It’s the morning after the booze cruise and some of my fellow travellers are not feeling the greatest! One has to pay for the pleasures of too many gin & tonic and beers!
Despite the hangovers we all up early for more unique experiences. After all how often do you get to walk with a lion and hold his tail while you do so?
The Mukuni Big 5 Safari’s Cheetah Research Program is committed to the preservation of cheetahs and lions. The funds we pay for the privilege of walking with the cats go toward this worthwhile conservation effort and helps toward increasing the population of these wonderful big cats. The project also has a mobile clinic and helps educate the local population by means of interaction and lectures on the importance of protecting this endangered species.
We are asked to sign away any claims in the unlikely event something goes wrong and then given a useful briefing on how one interacts with these amazing beasts! We are then asked to pick up a stick each, which will help keep the lions in check as they’ve been trained to respond to certain gestures.
There are five of us on the walk today from Kumuka. Rob and Ali (an Aussie couple from Perth), Ali (from New Zealand), and Emma (an Aussie from Brisbane). We have travelled a long way together and become great mates along this journey so it is nice to share this experience with each other.
Rob goes first and tells us later his hangover vanished immediately he sat down next to the lioness. It is a thrilling, spine tingling experience to stroke a lion and scratch under their chins and we follow the instructions of our guides closely.
If they show signs they want to play with each other or start walking, we move away. In between the games, they lie down and allow us to approach them and pose for pictures. I was afraid this would be a tourist experience. In reality. these lions need to be walked everyday to ensure they get enough exercise and we are made to feel quite at home with these magnificent beast.
The lions treat the guides as members of their tribe and as we are introduced to them, we are accepted as part of the tribe as well! There are 2 lionesses and 1 male lion all of who are about 3 years old. We are even allowed to hold the tail of the lioness, who is apparently quite fond of this gesture.
After we complete our walk, we are informed that for a small extra fee, we will be given the chance of playing with the cheetah and lion cubs. Ali and Rob have already signed up for the full cheetah experience, which includes interaction with the full grown cheetahs. Emma and I put up our hands to play with the cubs.
The lion cubs are just weeks old and we are given an opportunity to bottle feed them milk. The cubs are cheeky and full of beans but settle down for milk. Another amazing time follow as we bottle feed these babies and get a chance to play with them.
Our next interaction is with the cheetahs who are initially very frisky and skip around making us chase them around their enclosure.
However, as the day gets hotter they calm down enough to let us lie down with them and have a play.
We were initially told we would have 15 minutes with the cubs but we have spent almost an hour with both the lion and cheetah cubs. It is time to go and we reluctantly put the cheetahs down. I exchange contact details with the guides who promise to stay in touch. Perhaps I might get a chance to spend more than a few hours with these magnificent animals one day!
"If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk." - Raymond Inmon
No comments:
Post a Comment