These lion cubs, the first George Adamson has had in his keeping for many years, were sent to him by the wildlife department after their mother was shot for killing cattle. To an old man who's endured many vicissitudes, they are a breath of youth and hope. Above all, they bring back memories of Elsa and her cubs. But they also present George with a challenge. For one day, they too will have to be returned to the wild. The daily ritual at Cora begins with George feeding the guinea fowl. The curious thing is, they always go around in a circle. They become quite dizzy in watching them, and they're always in an anti-clockwise direction. I don't know whether that's got something to do with the south of the equator, or maybe north of the equator, let's go the other way. When I was a game boarder on safari, I more or less lived on guinea fowl. But I can't very well feed them, I tend to shoot them. Although at times they're so insure with their noise, I feel like putting them up in a pot. The marabou stalks are always around. Yes, well they always hang around to see what they pick up. You know, the marabou, their beaks, they can't tear flat, and they had to wait for a vulture to tear a piece of meat off, and then they pinch it off the vulture. We get the yellow-billed hornbill and the red-billed hornbill, and they are absurdly tame, and they come here and they love peanuts. The thing about them is that they're the most wonderful catchers. You could have a, send them to them and have a cricket team, make a cricket team. It astonishes everyone. The damn lady. The rabbit monkey. They're very gentle. The most prominent thing of course is the bright blue testicle. All creatures are welcome here, apart from scorpions and venomous snakes. They're the two I want already. 1887, as I presented to my father. George's father, Harry Adamson, worked in India for the Raja of Dholpur, first building the Raja's railway and then reorganizing his army. George and his brother Terence were born in India, educated in England, but later went to Kenya with their father. When he retired, he decided to go and settle in South Africa and then chose Kenya. What did he plan to do in Kenya? Well, he bought a coffee plantation and we, to start with, we were growing coffee. But George didn't care for coffee farming. What he really enjoyed was big game hunting with his brother Terence, shooting the odd elephant and selling the ivory. Then in 1934, he tried gold prospecting, lowered by the legend of the Queen of Sheba's mines said to exist in the middle of a desolate volcanic desert on the shores of Lake Turkana, a vast inland sea 170 miles long in the far north of Kenya. The Jade Sea, as it's called, was the setting for perhaps George's greatest adventure. He and his friend Neville never found the end of the rainbow, nor the Queen of Sheba's gold. By the time they'd walked halfway around the lake under a blazing sun, they were exhausted. No white man had ever crossed the lake before, but Neville suggested building a boat. George thought he was off his head, but agreed. All our food ran out. We hadn't got a blessed thing left, except a half bottle of brandy, which my mother had given me, to be used in a dire emergency. So we set to and started building this boat. One of the difficulties was we made a framework of branches from the Keisha trees. None of the branches of Keisha trees were straight, so we had a rather difficult job. And we had a certain amount of rawhide thong. So the frame was bound together with the rawhide thong. We covered the frame with tarpaulin. This morning, after Don Quixote had been sent off, we went down to have a look at the boat, which had been parked on the shore of the lake. It was much too hard to say. We found the whole thing had collapsed. Jackals during the night had come along and eaten all the rawhide thong. So then it meant rebuilding this wretched boat. And we got no more rawhide thong. So we had to get the inner bark of a Keisha tree, which is very strong actually, but it's quite a job to get it collected. So finally we got the boat ready. About three o'clock one afternoon we set off rowing. So in a boat bound together by bark, they set off across the Jade Sea, notorious for its sudden violent storms. The boats had a tendency to go around in a circle. It meant that one of us had to row harder than the one on the other side. When it got dark, we were right in the middle of the lake. It was a pretty dark night. There was not much moon, but we could see the outline of the hill on the other side of the lake. So we made for that. And we rowed and we rowed. We went on rowing and finally I heard a noise and I said to Neville, I said, what's that noise? And he said, the day was starting. So we redoubled our efforts. And then suddenly we hit the other shore and the noise we'd heard was most huge of frogs croaking. So then we landed and then I thought, well Joe, this is an emergency occurred. So he split the half bottle of brandy. They had made the first recorded crossing of the Jade Sea a remarkable feat, even in the annals of African exploration. After that, George Adamson knew what he wanted. A life devoted to conservation as a warden in Kenya's game department, a life on safari. Even at Cora today, the safari life is never far away. The sanitary arrangements are simple. An upturned elephant jaw makes a comfortable seat, an old hunter's trick, George says. The shower is also simplicity itself. The sun heats the water, a chain and gravity do the rest. Primitive is perhaps the word for the open air kitchen presided over by Hamisi, a Sudanese. Like all good safari cooks, Hamisi can make a meal out of anything or virtually nothing. Hamisi has worked for George for over 30 years. The cubs are kept in a separate compound with plenty of shade. They're fed three times a day and are growing fast. When the white farmer who shot the mother for killing his cattle found she had cubs, he arranged with the approval of the wildlife department to fly them in his own plane to George at Cora. Monday night seven o'clock, what about a quick appendectomy? It's terrific for a hardworking champ. There's $9,000 in the cash box players. There's big rewards in store. All on the world's richest quiz. You can afford it. Save up. Sale of the century Monday, seven o'clock here on nine. Tip top multigrains yummy. Yeah tastes just like white bread does. How do they get the grainy bits so soft? They hit them with a hammer I expect. No. Mom, are they for us? Tip top multigrain, white bread taste and the goodness of pre-suffer grains. No wonder kids voted number one. I reckon an elephant sits on them. Here is the car that you've been waiting for. It's a great way of driving and a whole lot more. Hey, have you, have you, have you, have you driven a Ford? Have you driven a Ford lately? Do you ever get the feeling that some banks aren't that interested in helping small businesses? If so, talk to CBFC. At CBFC we specialize in helping the small businessman rather than the big businessman. CBFC, specialists in small business finance. The prices at Copper Out's spring sale will have you jumping with joy. Table lamps down from $39.95 to just $29.95. Mantle clocks were $39.95, now $19.95. Bounce into Copper Out for these great spring bargains. Not everybody likes a roll, but everybody loves a bagel. Chicken's just another bird unless it's on a bagel. In the Cerely tradition of excellence comes the bagel, crusty, chewy, soft, fresh, kosher. If you liked it on a piece of bread, you're gonna love it on a bagel. Move over, bread rolls, here come bagels. Because nobody but nobody doesn't like Cerely. They were only about a week old when they first arrived, their eyes hardly open. If George hadn't accepted them, they might, if they'd been lucky, have gone to a zoo. Now they have a real chance of survival in the wild. George is a practiced wet nurse looking after them devotedly, a sponge and water doing the job of their mother's tongue, even if not quite so effectively. Two months later, they doubled their weight. A young American girl, Carla Loeffelholz from Minnesota, the latest in a long line of volunteers, arrived in Cora and immediately cast herself as his assistant. Yeah, just about every week they've been putting on about two pounds, two pounds a week. The fact that the three cubs are orphans is an exact parallel of the story that made the Adamsons world famous. The story of Elsa, as told in Joy Adamsons book, Born Free. An Aryan beauty, Joy married George after whirlwind romance. Born in Austria, she fell in love with Kenya and its wildlife. Joy loved going on safari with George, trekking for miles through the bush. They often took Elsa with them, and these were perhaps their happiest times together. Then the Adamsons moved to Meru Game Park, where they hoped to complete their experiment of raising a cub born in the wild and returning it to the wild. Three years later, we took George back to Meru, to his old camp, now lost in the bush, where he and Joy had lived so happily with Elsa. I asked George why he'd sent Elsa's two sisters to a zoo in Europe. I thought about keeping three, but I hadn't had the experience I have now. So we thought that the best thing would be to keep the one and send two of them to a zoo. So that's what happened. Why did you keep Elsa? Did she appear to be the smallest and a bit of a runt at the time? So we thought we'd keep her. The runt soon grew into a fine young lioness, Elsa in her prime. This remarkable film was taken by Joy and George themselves. Sometimes Elsa's playfulness was a bit overpowering. She was very affectionate, that was one thing. But also very strong. She must have weighed about 400 pounds then. I tried to get George to explain what he found so exceptional about her. Some you can trust completely like Elsa, others you can't trust. Else there would be one that you could trust. Every day we used to take her out for walks, down the river and up the river. And we'd come across waterbuck and that sort of thing, and she'd learn to stalk them. It was the same as the mother of a cub would do, take the cub out and let it exercise its inherited knowledge and become proficient. That's all we could do. And then did you teach her how to kill? They know, no they can't teach them. They know exactly what to do. Then finally she made it with the wild lion. Well we knew that she was pregnant. And then we watched to see what would happen. And we knew when she gave birth. And she gave birth in a cleft in those rocks. And at first she wouldn't let anyone come near. In fact it was she who really showed me where the cub was. I was searching that hill. After a bit she'd look around and growl at me. I think we were getting somewhere near the cub. So then I came back to camp and waited until Elsa came here for food. And sneaked up there and went and had a look and found the cub in the cleft. Wasn't that a bit risky? If she'd found me it probably would have been. But then after that when the cub became a little bit active then she brought them down here. Joy was down at the river and Elsa was on the other side with the cub. And she brought them across. And by then they were starting to swim. You can see them coming across. And she was actually bringing them to say, to introduce them to you and Joy. Joy's book Born Free describes the extraordinary relationship between man and lion. She became a runaway bestseller and later an Oscar winning film. Elsa had changed their lives forever. Joy, she was like a child wasn't she to you? Because neither you nor Joy had any children. Did she in a way? Yes, yes that's true. So you became enormously fond of her. And then rather sad, I mean she wasn't very old when she died was she? Yes, she was about six years older I suppose. What happened to her? Well I found her on the other side of the river, about four or five hundred yards down the river. And I want to recognize that she was feeling pretty sick. Anyhow I managed to get her across the river. And she came along and brought her to camp. You could see that she was ill. And the next day I remember she came down here and she went into the river. And she took the river and was panting away the whole time. Then the next thing was, because I remember she came out and was sitting with me. And suddenly you could start to sort of have fits. And the next thing was she died. Elsa died of tick fever. Joy was away at the time and it was left to George and his rangers to make a fitting grave for the little orphan cub whose fame would soon spread across the world. They placed a simple plaque on the grave with the words Elsa January 1956 to January 1961. George was upset to find the grave had been broken into. I asked him who could have done such a thing. People who lived near here, the Soraka, obviously they thought there must be something valuable in the grave. But it's not only once, it's happened twice. Because when my wife died her ashes were put here and we repaired it. This is the second time it's been this great. All his life George Adamson has been a tireless letter writer corresponding regularly with friends and fans all over the world. He still keeps a diary and has written two autobiographies. But he finds it difficult to talk about his tempestuous marriage. What sort of a person was Joy Adamson? She had an artistic temperament. She's not at all easy to get on. We used to have some terrible rows but at the same time we were very fond of each other. What did you sort of row about? Well I don't... almost anything. I mean you had disagreement I suppose about Cora didn't you? She didn't want to come here and she also didn't altogether approve, did she, of your lions? Yes there was disagreement over that. When it came to my having to find a place to take my lion, the only place was here in Cora. And I suggested that she should come and bring her leopards into the same area. At that time she had a leopard she wanted to rehabilitate. But she didn't agree with that because she said it was too remote. She wouldn't come. She chose this place, Chubber, which from here would be about a hundred miles. And then of course that ended up with her being murdered. And if she'd agreed with my suggestion of coming to Cora that would never have happened. The first reports were that she'd been killed by a lion, is that right? Yes, but I was convinced that it certainly couldn't have been a lion. When the body was examined by a constant people it was obvious that she hadn't been mowed by a lion and had been murdered. Paulie Cai, the former servant, was found guilty of her murder and jailed for life. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. We all planned that eventually we'd retire to the property of Navascha and spend the rest of our lives there. Music Why spend another day without a video? Go high tech with Canberra TV and a sharp digital video. Nobody can like Canberra can. Isn't it time you called Canberra TV? Want to save money? See what we have at Tile Supplies Australia. You'll save a fortune in Tile Supplies only clearance sale this year. Everything's priced at clear this month. Quarry tiles from $7.95 a square metre. Imported wall tiles below cost. Stupid prices on slate. Crazy prices for scavengers in our clearance corner. Don't wait. Save a fortune in the only clearance sale Tile Supplies Australia will have this year. On now at 45 The Parade Norwood. You're looking at the fastest pie ever invented. Wedgwood's Micro Ease Pies. 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An executioner or cold blooded killer. There's no different to me executing somebody and going in the refrigerator and getting a beer out of it. And $400 a death he'll stop at no one. Could you execute your own son? Yes. The Alaskan oil spill. Jennifer Byrne discovers the Exxon clean up results are as clear as mud. We've met our plans. 60 Minutes brought to you by Toyota tonight 7.30 on 9. After Joy's death in 1980, George returned to Cora and sought solace with his lions. In his years there, George has released more than 20 lions to the wild. Some were killed or disappeared. But he always tried to keep track of them. George Adamson settled in Cora in 1972. Hoping it would be a last refuge for both himself and his lions. He no longer liked to shoot. His interest now was in conservation. I'd always liked to be in a place where there's wildlife and not too many people. When I first came here there were plenty of rhino. And I reckon that there must have been something over 150 rhino in this area. And today of course there's not one left. An elephant in the dry season like it is now. I'd say that there'd probably be somewhere in the region of 500 elephants. And now I doubt whether there's maybe 40. Poaching not for meat but for profit is wiping out the big game of East Africa. And Cora is no exception. The Tana River which forms the northern border of the reserve is the source of all life in the region. Both for these Somali herdsmen and for George's camp. As the founder of Cora and an honorary game warden, George Adamson watches over the reserve with devotion and concern. Anxious about the poaching threat to its dwindling herd of elephants and the pressure from Somali herds which could turn Cora into a desert. George has had a lot of distinguished guests over the years from princes to film stars. And today's visitor is a very important one both to him and to Cora, the director of wildlife in Kenya Dr. Perez Olindo. I'm glad to see you George. How have you been? Oh all right fine. We sent some land caps to you. Yes thank you very much indeed. You must come and see them. I didn't know whether you wanted them or not. Yes indeed. I'm most grateful. They're coming on fine. Very good. Dr. Olindo has come because three of his African rangers were shot dead by a gang of heavily armed Somali poachers known as Shifter. Well this year has been really bad you know because of all the Shifter activity. No one really knows how many elephants are being shot. There was about a month ago there were two shots within about half a mile of here. Of this asterisk? Yes. I see. Music Honestly it has to take a beast of a mind to do something like that. Music As far as I'm concerned I think that the life of one elephant is worth probably the lives of at least a hundred humans. It should be a capital offence for anyone to shoot an elephant. Absolutely terrifying. So over the past year how many about how many elephants do you think have been killed in Kora? I should say in the year I'd say at least 30. 30? I should think so really. For the first time there's been an outcry about poaching with allegations of indifference and corruption in high places. You see there has been a lot of public debate in the country and some people have even gone to the extent of saying that we pay lip service to conservation in this country. In this very area Kora game reserve three of my rangers were gunned down dead by armed bandits. When you are fighting an enemy you should not see the government in terms of rangers and police or other security forces. We have joined ranks and we are working together. Despite Dr. Lindo's optimism it's doubtful of Kenya has the will or the resources to defeat poaching which now seriously threaten its greatest asset its wildlife. How old were they when they came in? I think they were no more than a week old. They were very young? Yes. Look at that one. There's a lioness who is a grandmother and I think she might adopt these kind. You think so? Yes, probably when they are about two or three months older we can see how they react. And how far is that older lion? Well at the moment she is about 12 miles up the river but I'm hoping that she will come back. She usually does. See for us in Kenya the name of George Adamson is synonymous with Kora. I think he is one person who has made the greatest contribution to wildlife in this country not only in Kora, in other parts of the country. And since he retired from the government George has continued to associate personally, selflessly with the cause of conservation in Kenya. Don't wait for your old TV to blow. Why spend another day without a video? When you can go high tech with Canberra TV. Top names like Sharp, Panasonic and Marantz with top technology, teletext TVs and digital videos at affordable Canberra TV rates. Nobody can like Canberra can. Isn't it time you called Canberra TV? The world's first computerized four wheel steering system is here in the new Mazda MX-6 Sports Coupe. Imagine the total control of electronic speed sensing four wheel steering. With acceleration of fuel injected turbo charged power. Mazda four wheel steering, the ultimate driving experience. Oh there's that RAA member. Yes with a visually symbolic demonstration of his RAA motor insurance. Oh right yeah. Oh yeah Kora. He's alright, he's a member. Oh so they'll straighten him out then. Music. The new Aero Sports take off forum. What's the best value lunch idea around town? Sizzler. It's all the fresh crisp salad, all the delicious fruit, all the hot soup and all the traditional pasta you can eat. As well as a lean juicy burger. For just $6.89. That's right $6.89 for all the salad, fruit, soup and pasta you can eat. As well as a lean juicy burger at Sizzler. What are you doing for lunch? Sizzler. Tuesday 7.30. I'm rich, I'm rich, I'm rich. What do you mean? Matter and herit's a portrait. Right you're rich, you're rich. Here's the boss. Utilities are always a smart thing to get into. Yeah well I'm going to get into a red Porsche. Then at eight. Oh no what have I done. It's a disaster. They have been suspended from school. Carol's perfect attendance record is ruined. In growing pains. Oh no what have I done. A great comedy double from 7.30 Tuesday online. The nearest village to George's camp is 30 miles down river just outside the reserve. George makes regular visits to find out what the shifter are up to and to buy camel meat for his lions. As a mosaic or distinguished elder citizen, Juana George always gets a big welcome. His friend Shura is George's main source of information about the Somalis and particularly about the movement of the shifter gangs. When he was a game warden responsible for a vast area, George relied on a network of informers to keep poaching under control. He used to get a government allowance to pay them but that's no longer done he says so the system no longer works. Shura tells him that a gang of shifter has been moving up from the coast towards Kora using as they always do the ordinary Somali herdsmen with their flocks of sheep and goats as cover. These gangs are ruthless and terrorize the villages. On the way back to camp in the Land Rover we saw a plume of smoke in the distance. Something was on fire in the reserve near the river where the vegetation is richest. George immediately became concerned. In a fragile ecosystem like Kora's where the survival of the game is now on a knife edge, a fire can cause enormous damage. The first clue a few Somali goats. Then... If there are Somali poachers ahead he knows they'll be armed. George was convinced the fire had been started deliberately. Who's caused this then George? They go on doing their sort of thing and then eventually they ruin the riverine forest. And the herds? I mean the goats and the sheep? They're so stupid. But I mean it seems to me they're eating it down and then setting it on fire and very soon you're not going to have a reserve left if it's allowed to go on down. Stupidly. Typical Somali destruction. In their own country they've turned into a desert and they'd do the same here if they'd given up. George says the Somalis burn or cut down the dome palms because they believe they harbor the tsetse fly which doesn't affect the game but gives domestic livestock sleeping sickness. Through his tracker George questioned two Somalis we found in the bush. They were unconcerned, arrogant even, when George demanded to know if they had started the fire. George what are they saying? They say that they didn't set the fire. They thought like when they were bringing their stock through. They try and take their stock through to out of the reserve. They know they're not supposed to be here. Although he was sure they were guilty all he could do was to order them out of the reserve, frustrated at his powerlessness to halt the Somali invasion. You get hordes of tribesmen with tens of thousands of head of livestock. There's no room for wildlife. Africa without its wildlife would be a very different and dull place. I always think why shouldn't these creatures, they have just as much right to live and enjoy their lives as the human have. We drove back to camp concerned in case the lions had been frightened away by the presence of the Somalis. You can't stop lions attacking domestic stock, particularly when they're surrounded by them. If they attack domestic stock as they do and have done, there's a danger of them being poisoned or shot or speared or something. I know some of my lions have been poisoned. Come on, go, go. George, is it true that when you've been away the lions come back when you come back? Well, it's happened so often that I think it must be so. Again and again when I've been away the lions hadn't been seen around here for some time and I arrived here and that evening they turned up. I've got no explanation for it except that they obviously they have senses which we lost. Don't wait for your old TV to blow. Why spend another day without a video when you can go high tech with Canberra TV. Top names like Sharp, Panasonic and Marantz with top technology, teletext TVs and digital videos at affordable Canberra TV rates. Nobody can like Canberra can. Many thanks to Richard France, to Bill and Tina Lund, to Ivy Cox and Jeffrey Knox, in fact to everyone. If you're a senior citizen, the South Australian Government wants to thank you for your contribution to the greatness of our state. Soon travel concessions will be extended to all retired people over 60 with a new Seniors Card. Details in your newspaper, STA sales outlets and all post offices. The Seniors Card. Apply for yours. You've earned it. Right now for only $13,990 Ford dealers are offering the Laser GL Hatch with a lively 1.6 litre engine, 5 speed manual transmission, hatchback and AM FM cassette stereo. Ford Laser GL Hatch. At just $13,990 it's almost too good to be real. But hurry, at only $13,990 this offer must end September 30. What does a baker prefer to spread on his fresh bread? In the cold only margarine was soft enough. Now there's prefer. Prefer is a blend of just enough polyunsaturated sunflower oil to make it spread easily. And butter so it tastes better than margarine. So what else would a baker prefer? Prefer, the spread made for fresh bread. You're about to see why Kleenex Huggy's Nappies keeps your baby drier and happier. Because Huggy's actually takes wetness away and locks it inside Huggy's unique lock away cell to keep baby drier. And Huggy's are the only super absorbent nappy with gentle waist elastic to help stop leaking. So why not put your baby into Kleenex Huggy's Nappies? No other nappy keeps baby drier and happier. Monday, 7.30. Wash me baby downtown all night long. You are a disturbed man. It's Cosby at his best. First a contest for the most beautiful homegrown squash. Who's gonna win? And our blue ribbon winner. Then it's a contest in dance mania on TV. A special double episode. Always good warm family fun. Stay cool man. That's the only way I know how. A full hour of Cosby. Monday, 7.30 on 9. Come on. Come on over there. Come on. Come on. Come on. Despite the latest Somali scare, George was relieved to find all the pride there under the leadership of his old friend, Crow. Come on. Come on. That night, for the very first time, one of the young lions walked over to the compound to inspect the cubs. They were a bit nervous at first, but soon got their nerve back. George hopes that when they and the pride have become used to one another, Crow will adopt them. In this way, their release to the wild will have been as natural as possible. George knows that Cora, its lions, and the rest of its wildlife are under threat, but he refuses to be pessimistic. The human kind is probably the most destructive creature that's ever lived on the face of the earth. Look what we're doing to the world now. But I think that now people are waking up to the fact that if we go on like we are now, life's not going to be worth living. The quality of life is rapidly disappearing. How clever the human race may become, eventually nature will sort it out and restore the balance. I know probably a lot of people think I'm a crank, but I rejoice in being a crank. Crank or not, George Adamson's ideal is that man and nature should live in harmony. Animals, he believes, have as much right to a place on earth as we do. That is the ideal he bequeaths to us all. George Adamson was shot and killed by poachers on August the 22nd of this year. His life's work will always be remembered, and the government of Kenya has promised to keep his dream alive and rid the country of poachers forever. There's an hour of the best stories from around the globe next online with 60 minutes.