Lions and Tigers and Witches Oh My!

After a good night’s sleep being the only person in an 8 bed dorm room, I set off for the Lion Park in Johannesburg – a sort of mini safari not too far from the city.

On my way to the park with my guide Dennis, we were pulled over on the highway by police. I, of course, expected the worst: The police knew that I was a tourist and would demand some kind of bribe. Dennis and the police officer started chatting in a barrage of one of the eleven languages that Dennis spoke, and I just sat like a muppet not knowing what to do. Abruptly, they both laughed and the policeman asked or my passport. I flashed it to him, and we were off again on the highway en route to the lion park.

When I asked Dennis why we’d been pulled over, he gave me an answer that was so ridiculous I just had to laugh: The police had seen me as we cruised past and thought that the combination of an Asian and a Black man was suspicious, and they assumed that Dennis, my friendly guide, had kidnapped me and the others. A somewhat racist judgement, but the police officer was also a native African. As we sat laughing about the situation, the conversation turned to more serious issues about the lingering racist sentiment from many white South Africans towards the black South Africans. The racial divide set by apartheid had not yet been conquered and the difference in socio economic standards was still very evident – especially in the slums of Soweto.

Eventually we arrived at the Lion Park and I got to do a mini safari, seeing springboks, impalas, hawks, giraffes, wild dogs, cheetahs and of course, lions. They were a lot bigger than I expected, especially because we got very close to them. I would spend time describing them, but I figured pictured would be more effective, you know, pictures are worth 1000 words ;).

I then got the chance to play with the lion cubs for 5 minutes, which although short, was a really cool experience. I think the cubs were only a couple of months old, considering that at the age of two years, a lion is fully matured and able to challenge for the title of King of Pride Rock. One of them climbed all over me and nibbled me a bit so I guess you could say that I’ve now officially been bitten by a lion.

Anyway, that’s enough words from me, here are a couple of pictures from the Lion Park.

PS: This is a very late post because I didn't have any electricity for my computer until quite recently. I'm now in Greyton 2 hours from Cape Town and loving it. It is absolutely beautiful here but extremely cold. Will post something about it soonish. Ciao