This is the heartwarming story of 11 years of friendship between a lion and his beloved caretaker

Frikkie Von Solms, a 69-year-old caretaker of wild cats in Southern Africa, knows this perfectly well: he has spent the last 11 raising Zion, a gentle, tender, and loving African lion.

Zion is a gentle, tender-loving African lion who was born in captivity but was separated when his father threatened his life. He, therefore, needed someone to be there for him, as a parental figure, and this is where Von Solms stepped up.

Growing up with Von Solms, Zion has turned into a little softie and when Von Solms goes for a walk with him he takes his shoes off because their noise bothers the big cat.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to grow up with him and learn and live with him through all of the stages of being a male lion,,” Von Solms said.

“People talk about lions like they are just African cats, but they have personalities, humor, and laughter. Zion is a gentle pet lion. He has never attacked humans, and I trust him completely.”

This is not the first time a lion and a human have become friends.

In 1969, Australians John Rendall and Anthony Bourke bought a lion cub Christian from Harrods, brought him up, and released him into the wild in Kenya.

Two years later, they went to Kenya, where they saw him again and he recognized them and treated them affectionately, wrapping his front legs around their shoulders and nuzzling their faces.