Driving over bush yesterday morning to find the lions, we all catch the exquisite scent in the air. Our new friend from Zurich, Adrian, sweeps the air into his nose.

“It’s wild sage,” says Emma, our ranger. She is matter of fact while I’m thinking, ‘Wait, I want some of that for my next pot of spaghetti sauce.’

Don’t know when that will be. But still.

Emma stops the jeep. We all get out, grab a handful and nibble. It is bitter, but smells like heaven. Wild sage.

Two days of good, steady rain have brought us a different look and feel to the bush. The colors are remarkable. Dark green vegetation, bright orange clay, rolling muddy water under the bridge. The sky is bright gray and there’s a cool breeze. A light rain spritzes my face. And as we roll over the wild sage bush, the savory aroma adds one more simple sensory joy.

Finding lions is not easy. They like to lie around during the day, behind bushes, under trees. So Emma takes the jeep off-road. We’re literally blazing a new trail when we hit the wild sage bushes. The scent of sage now and forever will bring to mind this pursuit.

I came to Africa for the elephants and rhinoceroses. And I fell in love with the lions. Their story is heart-wrenching.

Rhinos and elephants are in trouble because poaching eradicates them. Lions are in trouble because the trophy hunting industry multiplies them, unnaturally. Sadly, volunteering can be part of the problem.

The lion cub’s journey from birth at a South African breeding location to his roaring life-sized taxidermied self on display at the Safari Club International convention in Las Vegas may well have been bottle fed and cuddled by well-meaning volunteers. Like me, these volunteers signed up for conservation. But they failed to ask the right questions. The idea of playing with a lion cub is a real lure.

The documentary, “Blood Lions,” was shown screened here last week and led to a huge eye-opening for me.

The movie showed how lions are bred on farms and other locations, taken from their mothers at weeks or days old so the mother can quickly become pregnant again and have more cubs. The cubs are raised, in many cases, by volunteers who believe they are rescuing orphaned animals for release back into the wild. Instead, the cubs, once grown, are sold to five-star safari hunting operations who sell the experience of hunting and the opportunity to take home a trophy. Wealthy hunters the world over pay big for this bragging right.

Often the conditions of these breeding locations are beyond abominable. Under nourished and diseased animals live in over-crowded pens. If they are not beautiful enough for a trophy hunt, they are euthanized and their bones are harvested for so-called medical use in Asia.

It’s called canned hunting and it is largely the work of middle aged white South Africans who grew up under the rule of apartheid, noted a commentator in the movie, Blood Lions. “They didn’t have regard for the well-being of human life,” the commentator said. “The well-being of animals is beyond their understanding.”

The website, www.bloodlions.org, provides the stats: up to 20,000 lions are currently in captivity in South Africa, where it is not illegal to breed them. The site also provides guidance for volunteers on how to research a program before signing up and paying the fee.

Another website, volunteersbeware.wixsite.com, provides a “good, bad and ugly list” for volunteer projects.

Siyafunda, the no-frills reserve at which I am spending fours weeks, is one of the projects listed as “good.” It’s purpose is to restore numbers of animals on their way to extinction, protect and build strong blood lines of lions by preventing in-breeding and offer a natural wild environment for the welfare of the animals.

Volunteers are used to gather data for research projects that Siyafunda is involved in. On game drives, each is assigned a different animal to record. We note the number, the location and the condition of the animal. The data are inputted into a website that is sent on to various wildlife organizations.

We do not interact with animals here. No petting, or feeding or walking with them. We do not feed them. We aren’t allowed to throw as much as an apple core out of the jeep.

We keep a respectable distance on our observation drives. If the animals wish, they come to us. And many do.

Mike and his staff have the knowledge, passion and spirit that I was looking for when I decided to make this trip.

Several volunteers I met in the past month are long-time visitors. David, a from London, and Art, from San Diego, have nearly 15 visits to Siyafunda between the two of them.

Both have spent time at other volunteer programs in Africa and decided Siyafunda is for them.

I feel the same way. I hope to return next year with Catherine. She and I already planning on it.

Now it’s time to take a good long look at those sleeping beauties in the bush, resting on this cool, extra-sensory morning.

Now, if only I could get a good bouquet of that wild sage.