On August 26th Lion Encounter Zambia in conjunction with ALERT, the Zambian Ministry of Tourism, the Environment and Natural Resources, the Forestry Department and the Zambia Wildlife Authority will release a pride of six captive bred female lions into a specially built semi-wild area deep within the Dambwa Forest. Located to the north-west of the city of Livingstone the Dambwa release area will offer the pride an opportunity to form a socially stable and self-sustaining pride.
The six females have spent the last three years undergoing pre-release training at Lion Encounter’s operation within the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. Here, as young cubs they have had the opportunity to take daily walks into their natural environment to build their confidence, explore, play, socialize and develop their natural hunting instincts. During this time the cubs started small, taking prey such as cane rats, monitor lizards and duiker. Soon their sights were set on larger prey and the lions had successfully hunted a range of species including baboon, impala, waterbuck and even giraffe before they retired from the walking program.
When the cubs reached 18 months old they were darted and moved to holding enclosures adjacent to the newly built Dambwa release area. For the next year they were taken out in groups both during the day and at night to explore what would become their new home. During this time they continued to improve their hunting skills on the introduced game species, focussing on wildebeest, but also taking baboon, impala and puku.
Now the lions are ready and prepared for life on their own. On the afternoon of 26th August the gate will be opened and the lions released to live permanently in the site, sustaining themselves. A suitable male will be added to the pride at a later date, but this time without the hassles of amorous males will allow our females to find their feet and ensure the close bond between them is cemented.
These lions are part of the African Lion Rehabilitation & Release into the Wild Program that is seeking to create a protocol to be able to release into the wild the offspring of these captive, released lions. Their cubs will have been born in a natural environment, raised within a natural pride social group and learnt the survival skills necessary to ensure their successful release into the wild.
This pioneering program release the Ngamo pride almost one year ago into a site adjacent to Antelope Park which is located just outside Gweru in the Zimbabwe Midlands. You can read about the incredible progress of these lions on their own blog site.
The Dambwa pride also have a blog on which you will be able to track their progress as they take this important step to freedom. Contact Lion Encounter Zambia for details of how to visit the lion program.
