The best zoos and wildlife reserves to view Lions

For me, there is nothing more magnificent than the sight of a male Lion striding across the African savannah. Lions are perhaps one of the many animals in the world who need no introduction as they are popular in both the world of man and the world of animals with their well-deserved title of king or queen or prince or princess of the animals. Lions have fascinated me from the time I was a child; I have always been an animal lover although all my life, I have had various favourite animals before I made the Lion my favourite animal; it is kind of like having a series of relationships only for them to break up and start anew until reaching the seemingly perfect one. I used to love horses, then I moved onto sharks. My next favourite animal was then the elephant until the age of 19 when I realized that I have always loved the Lion without knowing it so I abandoned being a fan of the elephant and went onto idolizing the Lion as more than just a favourite animal

Travel is another hobby of mine and I mainly like travelling to places that have something to do with Lions. I collect numerous travel books about various nations which of course are Lion-related. Examples of companies whose travel books I collect are Lonely Planet, Insight Guides and DK travel guides. When I was 23, I discovered a travel channel known as Expoza (logo seen above) and I loved many of their documentaries. I came to rank the top four based on the way they were made and based on their physical, spiritual and historical association with Lions; they are Singapore, Kenya, South Africa and Namibia. I would like to suggest the various ways in which one can see Lions in these travel destinations and that is what inspired me to write this

- Vikram

Singapore (Southeast Asia)

Singapore has meant Lion City since the 13th Century when Sumatran Prince (Sang) Nila Utama discovered the island and upon coming up the Singapore river and entering its forests thought he saw a Lion and gave the island the name 'Singapura' which means Lion Town or City. Since then the king of the animals has played a big role as a symbol of Singapore through the presence of the Merlion, a half-Lion half-fish animal and through various embodiments in the different cultures of Singapore, the main populations of which are Chinese and Indian. From being worshipped as a God by Hindus to exalted in Chinese dance and mythology and is also present on the coat of arms of the nation next to the tiger, the Lion has not just lent his name to Singapore but has also found a way into the heart and soul of all who live in this exotic island nation. Of course there are no wild Lions in Singapore despite the king of the animals being a symbol of the nation so to see real Lions in Singapore, one would have to visit its zoo which is the best zoo in the world and here the Lions are found in a zone known as Wild Africa which thanks to its appearance and the presence of its other animals brings to mind Nakuru reserve in Kenya, Kruger park in South Africa and Etosha park in Namibia. Like other animals at the zoo such as the equally popular orangutan and the tiger, the Lions are made to feel like they are in their wild home, thanks to cleverly designed viewing areas and a landscaped ditch which surrounds their territory. The zoo has a successful breeding and conservation programme with other wildlife parks and zoos worldwide, something that its relative the Night Safari also does. As its name suggests, the Night Safari is devoted to viewing animals at night and here too there are Lions, in this case the Asiatic or Indian Lion which in the wild is restricted to only the Girnar or Gir Forest in Western India. Both the Zoo and the Night Safari ensure the importance and thus survival of all animal including the king of the animals.

Kenya (East Africa)

Kenya is the Africa of our dreams and the jewel in East Africa's crown. For many people, the reason they want to go to Kenya is to see a Lion. Lions have had a relation of malice and respect with the people of Kenya for centuries; they hunted our ancestors for food and took our livestock causing us to hunt them in turn which caused further conflict between man and Lion. The famous man-eaters of what is now Tsavo national park in Kenya are perhaps the best example of Lions who attacked man when they killed between 28 and 35 workers of the Kenya-Uganda Railway until the man in charge of the building of the railway, John Henry Patterson shot them both although it is now thought that these Lions acquired a taste for human flesh due to scavenging the improperly buried bodies of malaria victims. Lions may also sometimes attack people if they are too old or weak to hunt their normal prey. It was the danger that the Lion presented which may have made him a worthy trophy of being hunted by many noted people such as Ernest Hemmingway or Theodore Roosevelt. The Masai of Kenya are perhaps the original hunters of the Lion in East Africa when groups of warriors or Moran would go out to kill a Lion as a rite of passage into manhood using only spear or shield. This was indeed a test of bravery and the (young) warrior who struck the killing blow was entitled to wear the mane of the Lion as a headdress, an honour he carried for (the rest of his) life. Ironically, the Masai are the only pastoral tribe living with their cattle in the kingdom of the Lion in mutual respect within the national park known as the Mara which is a northern continuation of the Serengeti in neighbouring Tanzania. The Mara, commonly known as the 'Masai Mara' has more Lions than anywhere else in Kenya and while Lions can often be seen sleeping or feeding on their kills or maybe even mating, any form of Lion activity is worth the watch. Today, in all parts of Kenya, the practice of killing Lions is becoming illegal, thanks to conservation programmes which help to ensure the importance of the survival of the Lion so that neither man nor Lion is harmed. A notable example of Lion conservation occurred with the autobiographical 'Born Free' based on how its writer, Austrian woman Joy Adamson with her husband George raised a Lioness whom she named Elsa and trained her to live (in the) wild, something that inspired George to become an advocate for Lions. Being perhaps (among the) the easiest animals to see on safari, Lions are also common in national parks where they do not attain the same amount of popularity in the Mara with examples being Amboseli where the main star is the elephant and (Lake) Nakuru where the main star is the rhinoceros. The Lion is also exalted in the culture of Kenya particularly by the Indians of Kenya whose are the descendants of the first Indians in Kenya. Given that Lions are worshipped as Gods in Indian culture, the Sri Cutch Satsang Swaminarayan Hindu Temple in Mombasa is a perfect place to see Lions depicted as deities

South Africa (Southern Africa)

The jewel in the crown of Southern Africa, South Africa is not just the best place in Southern Africa but is also perhaps one of the many places in Africa that needs no introduction and the presence of the Lion throughout South Africa is varied and versatile. Museums such as those in Cape Town give us clues as to our ancestral relation with the Lion as a predator of our species and how we struggled to survive from the Lion gradually earning his respect as much as we earned his although many of us started to hunt him as a trophy or in retribution for killing cattle or goats while other members of our species saw him as important and took it upon themselves to conserve him much like the native Zulus who despite hunting Lions as a rite of passage into manhood also view him as a symbol of God which inspired Lion conservation today. Johannesburg zoo located in the capital of South Africa would seem a strange sight given that South Africa has numerous wildlife reserves but it is the only zoo in Southern Africa and is state-owned. As well as Lions and other animals native to Southern Africa such as kudu and springbok, the zoo also has those animals which are found outside the continent of Africa such as Siberian tigers and manned wolves. Sun City, the luxury resort of the nation in addition is mainly elephant-adorned but occasionally a Lion can be seen in the decorations of the resort. Lion cubs who cannot fend for themselves due to either being abandoned or orphaned are looked after here and trained to live in the wild. Perhaps the most famous national park to see and study Lions in South Africa is the famous Kruger national park which was named after South African president Paul Kruger (1825-1904). Although Lions are common throughout the park, the most common place in Kruger to see them is South of the Olifant's River which flows through the park. Lions are the star attraction in the park next to elephants and rhinos. Another park to see them is the equally-popular Pilanesberg

Namibia (Southern Africa)

The driest place in Southern Africa, it is hard to believe that Lions would be able to live here but remarkably since each part of the nation is unique in its scenery, Lions can thrive anywhere in the nation that takes its name from the oldest desert in the world, the Namib. Since Namibia became a German colony, the increase of Lion hunting in Namibia began to grow and many natives relied on the help of German hunters to kill a Lion either for his skin or in revenge for him taking cattle or goats. However there were those Germans who were not interested in hunting and recognized the majesty of the Lion, something that resulted in them distancing themselves from Lion hunting and laying the early foundation for the preservation of the Lion. A notable example is an Austrian who set aside a large portion of land known as the Okapuka Ranch near his home to keep Lions in their natural environment although they were still not able to roam free in their natural home. While viewing and feeding of Lions still occurs at the ranch, there are also programmes that train the Lions at the ranch to live in the wild. The best place in Namibia to view Lions is in Etosha national park which is larger than the American state of New Jersey. Nearly 500 Lions roam this reserve and they are quite easy to see and observe as much as other popular animals in Etosha such as the giraffe and the elephant as well as the rarely seen black rhinoceros and leopard. A remarkable element is while it is rare to see young Lion cubs in other national parks across Southern Africa, it is quite easy to see newborn Lion cubs in Etosha either being suckled by their mothers or cuddled by their aunts while the males of pride of females and their young will occasionally visit them to make sure they are safe from rival males who if successful in wrestling a pride from the male who defends it chases that male away and kills the cubs in the pride before mating with those cubs' mothers to sire new cubs. Those teenage Lions that are kicked out or ousted from a pride will go onto find new prides which they can lead and have their own cubs with Lionesses in that pride