Antelope Park Hands-On Lion Rehabilitation Project Antelope Park in the Zimbabwe Midlands

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Antelope Park is home to African Impact's very own pilot project, the ground breaking African Lion Rehabilitation and Release into the Wild Program.  As a volunteer on this beautiful game reserve, you will be involved in the vital research of the lions’ behavior, and enjoy hands on volunteer work with young lions and cubs.

In 1975 over 200,000 lions used to roam the African continent. A report published at the end of 2012 estimated this number to be as low as 32,000.  If this rate of decline is allowed to continue we could be facing an Africa without any wild lions.

Volunteers joining us on this project are able to contribute to the conservation of these icon African cats and gain valuable insight into the operations of our charity, ALERT (African Lion and Environmental Research Trust).

THE 4 STAGE RELEASE PROGRAM:

The aim of the 4 stage Lion Release Program is to restore lion populations within East and Southern Africa while promoting social economic benefits to local communities.  

STAGE 1:

Cubs born in our breeding sites are removed from their captive bred mothers after a period of initial care.  This is necessary to ensure that all cubs have a chance of being wild cubs and later having wild lion families of their own.  At this point we take the place of dominant members of their pride and train them only to the point that they are safe for us to walk with.

During lion walks, the lions are given every opportunity to build their confidence in their natural environment both during the day and at night.  As their experience grows they start to take an interest in the wildlife they encounter on the walks, stalk small mammnals; and by the age of eighteen months are able to hunt many of the smaller antelope.  By two years old the lions are seasoned hunters and we give them plenty of opportunity to practice their natural hunting skills in the reserve.

STAGE 2:

In stage two the lions are given the opportunity to develop a natural pride social system in a minimum 500 acre enclosure. They have plenty of wildlife to hunt, and their progress is monitored closely.  It is in this stage that all human contact is removed. The lions remain in stage two until the pride is stable and self-sustaining semi-wild born cubs have been integrated into the pride.

STAGE 3:

In stage three the pride in stage two is relocated into a managed ecosystem of a minimum 10,000 acres, where:

• There are no resident human beings
• There are sufficient prey species to hunt
• There are competitive species such as hyena

The lions in Stage 3 will give birth to cubs, which will be raised by the pride in the managed ecosystem, as close to possible as their natural environment in the wild.

STAGE 4:

In stage 4 lions born in stage 3 can be released into the wild in several natural social groups or ‘prides’.

Through these 4 stages, we aim to conserve the African Lion by producing quality gene pools free of disease, rebuild the diminishing numbers of lions, and introducing the offspring back into wild environments.

Project Pricing:

2013 Rates:

2 weeks    GBP 1320 / US$ 2310 / EUR 1715
3 weeks    GBP 1845 / US$ 3230 / EUR 2395
4 weeks    GBP 2395 / US$ 4195 / EUR 3115