In what is being called the largest lion airlift ever, 33 circus lions — together weighing more than 10,000 pounds — will begin the long trip from South America to South Africa on Friday.

The journey is being coordinated by Animal Defenders International, an animal rights group, which negotiated their release and is raising money to pay for their flight. They will be taken to Johannesburg from Lima, Peru, before reaching their final destination: the Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary in Limpopo, South Africa.

“These lions have endured hell on earth and now they are heading home to paradise,” Jan Creamer, the president of the rights group, said in a statement. “This is the world for which nature intended these animals for.”

Twenty-four of the lions are from Peru. They were rescued in raids on local circuses mostly over the past two years by the animal rights organization. The other nine, from Colombia, were surrendered by a circus there in 2014.