So what would you say if I told you that, somewhere out there, there was someone dumb enough to go live with a bunch of lions for six months and film his time with them?  You’d say you’re probably watching a show on Animal Planet. And you’re right–you would be.  The folks out at Animal Planet–via their press agent Gaiam–sent me a copy of Into the Pride, the illustration of an insane idea that wasn’t quite so nuts after all.

Dave Salmoni, the large predator expert for Animal Planet, set out into the Erindi Private Game Preserve in Namibia to take on a rather surprising problem–a group of lions that have been generally too tough and aggressive for most normal habitats.  The Erindi Private Game Preserve is their last chance.  Thus, Salmoni heads out into the field to go, as the title suggests, Into the Pride, in a bid to save the lions from their destruction.  Lions that don’t manage to handle preserve life, you see, and lions that kill cattle in the wild as these did, are killed.  So Salmoni’s going to try and get them used to humans, over the course of a good long while.

The end result to this is actually pretty compelling.  Sure, it’s going to be about nothing but Dave and the lions for those entire six months, but there’ll be something different every time.  You’ll get to see Dave build trust with the lions, and bit by bit, they’ll get acquainted.

And you’ll also get used to some of Salmoni’s more annoying tendencies.  For instance, his tendency to name ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING HE COMES IN CONTACT WITH.  The lions, a couple crocodiles that live near his base camp, his four-wheeler…everything gets a name.

But still, even if Dave Salmoni is annoying, he’s also a driven individual who is absolutely devoted to helping these lions.  The chances he takes are pretty amazing–watching him steal a chunk of meat off a lion’s kill and then later cook and eat it with a bit of garlic salt is just unbelievable–and their results even more so.  It’s intensely exciting stuff and great to watch.

The Screenhead Ten Scale hands this exciting bit of television an eight out of ten.  Granted, it’s a bit repetitive, and you have a pretty good idea how things will turn out by the end, but still, getting there will be a whole lot of fun.