Born Free

It was just the two of us and our expert guide, Rufus Kimani, and our cook, Bernard, on the bush camping safari.

On this safari, we were going to be walking in the footsteps of the lion man himself, George Adamson of Born Free.

First, we were going to Meru National Park, where George and Joy Adamson first adopted Elsa the lion.

Then we planned to visit George's camp at Kora, where he continued his work rehabilitating lions, along with his brother, Terence, and assistant, Tony FitzJohn.

I asked Sophie how her passion for the natural world was first ignited.

I remember really clearly seeing this massive feature film, Born Free, when I must have been around nine and all I wanted was a pet lion.

What's wrong with the zoo anyway? Nothing, except that you won't be free.

And is freedom so important? Yes.

Born Free was the story of Joy and George Adamson, set in Kenya in the 60s, and it was all about how George and Joy came across.

He clearly shot their mother, some lion cubs, and they adopted them.

And some went off to zoos, but they kept one called Elsa.

When you look back at the story now, I'm not sure it holds...

So cars at this time were everywhere and people didn't have to wait around for the circus if they wanted to find some sort of amusement.

And by the 1940s and the 50s, movies and television were a real threat because the country had more options when it came to entertainment, right? Why go out when we could stay home and watch TV? Because this thing is wild.

TV, wild.

And the bad news for circuses just kept rolling in in the 1960s because of the movie Born Free.