Finally, a new place! I've been doing repeat flights the last couple of months so when I saw Johannesburg, South Africa on my roster I couldn't wait to go. With other crew, it is kind of a tradition for you to go to the Lion Park on your first visit. So that's what I did, and I took a million pictures while doing it.
First we did a driving tour in a big caged truck. The park is really big and spread out. It's not like a zoo; the animals have their own big space to run around and be in their natural habitat, but the lions are separate from things like zebras, antelope, and other things they'd normally eat. The zebras, ostriches, antelope (or something like it), and little wild turkeys were the first things we saw. Our driver/guide would stop the truck so we could take pictures while he told us jokes and facts about the animals.
When we came to the first lion area, there were signs warning us not to open the doors or to stick any limbs out of the cage. A lady was killed at the park last year when she opened the door to get a better picture, and a lioness snuck up on her. Our guide told us he was there when the lady died, and that the same lioness that killed her was in the next area. On that high note, we continued the tour.
There were a few different lion prides in the park that were all kept separate. Some were regular Mufasa/Simba looking lions and some were white lions. All of them were incredibly lazy and were sleeping together in lion piles. For the most part they just ignored us and kept sleeping, but a few would look at us and pose for some pictures before they went back to their nap. We got to hear a roaring contest between two of the boys, and it was such a scary sound! I didn't imagine it being so loud and I could feel it vibrating in my chest. If I was out in the African wild, ran into a lion, and it roared at me like that, I'd just lay down and give up right there.
After the driving tour, we did the most exciting part of petting lion cubs, giraffes, and a cheetah named Cindy. The cubs were all sleeping just like the big lions. There were only 3 months old and almost too big for us to be able to be that close to them anymore. The giraffes were my favorite part. We took lots of selfies while we were feeding them and their purple tongues. The cheetah was just like a giant house cat. They are really easy to tame so people can actually have them as pets. I think I'll get one, actually. She loved the attention and all the petting she was getting. You could tell all the cats thought they were the best thing to happen to this world, just like every house cat I've ever met.
Everything is so cheap in Johannesburg so I bought lots of souvenirs I didn't need, and then we went back to the hotel. I'll be back again next weekend to do lots and lots of shopping!
