160 images Created 2 Jul 2014
Val and Sirga: A love story
Val (Valentin) Gruener is an extraordinary young man who dreamed of Africa since he was a boy. His dream took him from his home, a small village in Germany to the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. One day he came upon dead lion cubs and one small cub who was clinging to life. He took this cub back to the farm where he was working and asked a veterinarian to fly in from the closest main town in northern Botswana, Maun. Val saved this little cub and named her "Sirga". This is an amazing story about an unlikely bond between man and lion. Val has given up the idea of a what most would consider a "normal" life to share life with Sirga out in the Kalahari. We met Val when Sirga was still young and spent weeks with them, watching their amazing and intense relationship grow. This is a love story, the story of Val and Sirga.
