Visiting The Lion Park

I have had this on my "to Do List" the past couple of times when I have visited Johannesburg. This time, I intended to do it! I went with a friend of mine who lives in Johannesburg. I jokingly said I was going to smuggle a lion cub out of the park in my handbag, but I found that the cute five month old cubs were not as friendly as I had hoped or expected. I guess they get a bit sick and tired of people touching them. One in particular kept trying to take a swipe and/or  bite of me. Still, I enjoyed the experience. They have such enormous paws. It was strange when we went for a drive around the park, it was the humans that were in the cage and the animals were outside roaming free! One lioness actually jumped up at the security door of the safari truck.

The park also had giraffes which you could hand feed. I bought a bag of "giraffe food" to entice them, but they were non-compliant that day! I was hesitant around the ostriches as they looked and acted quite mean. One kick from their legs would cause serious damage! I saw a leopard sleeping, but he was in a caged area which made viewing difficult. There were meerkats, too. They are always funny to watch. The big daddy lions were so majestic looking with their big manes. Again it was a hot day, so they were just lazing about in the shade.

Another adventure had by Mrs. O.!

This lion cub was more sedate.

Napping cubs during the heat of the day

What do think this meerkat would be saying if he could talk?

Beware of cranky ostriches!

What do they say about sleeping lions?

Isn't he majestic?

Time for a quick drink and a snooze.

Daddy lion with his cubs

The rascally lion cub who tried to scratch me! you can tell by his ears he was not happy or up to mischief!

Leopards like to hang about during the heat of the day.

It's tough being a lion! Did you know that in the wild, the lionesses make the kill for the pride. Then they allow the male the first feed, followed by the lionesses and then the cubs.