tales from the lion farm

Ukutula Lion Farm, Somewhere in South Africa

We stayed at a Lion Farm for the past eight days...


Here I am with a four month old lion cup.


Man they were so cute. Puppy Dog sized cats, wrap your head around that one!

Meet George! He's been our bus driver for the past three months, but he's become so much more than just a bus driver. He leaves his family (including 12 young children!) to hang out with the Canadians. He's a funny guy, his favourite line is "Dana, I'm lost... I don't know where I am", which is always a lie, George knows every city, town and street in the country, he's an amazing driver and has come to be a part of our group as well.
Here George poses with the lion cubs and gives the thumbs up "SHARP" (The SA slang for cool)!!!

The Lion Hunt...

This morning we got up early to go on a lion hunt... okay it wasn't a hunt at all, it was simply a walk to the pen, then going in to play with/pet the lions. Here I am being a stealth-like

This beautiful Lion is 14 months old and is a white lion called Bicardi, she was very calm and liked playing with us (and is quite photogenic too, I might add).

(Feel free to tilt your head now)


Maybe it has something to do with having lion cubs running around the yard all week, stealing our flip flops, crawling up on our laps and playing with us, but I think I forgot that lions are big huge strong animals. Perhaps you can imagine my surprise when one of them welcomed me into the pen with a high five... cute, yes except I wasn't ready or expecting it, so instead of a friendly greeting the huge beast sunk its claws into the back of my legs (BOO) adding another great scar story to the many scars on my legs!

I'll be fine... and in other news in five days I'll be on a plane headed for Canada... oh wow.