All right already.
I had raced around the usual hell run of feeding the strays in Paardeneiland, picking up food, dropping of disposable braais for people who had ordered and then off the Park in the roller-skate so as to potentially meet and greet the hordes (hah!).
Ended up being very early and spent an enjoyable hour speaking to one of the young assistants - 21 years old and has a plan to become rich, buy all the land that used to be animal migratory paths, fence it in and make it a continuous land reserve for animals from Kenya to Kruger - and he has got a 20 year plan all mapped out in writing. Let me tell you, this is a young man of the future - I don't know if it will happen for him, but if there is a person who will do it, it is him.
Eventually heard the roar of a motorbike and waited and waited for more, but no such luck.
Well, greeted hubby, watch him strip (hey, rain jackets and pants and.....dirty little minds!) and our organised guide for the day, Elzette came to meet us. After a brief explanation of how the Park started and why, off we went.
As you are all aware, we have a thriving canned hunting industry. Although it is supposed to have been banned, there are at the moment various legal interdicts against the proposed laws and lots of wrangling by people who are supported by huge organisations such as Safari Club International etc. to ensure that the industry continues in its present for. Namely, breeding of cubs for hunting, killing of female cubs at birth as they have little value, breeding cubs to be petted (any place that allows petting of cubs - please be aware that those cubs are sold into the industry to be shot) and often very small areas to grow up in. We learnt that no hand-reared lion has ever been sucessfully rehabilitated into the wild as lions run in prides and for a lion that is imprinted by humans to enter a pride is impossible. The lion will be killed, therefore the park.
All of these lions have been rescued out of the industry
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- how this happens and how he manages to get them to part with the lions is his secret - he signs confidentiality clauses. Knowing that they cannot go back into the wild, he has built the park for those lions to see out their lives in the best manner possible. They are committed to ensuring these animals have space, food and dignity for the rest of their natural lives. NO BREEDING IS DONE, the males have all had vasectomies.
One off the Old Ladies, she is 17 years old. The black nose is an indication of their age, the darker the older....
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and having a good old scratch
The space that is made available is roughly the amount of space that a lion would normally roam territorially if he feels safe.
Looking back at the Info centre from midway through the sanctuary
There are fifteen lions and because it was cooler yesterday, the lions were pretty active and we got some outstanding pics and some great great inights into these wonderful animals. May I just say that a full grown lioness is not what I want to see coming at me at any time of my life and I don't care if people say "stand still", I'M GONNA HARDLOOP AS FAST AS MY LEGS CAN MOVE. That is a big beast and that there are some buck that manage to fight them off is beyond me !
Just some puddie tats..
We learnt where they all came from, took some great photies, watch a lion eating grass and then puking (just like we see every day in our household in a very mini version)
Furball !
and then one female going up to sniff the puke and pulling the funniest horrified face I have ever seen (we didn't get that pic unfortunately) with lion moving away from her to go sit in the corner as if he had been kakked out (see guys, no matter what species, you guys always end up in the dwang with females).
The best part of the Park is the tented accommodation right in the middle of the area.
Dining and Bar Area
Tents Outside
Tents Inside
Although securely fenced in, you get the greatest feeling of being a part of the bush as the lions prowl at night around the outside of the tent's perimeter. As one of the staff metnioned, it becomes so quiet that although you know it is impossible that thelions can get that close, you can actually hear them padding and sometimes it sounds as if they are right outside the tent. She was honest enough to confess that the first night she stayed in the accommodation first night one of the males did one of those wonderful full throated roars and that she came as close to sh*tting herself as she has ever in her life and that to this day, he reckon it is one of the most magnificent, but one of the most frightening sounds EVER.
They also possibly have the oldest lioness bred in captivity - she is close to 18. Most lions bred in captivity never make it past four to five years old as of course that is when they are at their prime and make the best trophy.
All in all, another fascinating visit - this time around, the realisation that these lions are so used to man that they just walk towards you with absolutely no fear of you made me realise yesterday how disgusting canned hunting is. This is not a hunt, for heavens sake, the lion walks towards you and you shoot it - its plain cold-blooded murder of our national treasures. Should the animal try to escape due to injurey(and believe it or not, some of these dickheads miss even under those circumstances), they have nowhere to run. That idiot from wherever who has paid R400 000 for his kill will not be allowed to go home empty-handed.
Why destroy such magnificence or just breed to only kill them - aaarrrgggh (personal EV opinion)
Said thanks and goodbye and got a goodbye from the black crow that is at the park as well (injuries prevent the two that are kept there from ever flying again). Yip, the one crow actually speaks English and a touch of Afrikaans - its so werid, cos you hear something in a funny voice say hullo and yet there is nothing there. It takes a while to click that a crow is talking to you.
Stoffel the Talking Crow
Also said goodby to the little goats (no, they are not lion feed, they are pets - even the sheep comes up for a head scratch and a back rub - so cute!)
Goat Feeding his Face
Saying Goodbye
Trucked off home on two cylinders as I then encountered spark plug problems, so went home with a bike escort and went up the road to the Barrel to have heart attacks around a rugby match.
All in all a great day - in fact, a fantastic day.
