Lions and Cheetahs Oh My

The first Saturday in South Africa, the Country Manager for my company got us tickets for a rugby game. I had never been to a rugby game. It was going to be the Blue Bulls vs New Zealands All Blacks. The plan was to go to the Lion Park outside Johannesburg in the morning, have lunch at the Lion Park, then go to the Rugby Game Saturday night. Very exciting.

I do remember getting breakfast at the hotel on Saturday morning. I remember it being very hearty and thinking that I could get used to this type of culinary choices. One of the things to get used to was they have Coke Light instead of Diet Coke. I used to work for Minute Maid which was owned by Coca Cola. Coca Cola as a company was always pointing out to employees how international the company was and how ubiquitous Coke is around the world. 


Breakfast
On the way to Lion Park I saw the first village with shacks. I had read up on the history of South Africa and this was my first time seeing in real life. The housing situation in South Africa is very complicated and the consequences of apartheid still looms large. Generally speaking the are little to no services in the villages. Indoor plumbing and things Americans take for granted are not found there. A good movie to get a feel for what South Africa is like is Invictus with Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman.





In any case, Lion Park is safari light. It is relatively small but have a lot of animals, particularly lions of course. I think it is geared towards people that are visiting JoBurg or Pretoria and don't have time to go on a proper safari. In any case the guides were very knowledgable about the different animals and it was a pretty cool introduction to South African wildlife. 

One of the attractions about Lion Park is that when I was there you could pet lion cubs. They stopped it after a woman was killed. I have read that they have re-instated the attraction. Unfortunately there is a lot of controversy over the practice. Unfortunately many tourists are willing to pay for the opportunity. One of the things over the time I spent in South Africa is that not all of the game farms and safari lodges are ethical in the way they treat the animals.





Kudu

Lioness




Cheetah










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