Perry

They're certainly well fed! Nice photo.

Great shot. Lions have it over Rhodesian Ridgebacks any day.

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
They're certainly well fed! Nice photo.

That's the only reason I'd ever be standing that close to those cats! Impressive photo!

Hmmm ... Yup ... You don't screw with a man who has friends like that!

I thought this photo to be odd so I sent it to my friend who is well versed in photo manipulation. This is his response and one I tend to agree with.

I believe it's fake on a lot of levels. Not one cat is paying attention to him, he's touching one, the photo shot is "not telephoto" which means the photographer was not far away, (telephoto would have the foreground and background very blurred out with only him and the lions in focus) he appears more standing then walking and he's way too focused on having his photo taken rather then paying attention to the lions. That's a BS photo but nice photoshop work.

I think your expert is a hack. Depth of field is determined by a number of things (f-stop, light,film speed)and can be manipulated regardless of lens. If those cats are habituated to this man there is no reason they need to be staring at him, they aren't looking at each other either. The lighting is consistant with all subjects.

There are much better ways too determine if something has been photoshopped, but, a person would need to have no life to take the time to determine something of this nature. I'll take the photo at face value personally.

quote:

Originally posted by Cunningham:
I thought this photo to be odd so I sent it to my friend who is well versed in photo manipulation. This is his response and one I tend to agree with.

I believe it's fake on a lot of levels. Not one cat is paying attention to him, he's touching one, the photo shot is "not telephoto" which means the photographer was not far away, (telephoto would have the foreground and background very blurred out with only him and the lions in focus) he appears more standing then walking and he's way too focused on having his photo taken rather then paying attention to the lions. That's a BS photo but nice photoshop work.

Give me a friggin' break.

Ditto. The point was not whether the photo was real or not, lighten up. Whether Ganyana walks with lions or not, read some about his background and that is reason enough to respect him.

I love cats, but...

My guess is you'd need about 300 kilos of Meow Mix!

What a weird response to a cool photo. Ganyana can't normally post photos online...I know because I do it for him often. His background and credentials are incredibly diverse, including animal relocations and he IS in the midst of a big lion project.

It's a great photo. I would love to have it at higher resolution.

I can't see whether he's carrying a sidearm or any kind of rifle. Does he not usually carry a weapon in the bush even with his "Posse" there to look after him?? What's he do if a hostile pride pays a visit? Does he feed these cats as his part of the arrangement?

Would definitely make a nice print at larger scale & resolution.

The photo is real. Carrying a .44 329 on the right hip and 9,3 is slung muzzle down on left side.

Will ask Perry to post a few more of the days pics.

Must say I am more comfortable with Saeeds Cheetah

Ganyana, how about some info on what was going on there? Was that part of your relocation project?

Fake photo, if ever there was one. The lions are real enough but their escort is an ancient Cyberdine Systems T-850 Model 101 Infiltrator Unit. Cheap as they come.

quote:

Cyberdine Systems T-850 Model 101 Infiltrator Unit.

Interesting. I would have thought this model was at least a T-1000. Must be a well-preserved specimen.

Brass cojones...............Great photo...........Your weapons may have made you feel better but I doubt you could have used them had things gone wrong.

True but that's why I would like to hear more about it. Ganyana kind of specializes in lions so he's well aware of the potential.

If Ganyana says the photo is real then it's real, end of story, No point in trying to do some dumb arse forensics to disprove something that is FACT.
I'm with Yukon and would like to know a bit more about the story behind the picture.

Perry good one....That group would be hell in the dark....

Mike

Walking With Lions Project - Any connection?

quote:

Originally posted by pichon1:
If Ganyana says the photo is real then it's real, end of story, No point in trying to do some dumb arse forensics to disprove something that is FACT.
I'm with Yukon and would like to know a bit more about the story behind the picture.

Ditto... Ganyana please tell us about the "background" of that pic !

quote:

WALK WITH LIONS PROJECT
Any connection?

<ahem>

I hope that was a joke, anyway.

Yup Three sub adults being checked over before translocation to the next stage. These will be released into a 750ha padock with seveal others to coalese into a pride. Once a stable pride has formed and they prove able to feed themselves on the wildebeest and impala in the padock they will go to a 10,000ha release site (still fensed). The odd one may not fit into a pride and will have to be removed and held for inclusion into the next batch or spayed an soft released into the "retirement" padock (10,000ha.) The cubs from these will be free released into the wild to restock areas where lion density is too low to avoid inbreeding (eg Save North) or parks and conservancies where the lion have been wiped out in the past.

In theory, we should be able to release them straight from the smaller 750ha padock into the wild - but there are concerns that they are too habituated to people so can never be totally free released.

Personally I think there are far too many tourists and far too few lions, so if the odd tourii makes the ultimate sacrifice for lion conservation... . Any way, the boss is concerned about bad PR so no lions that have had any contact with man (other than being darted and loaded into a cage to be moved to the release site) will be free released into a wilderness area where they might come into contqact with people.

To quote from The December African Hunter editorial...An American a year gives them a shiny coat and glossy mane...Batonka's give them constipation (it being as hard to get a 'tonk moving in the afterlife as it is in this one)...and Hush dare I say it...A war vet a week saves the wildebeest population

quote:

<ahem>

I hope that was a joke, anyway.

Not knowing the entire situation, I was basing the above observation on what is found in this:

http://elmtreeforge.blogspot.com/2006/07/remember-elsa-lion.html

The conclusion that I came to was that when lions lose their fear/respect for humans they can become very dangerous if released near human habitation.

But I tend to jump to conclusions anyway, so...

<ahem>

quote:

An American a year gives them a shiny coat and glossy mane

There are a few Americans that I know of that I might like to contribute to that effort. But, on second thought, I'm afraid that American politicians might give the lions indigestion.

Thanks for the additional info. Very interesting. Can we get any credit for donating food to the cause...say, if we were to exchange certain persons for certain quota on safari?

quote:

Originally posted by someoldguy:

quote:

WALK WITH LIONS PROJECT
Any connection?

<ahem>

I hope that was a joke, anyway.

No joke this time Glenn ... just a guess on my part, resulting from a search prompted by the facts that we couldn't possibly be looking at truly wild lions and that two of them were so clearly immature.

Regards ... Nick

quote:

WALK WITH LIONS PROJECT

A glance at the site made me suspect bunny-huggery somehow. My apologies.

Like I say, I jump to conclusions readily but without much style or flair. I must work on this. (The style and flair part, that is.)

Ah yes - rather sad end to Elsa's three cubs.

They were collared and free released into the non hunting area of Tuli Block in Botswana -right next to our tuli circle safari area... Garry larson could have predicted some of this...

One was shot by a farmer called in by the local council to deal with a lone lioness that was taking cattle in the tribal area adjacent to the tuli circle.

I shot a second one, following up on an attack on a cattle heard boy (about 10 years old) who had been mauled to death by a lion near the Botswana border. Must say the collar with name tag was a bit of a suprise. But I remembered that the bunny huggers Inc had sent a formal letter asking Zim Parks to suspend the hunting of lion in tuli circle as the three lion had been released near there.

I had kept lion on quota and sent a letter back to say they were free to buy the lion quota for Tuli and not shoot it... Got an offensive letter back charging I was not acting in the interests of conservation, and several others in a similar vein from various "activists"

Anyway, I sent the collar back with a bill for my milage (Even back then, Zim parks were broke and I didn't see why my section should have to carry the bill) and for the ammo used (2 rounds 9,3 which I had to pay out of my own pocket).

Their reply came as an official complaint about me through diplomatic channels. For which the Director gave me an increase in budget and approval to buy some 9,3 ammo on a government purchase order.

About a year later the last of the three was shot by a Botswana policeman (with a Webley revolver in .38 S&W no less) who was stalking a woman. Whether she was or just wanted an ear tickle is irelevant, the policeman acted bravely and in good faith.

The interesting feature of this sad story is that the three siblings did not stay together, nor did they join a wild pride. All hunted (and died) alone. This is one of the aspects we are looking at with our release programme- making sure that the lions released are already a stable pride able to fend for themselves.

quote:

The interesting feature of this sad story is that the three siblings did not stay together, nor did they join a wild pride

That is interesting.
So essentially these were rogue lions that were not socialized as a member of a pride. As a student of psychology, I would suspect that this phenomenon is similar to anti-social personality disorder in humans, which is responsible for a great deal of criminal activity.

Great account about unfortunate events, Ganyana. Thanks.

So I suppose we can assume that Bunny Huggers Inc generally aren't active in real conservation efforts nor do these people really know what they're about when it comes to conservation in the first place. Such people do more harm than good, especially when they make officials bend to their uninformed whims.

My apologies about my hasty conclusion about Walk With Lions, if I was out of line. And nobody get me wrong, please. It's a fantasy of mine to interact with these magnificent creatures that I love and admire, but I couldn't do so in good conscience if this would be of potential danger to the human beings who live there.

I think that it is pretty rare that hand-reared or human habituated lions are given the chance to be released into the wild. Anyone wanting to read about a potentially successful release and a good read at that should see Norman Carr's Return to the Wild, (Collins, 1962).

In this case the lions, two brothers were released somewhere in the Luangwa I think, an area of low-human density, and an area with plentiful game.

If these two young males stick together, they should stand a fair chance, but it is a rough world out there, especially with other territorial males, who may be more street-wise! If the lioness can join another pride she should be ok, but other lionesses often do not take kindly to others that are not family and in their area, and hunting is a lot easier when you do it as an organised team.

The danger factor comes in when lions get hungry, and have no fear of humans. Unfortunately, lions, being opportunistic predators will eat people, especially if they are hungry enough. That basic instinct to hunt will always be there, but might take some time to fine tune. I can understand why people are worried about lions in the Kruger too, who are exposed to refugees, and this could potentially be passed on to cubs, which get the idea that it is ok to eat people. Unfortunately, it is not the lion's fault, same with killing cattle, they are just taking advantage of an easy meal!

old guy

If you are ever out Zim way, dial us up and I'll take you for a stroll- or more exciting- out with them at night when we are making sure they can hunt for themselves... Sometimes takes a little bit of assistence with a spotlight in the begining.

I'd love to, Ganyana! Absolutely love to!





P.S. Thanks for the offer. I'll see what I can do later in the summer.

Can you teach them to eat African dictators?

Ganyana i take my hat of to you and people like you Zims is in a bad way but people like you are going out there and doing things for conservation and wildlife and getting no tahnks and very little support its things like this that make me proud to be Zimbabwean and people like you that gives us hope for the future of our beautifull country good luck and lets hope we see an end to the madness soon.

quote:

Originally posted by zee:
Ganyana i take my hat of to you and people like you Zims is in a bad way but people like you are going out there and doing things for conservation and wildlife and getting no tahnks and very little support its things like this that make me proud to be Zimbabwean and people like you that gives us hope for the future of our beautifull country good luck and lets hope we see an end to the madness soon.

I agree. What you are doing is incredible, and, if I had to die, being swatted by my pet cat vs. cancer etc. would be at the top of the list.

I almost managed to feed myself to a killer whale, Shamu, at Marineworld when I was young, and, one rather large great white shark at Point Sur. Still, if I ad to die, I'd rather die by
your friends, rather then in a hospital...

quote:

Originally posted by zee:
Ganyana i take my hat of to you and people like you Zims is in a bad way but people like you are going out there and doing things for conservation and wildlife and getting no tahnks and very little support its things like this that make me proud to be Zimbabwean and people like you that gives us hope for the future of our beautifull country good luck and lets hope we see an end to the madness soon.

All the Rhodesians deserve our respect ,but Ganyana is a breed apart ,hes a combat vet,PH,IPSCshhoter,veterinary,editor of AFRICAN HUNTER and with a great experience in bushwarfare and DG hunting ,Juan.WATCH YOUR SIX GANYANA.

quote:

Originally posted by Nickudu:

quote:

Originally posted by zee:
Ganyana i take my hat of to you and people like you Zims is in a bad way but people like you are going out there and doing things for conservation and wildlife and getting no tahnks and very little support its things like this that make me proud to be Zimbabwean and people like you that gives us hope for the future of our beautifull country good luck and lets hope we see an end to the madness soon.

+ 1

Andrew McLaren