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211try we had seen and were sad when they found that we had not been up to the highlands and offered us an aircraft to go there and stay in some of the lodges, but Steve had been given the American Exchange slot and had to get home so we sadly declined this. We had seen a lot of the country, blagging transport and more importantly fuel out of the Army. We had ridden horses around game parks, getting really close to numerous animals. We had sat in a car while 2 rhinos had walked past on either side of us. We had seen the ruins at the Great Zimbabwe. We had camped by a lake, listening to the crickets and amazingly native drumming in the in the distance. We had watched monkeys racing about around the camp and perhaps most amazing of all, been bitten by a lion. This had come about when we saw one of the students come into the mess wearing a ripped-up t-shirt. He said that nearby was a chap who had some lions and this included a cub that you could see. This had ripped his shirt. We arranged to go and see, and the owner showed us his fully grown lion area first. We walked up to a chain link fence about 12 foot high. On the other side of the fence was a lion asleep with a lioness nearby. The owner had a long stick and we were in single file behind him. When he got to the fence he hit the top of it with his stick and the lion moved from being asleep to bounding to the top of the fence in one movement. I leapt back terrified and banged into Steve who was behind. However, the lion dropped to the ground and then woke the lioness up. There was no foreplay just action. I think the owner said that she was on heat and they were hoping for another cub. We then walked over to a smaller fenced off area which had a large kennel in it. I was told to go and sit in the middle. If I stood up the lion would knock me over. I did as I was told and the lion, admittedly a cub, came charging out and leapt at me. It was just like playing with a kitten but a very big one about the size of a large Alsatian dog. I could feel the teeth, but it did not really bite. After a bit the owner got it off me and Steve had the

