May 4,2012

May 4,2012

We left the heat on last night and we both slept better. We were both a sleep when we got the 5:30 am wake up call. We met Chris,our guide, at 6:45am and we were the only people on the drive. He took us to an area we had not been to before looking for the Cape Buffelo, which we never found. We went off the trail to look for the giraffes and we stopped to have our morning coffee break watching them. Chris is very knowledgeable about the flora and birds as well has the animals. We got back to the lodge in time for breakfast and then did the lion viewing again. At 12:30pm we got to play with the lion cubs and the Evelyn will take a two hour horse back ride later in the afternoon.

There are three lion cubs, a male and female three weeks old and a six week old female. They are part of an attraction called "Walk with the Lions". The lion trainer's family has been raising and training lions for four generations. We were able to "play" with them for an hour. Evelyn became mother to the three week old female. They were very cute, but you have to remember they will grow to 700 pounds and always be a dangerous animal.
We learned that lions that do not remain in the wild for whatever reason and are HAND RAISED are considered the most dangerous and can never be returned to the wild. The trainer told us how the came to have these 3 cubs and how they and other lions they have will never be allowed to reproduce. Hopefully in time there will no longer be any captive or hand raised lions, only those in the wild.

I'm waiting for Evelyn to return from her horse back ride and just relaxing on the porch. I dozed off and awoke to two rhinos just across the river.

The ride was great. There was a young woman from Malaysia, The guide, and me. The horses were very responsive. Have to say it was a lengthy release I had to sign and a riding helmet that wasn't the most attractive but we had a great time. We saw some small animals including a rock hyrax, a large tortoise and other small mammals. The highlight was tracking an injured blue wildebeest that we tracked into the brush. After finding it our guide called the lodge and a group was sent up to access the situation. We believe the animal was injured in the flank by another male while sparing in preparation for future fights when older. After two hours I was covered in trail dust, still hadn't seen a cape buffalo and was ready for the raft back to our tent.

The lodge is full for the weekend - they have 15 tents - and the dinning room was full. Tried wildebeest, blesbock, koroo lamb chops, along with the other courses and accompaniments We have enjoyed tasting the different animals. Prices here are very reasonable, my JD on the rocks was 20 rand, about $2.50 and Evelyn had a local liquor call Amarulla for 10 rand, about $1.25. Amarulla is like the national liquor of South Africa, it is made from the fruit of the Amarulla tree and is a little like a cross between Harvey's Bristol Cream and a chocolate liquor. Tomorrow in Cape Town we will test the pricing in the resurants.



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Hal