African Wildlife Expert Kristin discusses how she spent her Saturday

Today our group split up a bit for activities. A few went golfing and most of the others went to The Lion Park. I was a bit hesitant about going as I want to see the animals in their natural habitats, but I still had a great time and learned a lot!!!  

Upon arriving at The Lion Park we were provided 3 wristbands and we had no idea what they were for!!

It turns out that the first one was for the 'safari'. We were loaded on to a truck with a metal cage around it and with 'bus' style bench seats. We started off seeing the lions.

 The highlight of that was hearing about a male named Nicholas. Evidently they had to keep introducing him to other female lions because they would beat him up!! For a while his nickname was Scar Face!  Finally they put him with younger females who left him alone 😂  We also learned that the female lions do all of the hunting while the mean hang back and watch over things. Then the females bring the 'catch' back and the males eat first!!  Us women were not very happy to hear about that!!!
Next we saw the giraffes, zebras, and cape buffalo. We learned a lot of facts that my kids will love to hear!!

• Giraffes have their babies standing up. Typically the baby will fall and hit head first. This helps to wake them up. Within 30 minutes they are standing and walking within an hour.
• You can tell male and female giraffes apart due to their horns.
• Zebras will go away from their group to have their babies. One of the main reasons is because the baby needs to imprint the pattern of their mother on their mind. Then once they return to the group the baby recognizes his or her mother!!
• Zebras are one of the few animals that see in color. This makes them good for noticing their predators, thus they are able to warn the other animals. 
• Zebras always look bloated because the food ferments in their belly causing a lot of gas!! When they get scared they let it out😳

I think that those are enough fun facts for now!!

Once we finished the 'safari' we went to the Lion Encounter - wristband #2.

Here we had the opportunity to interact with two 4 month old lion cubs.  Evidently the mother had 6 lion cubs, but there were only 4 teats and these 2 were abandoned. One of the Cubs was very inquisitive and enjoyed playing with hair and chewing on clothing!! It was quite the experience. Luckily the only casualty was to Jalpa's shoelaces 😜

Next on to wristband #3 - Cheetah Encounter.

Here we were given very strict instructions on how to pet and interact with the cheetah. Rule #1 - Don't run!!!!  The cheetah was 4 years old and didn't care a bit that we were there. We could even pick up his tail and use it as a microphone, but don't touch his legs!!

Once we were done with wristband #3, we were pretty much done!!  We looked around a bit and then walked through the 5 stores in order to leave the park. I ended up not making it out without a purchase.... Two bookmarks and we were ready for the bus ride back to the hotel. All and all I'm happy that I went, but I still haven't given up on doing a REAL safari!!!

We all went back to the hotel for a little rest before heading to Beata's house for a Braai (a South African BBQ). She invited our group as well as some of her family. They helped to provide some interesting insight into South Africa as well as providing some great laughs!!  We had a wonderful evening of BBQ, laughter, dancing, rugby (on TV) and of course refreshments!!  It was great to see another playful side to the team as we all let lose.

For me the highlight was watching Angelica, Eric, Matt and Jamon dancing!! 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnyZgbu_PYE

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Vl4TIy4m8



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cil9jGpIVLo



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjHwV_IpeNQ



Sadly, by 12:30 am we were all exhausted and ready to get some sleep!!  We had another great day planned for Sunday!

Thanks!

Kristin