Tauck is offering a chance to walk with lions on its new “Botswana, South Africa and Zambia” program. Fortunately for Tauck’s customers, the tour operator is not turning them loose to walk among 500-pound adult lions. The lions on the walks are juveniles, orphans that have been rescued and given the opportunity to mature in a lion research center near Livingstone, Zambia, before being returned to their natural environment.

In addition to standard safari inclusions, Tauck’s small-group adventure (maximum 20 participants) will include a number of special Tauck touches, such as a short cruise from Cape Town, South Africa, to Seal Island, to watch great white sharks (at a safe distance) as they hunt fur seals; a visit to a meerkat colony on Botswana’s Makgadikgadi Pan; and a steam train journey in a restored Pullman lounge through Zambia’s Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. The tour will travel through deserts, salt plains, rainforests, marshlands and savannahs.

Tauck will incorporate its trademark “insider” experiences, such as a visit to a San Bushmen village in Botswana, a traditional “braai” barbecue dinner at a private home in Cape Town and a visit to the 17th-century Castle of Good Hope. The 12-day package is priced from $8,890 per person double-occupancy, not including international or on-tour air. The price includes all safari excursions, guides, most meals, accommodations in five-star hotels and luxury safari camps, airport transfers, luggage handling and much more. Tauck will operate departures from April through November.

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