In 1969 two men purchased a lion who was being kept in a small cage at Harrod's. They named the lion Christian and raised him in London until he grew too big for city life. Christian's owners arranged for him to be released into the wild in Kenya.
Below, find an amazing clip of Christian's reunion with his owners after Christian had been living in Kenya for one year.
FYI:
The man who appears at 1:43 is George Adamson. Adamson helped arrange for Christian to be sent to Kenya and reintroduced into the wild. He is the only known man to have established friendships with lions in the wild. The movie Born Free is based on Adamson's life. Check out a few unreal photos of Adamson below.
Ultramafic and Buck Dancer each have impressive nature documentary collections, but one of my favorites has to be a movie Buck Dancer owns called "Dolphins". "Dolphins" is documentary narrated by Pierce Brosnan with music by Sting following the story of a man named Dean who has swam several miles into the ocean to meet his dolphin friend named JoJo everyday for decades. The Dean and JoJo story is equally amazing, but all I can find is this promotional trailer: Dean and JoJo story
Adamson with his lion friend "Boy".
George with Christian(top Left) and Boy
Boy had been severely bitten on the back but despite his great pain
he still allowed his wonderful friend George to treat his wounds.
Christian seemed to understand and laid quietly nearby as if to give moral support.
See their true story in the movie/documentary titled "Christian the Lion".
Boy enjoying a ride back to camp on the reinforced roof of George's Land Rover.
George Adamson and a Lion friend relax after lunch in Meru.
Even with a fresh kill George is always welcomed by his Lions friends!
This relationship of respect and trust with lions would be proclaimed by most humans to be
an impossibility. Yet George's relationship with the lions proves that it is no more than a sober
fact. The vast majority of wildlife documentaries show lions only as ferocious eating machines
but that is only the human's limited knowledge of the lion. For those of us that know of George
Adamson's wonderful relationship, we know lions are individuals and many are quite capable of
an affectionate, respectful relationship of friendship with their human and lion friends.
See more photos of Adamson and the lions at Father of Lions.org
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Sunday, July 13, 2008
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