Pride of the Lion Whisperer

I first discovered Kevin Richardson on YouTube in 2008 while, as a big cat enthusiast, nosing along a word trail for "lions".

Amid the usual BBC documentaries and safari home videos, I hit on something which suddenly pricked my ears up. It was a story on the "Lion Whisperer", an animal behaviourist and conservationist on the outskirts of Johannesburg in South Africa who was pioneering a new way of relating to these extraordinary predators - as friends.

A mouse click later, I sat stunned as I watched a man walk unarmed into a group of enormous adult male lions, shoo one of them out of the way, and give another one a great big bear hug, before settling down in their manes for an afternoon kip.

With my imagination sparked, it wasn't long before I was following the trail all the way to Kevin's doorstep at the Kingdom of the White Lion in Magaliesburg to join three other volunteers in offering a hand in the South African spring.

Early on the first morning we were greeted by six curious and very vocal adolescent lions. Even through fences, I was struck by their force, a blast of penetrating gazes and plaintive calls to meet (or was it to eat) us, with constant head rubs and licks of affection.

At once, they were incredible, frightening and adorable. And then the unforgettable moment: Kevin slipped into their enclosure.

Immediately they were on him, in tawny waves that buffeted and wrestled and knocked him over. Their power had us quivering. They wanted him down on four legs, none of this bipedal nonsense. With forelegs like pylons and paws bigger than Kevin's head, they were quite persuasive, too.

As they settled in the grass and relaxed, Kevin answered our questions, while exchanging chin scratches and the odd playful slap with a cat. He emerged scuffed and smiling, his shirt torn and a crimson streak on his back. "Just another morning with teenagers."

Bit by bit, we got to know Kevin's Kingdom, a 500ha plot of natural terrain around a valley, bisected by a River (where Kevin occasionally dips with Meg, a favourite lioness) and framed by mountains. The kingdom is home to 39 lions, two black leopards (Nikita and Cole, my pick for "sexiest cats"), Jade the jaguar and four clans of spotted and brown hyena. Outside the enclosures giraffes, wildebeest, inyala and kudu roam free, as well as more elusive jackals and caracals.

Among other tasks, we fed the animals, cleaned their enclosures, and played with lion cubs and elephants at the nearby Lion Park and Elephant Sanctuary.

We also got to watch Kevin and Rodney Nombekana, Kevin's right-hand man and legend in his own right, work with two magnificent male lions on a commercial television shoot. We witnessed the concept of working on "lion time": when the cats wanted to sit down and chill, there was no harassment, no whip. Kevin and Rodney simply sat down with them until they were ready.

We found new respect for their work on White Lion, a feature film produced by Kevin and business partner Rodney Fuhr, shot over three years and released last February. The film has done well; indeed, news of the Audience Award at the Lucas International Children's Film Festival in Frankfurt was texted to Kevin one afternoon as we sat in his van. White Lion featured footage of many of the lions that we had got to know. Now they were film stars!

With time, we began to understand Kevin's key principle of respect for animals. He espoused building trust over years of just "hanging out", of play and quiet time spent with clear ground rules and strong boundaries, in preference to traditional methods of domination or "the stick".

There was a strange sort of profundity to his "philosophy of nature", its emphasis on long-term, sustainable relationships and resonance with our era of environmental stewardship and responsibility.

Kevin promoted a more enriched life for captive animals and highlighted the plight of lions in the wild, whose numbers have dropped from an estimated 300,000 to just 30,000 over the past 100 years. Much of this is attributed to hunting and loss of territory, at the hands of man.

Ideals about conservation, however, were always checked by the immediacy of Kevin's occupational risks. The can of pepper spray on his belt spoke of no illusions, no complacency; rather, a keen eye for the changing moods of animals, and shifts in their group dynamics from moment to moment.

He maintained confidence in his methods: his record tallied 12 years of working with large predators, two attacks, and no serious injuries.

For us, the fortnight unfolded, surreal and surprising. As the sun set, we'd gather around a log fire at Shadynook homestead, to gush and compare snaps.

Across the river, the lions would begin their evening symphony of roar-song, as if carrying us to bed in a protective shroud. Wishful thinking perhaps, grounded each morning by a fresh pile of hyena poo to clean, a new horse leg to skin and dice, or Rodney's soulful humour.

Back in Perth at the Lions Eye Institute, we study toxoplasmosis and posterior uveitis. But when I dream, I see those majestic cats, that green quartz valley, and an eye-to-eye relationship with the proudest, fiercest predators in Africa.

·The Kingdom of the White Lion offers a volunteer program. Part of the Pride by Kevin Richardson (Pan Macmillan Australia) is available through Dymocks bookstores. The Australian release of White Lion (www. whitelionthemovie.com) is yet to be announced.

FACT FILE

• Kingdom of the White Lion: www.lionwhisperer.co.za.

• Lions Eye Institute, Perth: www.lei.org.au.