Zimbabwean Natural Resources

"Quinn bore the full brunt of the charge and, unable to fire his rifle due to the speed of the attack, literally stopped the attack of the lion on his group by placing himself directly in harm's way."
"Having been thrown to the ground, bitten in the shoulder and neck Quinn sadly died at the scene, the shouting of his guests driving the lion away from his body and allowing, ultimately unsuccessfully emergency first aid to be performed."
Camp Hwange, Zimbabwe

"It's a safe experience [wildlife walking tours through Hwange National Park] and a great experience too. It's not as if these attacks happen daily."
"It was an accident and we are still recording huge interest from tourists. It's popular and will remain so."
Trevor Lane, Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe

So 40-year-old Quinn Swales, a walking tour guide who works for Camp Hwange at Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, was the victim this time in a human/wild beast interchange; quite unlike the stalking of a favourite celebrity lion from the same park that aroused so much indignation by outraged animal lovers when a wealthy American dentist arranged with a local hunting guide to tempt the lion away from the preserve so he could shoot it with a bow and arrow.

On that occasion, a month ago, Cecil the lion was illegally killed. The arrow shot by Walter Palmer, a trophy hunter from Bloomington, Minnesota only wounded Cecil and he lived in agony for another day before he was finally tracked and shot, putting him out of his misery, and setting the law and public outrage against his killers. For his prideful pains, Dr. Palmer will now live in infamy, and the Zimbabwean hunter who aided his vanity will serve time in prison.

Star: Cecil was a major tourist attraction at the Hwange National Park

In the most recent exchange between man and beast, Mr. Swales was leading a tourism wild-animal-sighting party when they happened upon a pride of lions. Which was the point of the exercise. As an adult male began closing in on the group, their guide cautioned everyone to line up behind him and be perfectly physically still, as they shouted loudly in hopes the racket would deter the lion from continuing its approach.

It did not, and the attacking lion, whose name is Nxaha, killed the guide, but finally turned away from the others. It will be up to Zimbabwe's National Parks & Wildlife Management Authority to determine what will be done with Nxaha, a satellite collar-wearing animal resident in the national park. Zimbabwe, infamously, is a country whose dictatorial megalomaniac president-for-life, Robert Mugabe's policies has destroyed the country's economy.

A country that was once a regional breadbasket, capable of exporting its agricultural products abroad for gain, while still feeding its own population, now must import food, suffers high unemployment, staggers under an impossible-to-manage inflation rate, has a destroyed currency, and high crime rates. But President Mugabe has resorted to using his country's natural endowments to help keep its economy afloat, despite the monumental adversities he is responsible for.

Tourism is still a draw in Zimbabwe. Apart from which another initiative has been implemented, the sale of hundreds of the country's natural resources, its elephant population. Hundreds of baby elephants are being sold to interests abroad, most going to China. The deal is controversial on the international scene, far less so internally, since dissent is not known to be encouraged in a dictatorship.

Not only are elephants mercilessly hunted for their ivory, much in demand in China, but now hundreds of the beasts will be shipped off to China to be placed in a Guangdong Province Safari Park, in an agreement worth tens of millions to Zimbabwe, or perhaps Mugabe's personal bank account and those of his cronies.

AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi   Elephants roam freely near the railway track that Cecil the lion crossed when he was lured onto a farm to his death in Zimbabwe, Aug. 6, 2015. The cash-strapped Zimbabwean government has a controversial deal to sell elephants to China.