January 3, Tuesday & January 4, Wednesday

January 4,  Wednesday

See last paragraph of yesterday’s blog.  That’s exactly what I’m doing today !

January 3,  Tuesday

Checked out of La Java this morning and headed back to Sandton, by way of the Lion Park !   This is the home of the famous “white lions”  that were used in the film by the same name. 

It is a game park, not a game reserve like the one I visited in the south.   At the entrance to the park, there are a number of “cub” enclosures where you can wander around before either doing a self-drive tour (windows closed, no soft roof vehicles)  or take a guided game drive in one of their vehicles (which is what I opted for).   The enclosure with the lion cubs was obviously the cutest.  They were born in the park (this park lets them breed) and if it is a first time mother, they will take the cub away since she will not take very good care of it.  These cubs are raised by humans until they are old enough to integrate one of the camps.  There was a long line up of people waiting to go into the lion cub enclosure to pet them.  This time I think I would have gone in, even though they were as big as a big dog,  but the line up was very long and I had only 45 minutes in this area before my guided tour started.   This area also contained hyenas, wild dogs, meerkats (round cement enclosure with a pile of earth containing many of their holes, and which STANK), and a high platform to pet and feed the giraffes, if they deigned to come forward.  They did.  Check this out.

 Thought the washroom area was cute

 One of the cubs

 A white lion cub

  The smallest one in the cub enclosure

 Hyena

 Meerkat

 Petting the giraffe from the high platform

When the time came to board the vehicles, I got my first sight of them.  Rather than the high open trucks that we had been on in the south, these were heavily grilled almost up to the roof line.   We were advised that the lions could, and sometimes did, launch themselves against the grill !

 Our "caged" vehicles

 One of the giraffes

The herbivores: springbok, bontebok (come in a variety of mixed colours, have a white square on their faces and foreheads, with a black blaze over the eyes that look like sun glasses), blesbok (very similar to the bontebok and I can’t tell them apart.  My internet search indicates that for years they were thought to be the same species,  but they interbreed !), impalas, zebras, giraffes)  are in a large open area and able to roam at will.  There are three separate lion “camps” or enclosures (large enough to drive through and have to find where the lions are hiding out).  The first lion enclosure, holds a big male and his three females or four females.   These lions have been raised on the reserve, so the handlers can, with caution, interact closely with the lions.   We were lucky enough to find the main handler here with this pride.   He was spraying the lions with a solution of citronella, to keep the flies away, but which also has the same type of effect as catnip.  Check out the big lion before I continue with this story.

 I don't know about you, but there is no way I would get anywhere near this guy.

The handler helped raise these lions so felt very comfortable with them.  As he was talking to us (we were in a caged truck by the way !)  he held this lion’s tail in his hand as if it was a microphone !   A M A Z I N G to be so close to these animals.  The females were less interested and had wandered off to lie down under the shade of some trees.

The second lion enclosure held the famous white lions. Again, we were lucky to have followed the handler in and watch him spray these big guys with citronella. It was so funny ! They acted like big pussy cats, rolling around in the grass, exposing themselves without a care in the world. These also have been raised in the park, but there still are dangerous animals. These lions were used in the film “white lion” which I have not seen yet but now definitely want to do so. We were informed that these are not albinos, it is a genetic trait to be white. They do allow the gene pool to mix a bit to keep the prides healthy, and then will re-mate white with white. The lions, we are told, don’t know the difference; a male is a male and the king-of-the-castle will keep other males away from his females; a female is a female and to be mated with. No apartheid around here.

 Two of the males as we drove into the camp

 One of the females

  After being sprayed with citronella

 Pussycatto grosso !

  They are simply amazing beasts

 One of the other females coming in to join the group

 We were joined by other vehicles driving through after the keeper drove off

The third enclosure held a mixture of lions that had not been raised by humans since they had been given birth by mature mothers,  and you DO NOT take their cubs away if you want to live.  Not even if you are their keeper.   They were all young adults.  The handler had not come in to spray these guys with citronella, not sure if it had already been done, or still had yet to be done.   Anyway, the young male scented the three young children who were in the vehicle with us  (tiny 2 year old, and a 4 and 5 year old).  He immediately came toward the truck, his nostrils flaring. 

 Young male approaching the back of our vehicle, where the little children were sitting

Our driver and guide warned everyone to keep the children well away from the truck’s grill.   The young male moved closer to the truck and the driver decided that we needed to move on.  She explained that this was normal instinct for the lion to sense young vulnerable prey.  I guess she did not want anyone of us to be traumatized by an attacking lion, even if there was a heavy grill separating us.   After pouncing up on the grill, he could have gotten a paw in the opening at the top of the truck if he wanted to.

 Three white lionesses and one tan.   The females of this group just stayed put in the shade, but one of them kept an eye on the young male to see what he would do.

From there we drove into the Cheetah camp (they were sleeping and could not have cared less) and then into the wild dog enclosure.  

 Wild dog

 Cheetah

That concluded our drive and we returned to the main entrance.   By this time the parking lot was completely full so I decided not to return to the cub enclosure, but to head into Sandton.

Not as easy as it sounds, since the maps are not detailed enough and the signage is not the best.  After a few tourist detours, and stopping to ask for directions, I made it back into Sandton and headed for the Travel Agency to pick up my travel vouchers for the side trip to Victoria Falls and the other ones for the Kruger Park excursion.   I also bought myself some dinner (prepared couscous with roasted vegetables,  cut up crudité, and a bottle of wine,  then headed for the Radisson Blu Gautrain Hotel.  

 View of the Gautrain station in foreground and Sandton in background

Luxury !   And there is a pool with heated water !   Tomorrow, after returning the car to AVIS, I’m just going to enjoy this luxury.