REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LUSAKA -- Zambia has lifted the ban on the hunting of leopards and will allow lion hunting next year after it established that the population of the big cats was higher than previously thought, its tourism minister said on Wednesday.

Zambia in 2013 banned the hunting of lions and other endangered wild cats such as leopards, saying the big cat numbers in the southern African country were too low to have a sustainable hunting industry.

The trophy hunting would not be done indiscriminately as the government was mindful of the fact that many tourists visited Zambia to see the big cats, Tourism Minister Jean Kapata said.

"We have lifted the hunting ban for leopards starting this 2015/2016 season, which begins in July and we are going to allow lion hunting starting next year," Kapata told Reuters.