#5 Journey Through Africa: Walking with Lions
After my rant in the last posting this should be quite a change. I woke up today in the pre-dawn hours and somehow staggered out of my tent into the freezing cold. All the layers that I had on did not help in keeping me warm, but that didn’t matter for we were going to be walking with the lions.
We’re currently at Antelope Park in Zimbabwe just on the outskirts of Gweru. Antelope Park is a lion rehabilitation center and one of its highlights, or rather THE highlight, is the ability to be able to walk with lions in the African grasslands. You’re not in the zoo, nor in an enclosure, but rather out in the wild. The Park breeds the lions and eventually sets them out into the wild throughout all of Africa. The lions need to be walked out of their enclosures for approximately 10 hours every day and while the lions are still pretty young tourists can walk along with them. By young I don’t mean little cubs.
We set out at 6:30 am with ten of us and three guides. The lions that were accompanied us were Apollo, Achilles and Athena all approximately 18 months old. They were huge and we were one of the last groups to be walking with them. This is due to the fact that after they reach a certain age, they get too aggressive and their natural instincts kick in. While they are still young they consider all the people as the dominant part of their pride and respect them. You’re not allowed to wonder off on your own cause they could mistake you as potential prey. You’re also not allowed to crouch down because you’re dominance over them is undermined and they might attack. One of them did jump on the back of one of the guys, but it was only in a playful manner. Nevertheless, when you have a 130 kg lion jumping onto your and roaring away, it’s hard to keep the fear hidden.
It was truly an amazing experience. We meandered through the fields with them for nearly two hours. They would do whatever they wished, playing with each other, running around or just lazing in the high grasses. Truly magnificent beasts and honestly, it was an indescribable experience. All I can say is Wow!!!! And tomorrow we get to walk with a Rhino!
In the afternoon we also got to see a lion cub – a really small one – just 4 months old. The little guy was adorable – and what a growler. Huge difference though between this cub and the older cubs. Since we were the last group to visit him we were able to convince our guide to take us to the manager’s house to see four more cubs – these ones only 5 weeks old. They were the cutest things ever, just bigger kitty cats. However, this was all on the hush-hush because no one was allowed to see these little guys and if anyone else finds out then they’ll want to see them as well.
Other than that, a number of notes on Zimbabwe. The economy here is in complete shambles. Once we crossed the border we became instant multi-millionaires. Yesterday, for example, I spent 1.02 million dollars on a bottle of wine and some coffee. All of us were handed bricks of cash about 1 inch thick that are the equivalent of $20US. So with an exchange rate of 350,000 Zim $ to 1 US $ there’s a lot of bills to count. You should see the zoo in grocery stores with the cashiers counting off the millions and stuffing them into the register. Quite a sight.
Few more comments:
Have I mentioned that Africa is freezing cold?!?! I don’t know why, considering that two years ago I was sitting in Buenos Aires at the same time of year freezing my ass off and yet the same did not seem to apply to this continent. So what that it’s winter, right? Africa is always warm. NO!!!! My dinky little sleeping-bag that is comfortable up to +15C is worthless here since last night the temperature dropped to about +2C. It’s cold! Africa is cold!!! My one and only advise to anyone coming here during the winter is pack hats, long-johns, gloves, fleeces and warm sleeping bags. All the wonderful tank-tops and summer dresses that I brought with me are getting perma-wrinkles in them since they have never seen daylight since I’ve come back.
Julita’s take on a bunch of paintings that Lindsay bought: “I wouldn’t even use them as toilet paper.” They were about 10 cm x 30 cm. Definitively speaks her mind – but slight change in opinions – since Lindsay did buy them as works of art and not bathroom accessories.
We’re currently at Antelope Park in Zimbabwe just on the outskirts of Gweru. Antelope Park is a lion rehabilitation center and one of its highlights, or rather THE highlight, is the ability to be able to walk with lions in the African grasslands. You’re not in the zoo, nor in an enclosure, but rather out in the wild. The Park breeds the lions and eventually sets them out into the wild throughout all of Africa. The lions need to be walked out of their enclosures for approximately 10 hours every day and while the lions are still pretty young tourists can walk along with them. By young I don’t mean little cubs.
We set out at 6:30 am with ten of us and three guides. The lions that were accompanied us were Apollo, Achilles and Athena all approximately 18 months old. They were huge and we were one of the last groups to be walking with them. This is due to the fact that after they reach a certain age, they get too aggressive and their natural instincts kick in. While they are still young they consider all the people as the dominant part of their pride and respect them. You’re not allowed to wonder off on your own cause they could mistake you as potential prey. You’re also not allowed to crouch down because you’re dominance over them is undermined and they might attack. One of them did jump on the back of one of the guys, but it was only in a playful manner. Nevertheless, when you have a 130 kg lion jumping onto your and roaring away, it’s hard to keep the fear hidden.
It was truly an amazing experience. We meandered through the fields with them for nearly two hours. They would do whatever they wished, playing with each other, running around or just lazing in the high grasses. Truly magnificent beasts and honestly, it was an indescribable experience. All I can say is Wow!!!! And tomorrow we get to walk with a Rhino!
In the afternoon we also got to see a lion cub – a really small one – just 4 months old. The little guy was adorable – and what a growler. Huge difference though between this cub and the older cubs. Since we were the last group to visit him we were able to convince our guide to take us to the manager’s house to see four more cubs – these ones only 5 weeks old. They were the cutest things ever, just bigger kitty cats. However, this was all on the hush-hush because no one was allowed to see these little guys and if anyone else finds out then they’ll want to see them as well.
Other than that, a number of notes on Zimbabwe. The economy here is in complete shambles. Once we crossed the border we became instant multi-millionaires. Yesterday, for example, I spent 1.02 million dollars on a bottle of wine and some coffee. All of us were handed bricks of cash about 1 inch thick that are the equivalent of $20US. So with an exchange rate of 350,000 Zim $ to 1 US $ there’s a lot of bills to count. You should see the zoo in grocery stores with the cashiers counting off the millions and stuffing them into the register. Quite a sight.
Few more comments:
Have I mentioned that Africa is freezing cold?!?! I don’t know why, considering that two years ago I was sitting in Buenos Aires at the same time of year freezing my ass off and yet the same did not seem to apply to this continent. So what that it’s winter, right? Africa is always warm. NO!!!! My dinky little sleeping-bag that is comfortable up to +15C is worthless here since last night the temperature dropped to about +2C. It’s cold! Africa is cold!!! My one and only advise to anyone coming here during the winter is pack hats, long-johns, gloves, fleeces and warm sleeping bags. All the wonderful tank-tops and summer dresses that I brought with me are getting perma-wrinkles in them since they have never seen daylight since I’ve come back.
Julita’s take on a bunch of paintings that Lindsay bought: “I wouldn’t even use them as toilet paper.” They were about 10 cm x 30 cm. Definitively speaks her mind – but slight change in opinions – since Lindsay did buy them as works of art and not bathroom accessories.
posted by Kasia Koltunska at 2:48 AM
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