Four captive-bred lions from Ukraine were released into a new sanctuary near Thornhill on Thursday, lifting their paws high at each step through the unfamiliar grass and pausing nervously to listen to the strange sounds of the birds.

Their release was a culmination of a three-day journey from their steel and concrete homes in the East European country via flights to Doha and Johannesburg, and then a 15-hour truck journey to Simbonga Game Farm where the sanctuary has been established with two quarter-hectare enclosures covered in indigenous bush...