Safari - Part 3

Let's see .... where did we leave off?

Does everyone understand that I have to break some of these big posts into many smaller ones, or I can't upload them, or it takes hours and hours??

After the elephants and our "cool and refreshing beverage break", we drove over the hills and through the dells, and into the Lion's Enclosure.  The lions aren't in a cage, but they are in a large, multi-acre fenced area, so that they don't eat the other residents.  Getting into the enclosure was like something out of Jurassic Park, what with the electric fences and security gates.

Our Ranger Guide, said that the lions get fed on Sundays and Thursdays.  Because this was Sunday morning, he thought it would be ok and we would not get eaten.

HAHAHA!!!!

In this enclosure are two adult male lions and seven female cats.


Nothing like getting a little sun on a warm Sunday morning ....

Yawn .... time to find a different warm rock .....

There are five lionesses in this photo ....

Here he is - hiding behind the big stick in the foreground .... as I was shooting off photos today, and how elusive some of these animals can be, how you can't see their faces, how a tail will be just across what you want to photograph, it really is almost funny.








I had to wait for this, and wait, and wait, and keep taking photos so the driver wouldn't leave .... then I took so many photos that my batteries went dead, which was the EXACT moment I have the perfect shot, but he did look back again ....

I guess if I wanted to I could photoshop out the barbed wire, but the wire represents my experience here in South Africa.  Everything and everyone is limited by miles of barbed wire.

Looking back at the roaming area of the lions ..

Look at how beautiful that terrain is, like someone took a big hand and just smeared the colors in the hills.

Is it time for the giraffes?

This is a female, very shy ..

more .....  Those are .... ummmm .... I should look up the exact name, but I think they are Eldon's?? 


Much like the White Rhinos and the Elephants, these friends are all out for a Sunday stroll.

The giraffe stopped to munch ...

Closeup.....

And what is a photo album without some flowers. These little flowers were all over the place, but you had to look really carefully to see them ..

Finally, the last of the Big Five - the leopard.  These cats were kept in an enclosure on the other side of the road from the main reserve because of fear of poachers.

It was a lot to take in in one day, and at some point I would like to see big herds of animals, but this, in itself, was the most amazing experience.