Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds

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I appreciate this was wrote in the late 50's, so alot of the language is not necessarily PC and at times felt a bit uncomfortable. I also understand this was about trying to introduce a lioness to the wild, but there was alot of "we saw a cobra, george shot it", "there was a fly, we shot it", with some of the animal killings feeling pointless. The text begins with the words: “We are all born free and equal.” The accompanying illustration by John Burningham features children bouncing for joy on a trampoline. This captures the exhilaration that freedom offers to each of us. This is one of the best animal stories of all time. Why? Because it isn't just about a lion named Elsa, it is about a companion, a friend and a loving creature who shared in the lives of Joy and George Adamson when they lived in Kenya. Originally penned in 1960, it is the touching tale of how they raised an orphaned lion cub named Elsa and she grew to be their nearest and dearest friend - she was family. I have rarely read a book so heartwarming. Elsa was really very magical and unique, and after reading this book, having a lion around suddenly begins to sound much more enjoyable than a dog.

What does it mean to be ‘born free’? Can we hear the call to be still and know God? Can we really appreciate, even remotely, that we are citizens of God’s kingdom, and apply that assurance to the way we live? Or do we scurry around like the proverbial ant, anxious to earn our place, keeping our heads down under a heavy yoke of our own making? Might we instead draw a lesson from the lioness, adopt her posture of attentive stillness, and live, as Eugene Peterson put it so memorably, ‘freely and lightly’?The bond between Elsa and Joy is amazing. I loved how clearly the lions' personalities were shown throughout the book. Their antics thoroughly amused me, and their harships made me sad. Our support for Animals Asia began, with the aim of stopping exploitation of moon bears, cruelly milked for their bile, and providing care for rescued bears in sanctuaries in China and Vietnam. We began long-term support for Limbe Wildlife Centre, Cameroon – a respected sanctuary for orphaned chimps, gorillas and other primates with extensive community education programmes.

We started to support the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya, to study the behaviour and social dynamics of savannah elephants. With ENDCAP, we helped authorities develop an EU Policy for Animal Welfare to improve standards for all wild animals in captivity in Europe.

POLE POLE

I had a few issues with the book, one of which was the writting. Adamson's style is pretty dry and dull, sometimes using a lot more detail than needed for fairly mundane things like setting up camp (which they do a lot, if I read about setting camp again I'm going to lose it). Another problem the book had was that Elsa never seemed trully living in the wild - till her last day she lived close to the Adamsons' camp, frequently recieved food which George A. killed himself. Despite the numerous times Joy A. said she hoped Elsa could learn to hunt on her own it didn't seem like the two of them let her get hungry enough to attempt hunting on her own consistently. Born to Victor and Traute Gessner in Troppau, Silesia, Austria-Hungary (now Opava, Czech Republic) and was the 2nd of 3 girls. Her father was a wealthy architect. After the divorce of her parents, Joy went to live with her grandmother. In her autobiography The Searching Spirit, Adamson wrote about her grandmother, saying, "It is to her I owe anything that may be good in me." Christian the lion’s story has captivated millions of people worldwide thanks to footage filmed as part of Christian the Lion at World’s End, and has gone on to be a viral YouTube phenomenon. The final part of the book follows Joy, George and the cubs as they move the cubs and try to get them to live independently.