Lions, Cheetahs and a Family of Giraffes

 

 Our last full day with Ali, on Friday the 29^th, was an incredible experience at the Johannesburg Lion Park, where we not only did a self-drive through five different lion enclosures and a cheetah enclosure, but we also had the opportunity to pet a cheetah cub, to pet two young white lion cubs, and to feed and interact with a mother and father giraffe and their baby, Elsa, just 2 months old. The photos pretty well speak for themselves.

Martha with Cindi, a cheetah cub




Ali getting a friendly kiss on the hand from the cheetah cub



Ali with lion cub Sam, about 3 months old

Martha with lion cub Nick, about 3 months old



Bob and Nick



Martha, Ali and Bob with Sam



Elsa, a 2-month old giraffe



Bob feeds the Daddy giraffe

Ali feeds Momma Giraffe, who shows off her long, black tongue

On the drive, we got very close to five prides of lions, each with a huge male lion, some white and some tawny in color, with multiple lionesses and as many as six small cubs in one pride, where the mother jealously protected the cubs while the other lionesses and the male slept soundly. Another lioness was awake nursing her two cubs. Since lions are nocturnal and sleep 18-21 hours a day on average, nearly all the lions we saw, with the exception of several of the younger cubs, two very protective mother lionesses and one white male in a separate pride, were asleep in the shade.




A white lioness protecting her six cute white lion cubs




Another mother lion nursing her twin cubs



The king of the jungle and patriarch of the pride, also was the star of the movie, "The White Lion"

 

Not only were we not allowed to get out of our vehicle, but there were several large warning signs in every enclosure reminding us to KEEP ALL WINDOWS CLOSED AT ALL TIMES. We were strongly warned not to roll down a window to take a photo. Three days after our visit, in the very same park, an American tourist rolled down her window to take a photo of a lioness and the lioness leaped through the window, pulled her completely out of the car and killed her! A reminder that these really are wild animals, and they are very big and very strong!

We took Ali to Mike’s Kitchen, one of our favorite restaurants for our “last supper” and decided to just stay home, pack, visit and enjoy each other’s company Saturday morning, make one last trip to Rosebank Mall for some last-minute shopping, and Bob gave Ali a father’s blessing. Then Ali was off to Paris, France for a day on her way home, and Bob and Martha were back to our normal routine, after being gone essentially the entire month of May.

Thanks Ali for joining us for the African adventure of a lifetime!