While the rest of the world may cower at the idea of being in a confined space with a lion or a leopard, a group of fearless women in the Gir forests of Gujarat is doing the seemingly impossible.

Meet this band of diler women who've dedicated themselves to tirelessly tending to the health and well-being of the lions, leopards and their young ones that inhabit the Gir forest. They've rather aptly been nicknamed 'The Lion Queens' of India by Discovery Channel and we'd like to make it stick.

We speak of women who have participated in over 200 lion rescues, been lowered into a pit where lay a dangerous and injured leopard to look after it, been responsible for saving numerous lions and their cubs from poachers and against angry villagers whose homes have been attacked by the injured cats.