Martin Clunes - A Lion Called Mugie - As Seen on ITV1
Release Date: 13 April 2015
£4.99
RRP: £11.99.
You Save: £7.00
Stock available, usually dispatched in 4-6 days.
It is well into its third decade since lions roamed in the Kora
National Reserve where legendary conservationist George Adamson set up
a camp to rescue lions and release them back into the wild. The heart
breaking but successful story of rescuing orphaned cub Elsa became
internationally famous in the blockbuster film Born Free, based on the
iconic book written by George s wife Joy. Tony Fitzjohn worked closely
with George, and continues to work in wildlife conservation. He has
lovingly rebuilt George s original camp, Kampi Ya Simba, in the Kora
National Reserve, abandoned after he was murdered by Somali bandits in
1989. Tony picks up where he and George left off all those years ago,
with the aim of releasing captive and orphaned lions back into the wild
with the support of the Kenya Wildlife Service. Martin Clunes has had a
close friendship with Tony since they met 20 years ago when they
released Nina, a zoo elephant, back into the wild. In this documentary
Martin travels to Kenya to visit Tony and to meet his first lion cub to
be brought to the Kora camp for 25 years. Mugie, an orphaned lion cub
was found when he was just three weeks old, washed up on a river bank
after a flash flood. Martin and Tony travel 140 miles from Kora to Ol
Jogi, a 60,000 acre private game sanctuary for some of East Africa s
most endangered wildlife to collect Mugie. Thanks to an electric fence,
the reserve is protected against poaching, allowing the wildlife to
flourish. Jamie Gaymer, the reserve s wildlife and security manager,
has been looking after the cub he named Mugie after the place he was
found, and contacted Tony to ask if he could take him. Martin says:
While there are about 500,000, elephants, left on the continent, there
are only 30,000 lions. Three years ago a mission began to bring lions
back to a remote Kenyan wilderness. From day one I have had the
privilege of being a witness to this story. It s one that stirred deep
childhood memories, brought great highs and awful lows. This is the
true story of one animal s big adventure, and one man s dream.