Drakenstein Lion Park

Today we went to the Drakenstein Lion Park with Sandrine. It is a Lion Sanctuary where rescued lions who were raised in [abusive] captivity and thus cannot survive in the wild can live in peace. It's interesting because it's a "true" sanctuary, meaning that the lions are cared for and safe the remainder of their lives, and the park doesn't allow any human interaction (ie. petting cubs) and are adamantly against it. In fact, when entering the sanctuary there are signs everywhere saying that visitors need to use soft voices and if there is any yelling or harassment of the lions you will be asked to leave without refund. That said, it was a very calm and peaceful visit.

It was also wicked hot outside! The sun was blazing and we were exposed for the entire time. I am still feeling a little tired from the heat. We found some shade so that the boys could eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from their lunch boxes, but besides that, yikes! Scorching!

This was Auggie's last Wednesday morning with Sandrine for a while since he starts school. It was fun to do something so special.

This guy was dozing in the shade. His eyes are open here, but he was mostly just sleeping with his mouth open. :) The next two pictures are of him.

See--sleeping with his mouth open. Hehe.. 

This girl is in the same enclosure as the male above. They get paired according to who they get along with by the owner. When we first walked past her (and I didn't the camera out!) a commuter train passed us in the distance and startled her. She stood up and stared us down with these really alarming eyes. Auggie wanted to leave because he was afraid she was going to roar. She didn't, but it was interesting to see her reaction.

Here's another guy hanging out in the shade in a different enclosure. Lions are active at night, and only for four hours at that. In some ways they're just like house cats--constantly sleeping.

Eland and Sandrine :)

Another boy

These are the white lions that we saw last year at the Tygerberg Zoo. The zoo closed due to lack of money and different places around the country adopted the animals. Apparently the son of the woman who owned the zoo is the guy who owns the Drakenstein Lion Park. He took the lions, tigers, and chimps.

A popsicle was in order after getting out of the heat

The boys took this task very seriously

Here's the view of part of the park from the top. Those are the Simonsberg Mountains in the distance--Stellenbosch is just on the other side.