We finished the year with a very Lion King-esque adventure. We all piled into the minivan and drove through the Cradle of Humankind and over to the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve. Today’s goals: play with lion cubs and see some bigger animals!
As soon as had we entered the park we saw all sorts of
antelope with a massive variety of horns and antlers. As we drove further on
down the dusty, rocky ‘road,’ we were able to check off animal after animal
from our list. We saw some ugly wart hogs fighting in a little watering hole,
wildebeest trotting around, cape buffalo grazing, white rhinos with their
babies, ostriches, and zebras. We were also lucky enough to see lions, white
lions, cheetahs, leopards, white tigers, a giraffe, wild dogs, and a jaguar!
The lions were amazing. Either there is no way to describe
it, or I am not a good enough writer, but there is nothing like seeing a lion
just a few meters away. We actually got to see a very brief mating session,
which was hilarious. I suppose it was a bucket list item that we never knew we
had. It was so fun to drive around and spot things in the bushes. Logan was
particularly good at spotting animals all over the place, and had a reservoir
of knowledge and trivia to share with us all. It was good to have him on the case!
Oddly enough, the zebras did look quite tasty! Maybe we were
just too hungry, but I can see why they are quite desirable prey in the animal
kingdom. It was really great to see them, and other animals, going about their
daily tasks.
Probably the best part of the day was spent in the animal
crèche area, where the young lions, cheetahs, etc. are kept. We were able to go
into an enclosure with two young white lion cubs and a jaguar cub, and then
went into an older cheetah’s enclosure. We took some photos and spent some time
stroking the animals and trying to wake them up! Laleinia was a little nervous
at first, and kept a lot of distance, but let her guard down pretty quickly.
We saw some other animals in the crèche area, including
black leopards (black because of some genetic thing) who still have their spots
if you look close, white tigers (there have only been twelve sighted in the
last 100 years), a giraffe, and some butt-ugly birds, which were impressively
hideous.
We ended our mini-safari by watching some hippos from afar. Fun
fact: Hippos kill more humans than any other animal in Africa (I claimed that
mosquitoes and humans kill more but lost my argument based on a loose definition
of “animals”). There were lots more lions and a tiger to see on the way to the
hippos, which were much better to see than the hippos off in the distance.
