An 8,000-mile journey in 97F heat...the lions plucked from war zone find a forever home

TWO lion brothers rescued from Kyiv just days after war broke out in Ukraine have swapped bombs for bird songs after a long road to freedom.

- Steph Spyro

Tsar and Jamil - robbed of their innocence, torn away from their mother and thrust into exploitation on an ostrich farm - were freed into a sanctuary in South Africa yesterday.

At a tender three years old, these majestic lions have been released into a 2.5-acre "forever home" on Shamwari Private Game Reserve following a gruelling 8,000-mile journey.

Conservation charity Born Free has rallied for their rescue. Catherine Gillson, Born Free manager at Shamwari, said: "They have been shifted to safety so many times in their young lives that we hope the final stage of their journey 'back to Africa' will bring them peace and a chance to enjoy a more natural life, a million miles away from the existence they endured in their formative years.

"We look forward to providing them with the care and respect they deserve, in an environment that is as close as possible to the wild as you can get."

As volunteers lifted a metal gate, Tsar bolted for African soil from the confines of his custom-built crate padded with grass bedding, which kept him safe during his three-day journey from Belgium.

Rangers, charity workers and volunteers were on tenterhooks as Jamil's gate was lifted soon after, because he had struggled with the gruelling 18-hour 18-hour drive from Johannesburg in sweltering 97F heat. But their eyes filled with tears as he shot out like a bullet, with his windswept mane on full display, forever free from the confines of a crate, and returned to his ancestral homeland on African soil.