Our first real day at Antelope Park! We started the morning with information sessions on the park, the program and then a drive around the breeding program to meet the lions. I’ve never been this close to a lion before. They are really massive, such big paws and teeth!
After a great lunch, we’re taken on a game drive around the park to meet some of the animals. JB finds the 4 elephants that are used for client rides. These guys are really young (22ish) compared to the 80 year old elephants we were with in Thailand.
We venture further into the park and find the giraffe. These guys are so tall. JB takes us cross country to ensure we get up nice and close. We also spot Zebra, Impala and wilder beast. A massive set of storm clouds can be seen rolling in and we make it back to camp just as it starts to rain.
We wait awhile to see if the rain will clear so we can do our first lion walk as they don’t like the rain. It clears pretty quickly, just like a Brisbane afternoon storm and we head out on our first “Client Walk” where we’re treated like a client. This afternoon we take out the MK’s. They’re still young but boy are they big!
As the temperature is quite cool due to the rain, these guys are really playful and rush off into the bush and they are quite naughty and want to run off and play rather than walk with us. One of them manages to stay still long enough for me to get my picture taken patting her. It’s wasn’t as scary as I thought it’d be but still very surreal walking around the bush with lions!
At the half way point the handlers spot a big python so we all go to check it out and scare it into a big hole. One of the other couples manages to get their picture taken with the lions before we head back.
Tonight we have beef stew, dahl and rice and the most awesome chocolate cake with chocolate sauce. I’m pretty happy that tomorrow we do our Into Lion Walk Training to qualify us for a “real volunteer” and the rest of the day we get to spend with the elephants.