained love & affection between Christian and his owners. I cry every time I see it and I see so many of the same characteristics in Christian as I see in my new Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy who even as I write is nibbling my feet. It is something special and life fulfilling to have experienced that close bond with an animal and my life for one has been made the richer for it. So I dedicate this post to all my past & present loves who gave me and my family untold hours of love, pleasure and companionship and best of all who made the world a much more fun & nicer place to live in.
You may be wondering what this has to do with photography? Simple really.....don't worry about what camera, lens, lighting you have or don't have, just go out and take as many pictures of them and your loved ones as you can. The memories are priceless!
In memory of;
Shaka [my hansome, wonderful first Ridgeback], Lilly, Rosie, Daisy, my dear, dear, recently departed Poppy, and Jama the new kid on the block!
Oh and if you want to know what living with a lion cub is like, get a Ridgeback, the similarities are uncanny!!!
Related article here.
And here he is.......
Nice pictures...........!
ReplyDeleteHP continuous ink system