Authorities say one of the lions became hostile and attacked him.
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Camp Hwange describes itself as a small safari company that specializes in walking tours in the park, which covers a wide area of northwestern Zimbabwe.
The agency added that the lion had been collared – like Cecil, who was being studied as part of an Oxford University project when he was killed.
The guide, Quinn Terence Swales, 40, was airlifted from the scene but pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital in the resort town of Victoria Falls.
Swales was leading a group of tourists on a photographic safari when the male lion “unexpectedly charged”, the lodge said.
Palmer, 55, is said to have injured the prized lion with a bow and arrow before stalking it for 40 hours and then shooting it with a rifle – but has faced a backlash after his home in Florida was vandalised.
The last picture Swales posted on his Facebook page – exactly two weeks before his death – was of Cecil, a national treasure who was killed in July by poachers who lured him off protected land, sparking worldwide outrage.
“Later a lion attacked the guide on the neck”, said the police spokesperson.
Some Zimbabweans who wrote on the Game Reserves Facebook group page urged the group to spend the money protecting wildlife in the country and buying water pumps to provide drinking water for game in the park.
Palmer’s guide on the expedition, Zimbabwean Theo Bronkhorst, appeared in court last month and was granted $1,000 bail pending his trial on September 28 on charges of organising an illegal hunt.
The guide according to a statement released by the camp where he worked said Quinn ‘did everything he could to successfully protect his guests and ensure their safety’ during the attack.
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Walter Palmer, the US dentist responsible for killing the lion has escaped prosecution over Cecil’s death and has been in hiding since the news broke.
