Having your head in the mouth of a lion that is trying to kill you and getting your ear bitten off in the process is an experience that would put most people off a continuing a career in conserving the animals of Africa. But for Tony Fitzjohn, who has died of a brain tumour aged 76, it was a challenge. His close encounters with lions, leopards, rhinos and African wild dogs became his way of life. His mission was to help save these majestic species and create national parks for them so that humans and wild animals could happily coexist.
His mentor, and the man who fought off the lion to save his life was George Adamson, warden of the Kora national reserve in Kenya. Adamson’s wife, Joy, in her 1960 book Born Free, about returning a cub to the wild (later made into a film), had already made his mission to save lions famous.
