baby lions baby lions BABY LIONS.

Today was the greatest day of my life.  Nothing else can or will ever compare.  Getting into college? Nope. My future wedding day? Sorry. The day I finally get my Bernese Mountain Dog puppy? Probably a close second. I HELD A BABY LION TODAY. Am I being perhaps a bit dramatic? Of course.

But in all seriousness, I have a deep love for lions.  Christian the Lion is my most-watched you-tube video.  I practically cried when I saw the whole documentary because due to animal rights laws I would never get to buy a lion cub at a department store and raise him as my pet.  This is probably better for everyone, but still.

Today was awesome because a bit of my fantasy came true.  We were able to go to the Seaview Lion Park near Port Elizabeth with ZooSoc (Zoo Society).  What ZooSoc is, is a club (they call them societies here) that organizes animal-y events, such as this trip to the lion park and a canoe trip on a game reserve.  At Rhodes each student has to pay for each club he or she joins, but lucky for us BC picks up our tab.  So we had free transportation to and from the park and lunch included.  I was all about it. 

When we first got there we had a talk from our guide about the general history of the park, then walked around to see the older lions.  In my photos all the older lions are the ones behind the fences. These lions are beautiful creatures and I had to practice some serious self-control to keep myself from jumping the fences and joining them.  Seeing the older lions was really cool, but not even close to the best part.  It was also very hot and sticky and I felt like a popsicle melting in your hand: gross.  But I didn’t care.  I had one thing on my mind and one thing only.  Hold a baby lion.  I knew it was coming.  I just didn’t want to wait. 

After the walk about the park we walked up to the restaurant to get our lunch.  The lion handling stations were near the restaurant so I looked for them and went straight to the baby lions.  There were three boys under the age of 5 playing with 3 lions under the age of 15 weeks.  Definitely THE cutest thing I have ever seen.  I was like a little girl at Christmas I couldn’t contain my excitement.  Then my friend Uyen, another girl from BC, told us that you could also handle older lions.  We went out back to see them and I almost fainted.  14-month-old lions, basking in the sun, WITH VOLUNTEERS NAPPING WITH THEM AND USING THEM AS PILLOWS.  I saw there in front of  me my life’s ultimate dream.  But then I realized I was in a pickle (probably rivals the pickle Smalls got the gang into in the greatest summer of his life).  I would have to decide: older lions, or baby lions.  I obviously wanted both, but due to time constraints and the number of people with us you had to choose.  I gazed at the napping adolescent lions.  I wanted to nap with them too.  But, lets be real, BABY LIONS were waiting for me on the other side of the building.  How could I pass up a baby anything, let alone a baby wild animal.  So we went back to the baby station to get in line.  When we got there, however, all the babies were sleeping.  It would be much less fun to play with a sleeping baby lion than an awake big lion.  So back we went.  Let me just say, GOOD DECISION.

Kate and I entered the enclosure and I was bursting with joy. The guide first brought us to the sunbathing duo and when he said we could pet them my hand lunged out as if independent from my body.  Again, greatest day of my life.  After petting those two, and one of them snapping at Kate, we went to check out the two in the shade.  We spent a lot of time with them and Noam, the big guy, loved getting his belly rubbed.  He wrapped his paw around my arm and I knew we were in love. 

It was awesome.  After that wonderful experience we checked out some of the other lions and animals around the area.  There seemed to be quite a bit of down time as part of the group went on a tour of an area we had already seen.  We went back to check out the baby lions.  We came upon a young girl cuddling one in her lap.  Instant jealousy.  Kate, Sarah, and I looked at each other.  We all were thinking the same thing.  Once the little girl left and two of the cubs were up and about, we knew we had to hold them.  So, low and behold, my wish came true and we got to pet both sets of lions!  Those cubs were the cutest things ever.  Skyla, the white one, is definitely Scout’s long-lost extraspecies cousin.  They had very similar attitudes and nipping habits.  It was like playing with my own puppy all over again, but this was a wild animal. 

Basically, today I was the happiest girl alive.  I am also very excited because this Lion Park has a volunteer program right up my alley that I am hoping to get to do after my finals.  It is something I am very interested in, and I really hope it works out!

This post was definitely blah without the pictures, but I am testing Picasa out so I put some of them up there! Hope it works, let me know if it doesn’t!  CLICK HERE if you want to feel warm and fuzzy inside