This week marked four years since the mighty Kesari arrived at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary. We watched with bated breath as his crate was opened, and then…. Nothing. We stepped away and let him come out in his own time. He finally slipped out and went straight into a den – check out the last pic of Jan and Tim creeping up to see how he was. It took a few days before cautious Kesari roared.

Since then, as our other pictures show – including him bringing down “a giraffe” – Kesari has become a huge, playful presence in the sanctuary, one of the loudest voices, and friends with the lions on either side of him (Chino, Coco, Simba and Rey). He is certainly not shy or cautious! As many saw watching our live when Ruben arrived, Kesari was quick to check out the new guy. It struck us how different his arrival was to Ruben’s, a reminder that all of these animals are different characters. They do things in their way and in their own time.

Kesari was spared from going up for auction to a trophy hunter thanks to the efforts of Pretoria zoo and Captured In Africa Foundation a working with ADI.