Here the lions are carefully watching us.
It was so exciting to be close to this elephant. It was HUGE!
Here the girls are hanging out at the house.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Lion Park- up close and personal to an elephant!
Here the lions are carefully watching us.
It was so exciting to be close to this elephant. It was HUGE!
Here the girls are hanging out at the house.
Lions and Elephants
We had a pretty busy weekend. The girls had two birthday parties this weekend. One for Ronan and the other for Jaryd. On Saturday, I had to go to Johannesburg to meet with Thandi Tutu. She is Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s daughter. He is an amazing man- very instrumental in ending apartheid in South Africa. She is very nice. I was meeting with her to see if she would be interested in coming on the board. She is very interested. I flew there in the morning and met her in the airport. Then I was back in Durban by 2pm. Tammy watched the girls. She took them to Jaryd’s party and then let them swim in the afternoon.
Then today (Sunday) I had wanted to take to girls to the beach but when we got up it was rainy. So, I decided to take them to a lion park that is about an hour away. It was pretty hard to find. The directions on the internet were not right so I drove in circles in some little villages for about ½ hour and then as I had almost given up, I got on the right road and found it. It is in the middle of nowhere. When we got there, the game warden told us that the weather was making the lions very “naughty” and to be careful. He said if they chase the car, just keep going. He said that they had been chasing many of the cars that morning. I guess the cool air makes them feisty. We drove for about an hour through the bush. We saw zebra, guinea, mice, birds and then this huge elephant. We came up on this hill and a guy who worked in the park was standing there. He asked if we wanted to see an elephant and the girls said yes. And then here one came out of the trees. It was absolutely huge. The girls said he was tall as uncle boo but I would say he was twice as tall. He had two huge tusks too. I tried to get a picture of him from the truck and the guy told me we could get out and get our picture taken with him that he was not dangerous. He said that he was born there in that game park and used to people. So, the girls excitedly got out and we went near him. The guy got some pictures of us. The girls wouldn’t stand too close to it. They were eating some candy and the guy said that we could give the elephant a few if we wanted. So, I held my hand out and he put his wet slobbery trunk on my hand and inhaled the candy. It was pretty neat. After a few more minutes we said goodbye to the elephant- he had already gotten tired of watching us and started to leave anyway. And we drove until we finally came to the lions. They have the lions in this huge fenced area. You drive up to the gate and a guard opens it. You drive in and it closes and another gate is opened by another guard. There were about 5 lions standing guard in front of the gate and the guard had a bit of trouble trying to get them to move. Once we were in, one of the females was trotting beside us. Then we came up upon about 7 lions laying the grass in front of us. Before we had reached the lions the girls had been saying all along that they did NOT want to see the lions. It was because they had heard the game warden warning me about them being naughty. Sofia particularly was not happy we were going to see them. And Sienna told me I had two choices- to turn the truck around or go home. Anyway, once we were in, they were so excited. They didn’t want to leave. We stayed with the truck parked for a while just watching. And we drove around for a while. Then they did really start getting a little too frisky for my liking so I decided it was time to leave. They were pouncing on each other and rolling in the grass fighting. And then one male acted like he was going to charge a car. The car back up real quick and the lion lost interest.
After driving back towards Hillcrest, we went to the mall for lunch. Big mistake. It was so full of people, that you couldn’t even walk. The girls wanted to eat at McDonalds so we did. Then we bought a few groceries and came home. They were very tired and went to bed just after 7pm
Then today (Sunday) I had wanted to take to girls to the beach but when we got up it was rainy. So, I decided to take them to a lion park that is about an hour away. It was pretty hard to find. The directions on the internet were not right so I drove in circles in some little villages for about ½ hour and then as I had almost given up, I got on the right road and found it. It is in the middle of nowhere. When we got there, the game warden told us that the weather was making the lions very “naughty” and to be careful. He said if they chase the car, just keep going. He said that they had been chasing many of the cars that morning. I guess the cool air makes them feisty. We drove for about an hour through the bush. We saw zebra, guinea, mice, birds and then this huge elephant. We came up on this hill and a guy who worked in the park was standing there. He asked if we wanted to see an elephant and the girls said yes. And then here one came out of the trees. It was absolutely huge. The girls said he was tall as uncle boo but I would say he was twice as tall. He had two huge tusks too. I tried to get a picture of him from the truck and the guy told me we could get out and get our picture taken with him that he was not dangerous. He said that he was born there in that game park and used to people. So, the girls excitedly got out and we went near him. The guy got some pictures of us. The girls wouldn’t stand too close to it. They were eating some candy and the guy said that we could give the elephant a few if we wanted. So, I held my hand out and he put his wet slobbery trunk on my hand and inhaled the candy. It was pretty neat. After a few more minutes we said goodbye to the elephant- he had already gotten tired of watching us and started to leave anyway. And we drove until we finally came to the lions. They have the lions in this huge fenced area. You drive up to the gate and a guard opens it. You drive in and it closes and another gate is opened by another guard. There were about 5 lions standing guard in front of the gate and the guard had a bit of trouble trying to get them to move. Once we were in, one of the females was trotting beside us. Then we came up upon about 7 lions laying the grass in front of us. Before we had reached the lions the girls had been saying all along that they did NOT want to see the lions. It was because they had heard the game warden warning me about them being naughty. Sofia particularly was not happy we were going to see them. And Sienna told me I had two choices- to turn the truck around or go home. Anyway, once we were in, they were so excited. They didn’t want to leave. We stayed with the truck parked for a while just watching. And we drove around for a while. Then they did really start getting a little too frisky for my liking so I decided it was time to leave. They were pouncing on each other and rolling in the grass fighting. And then one male acted like he was going to charge a car. The car back up real quick and the lion lost interest.
After driving back towards Hillcrest, we went to the mall for lunch. Big mistake. It was so full of people, that you couldn’t even walk. The girls wanted to eat at McDonalds so we did. Then we bought a few groceries and came home. They were very tired and went to bed just after 7pm
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
