Lion Park

August 13, 2011

The first three days of school were behind us and in the books as a complete success. Celebrating with a relaxing happy hour at a local driving range (yes, I realize that sounds odd) sponsored by the school was the perfect way to end the workweek. I had a few great conversations with some new people, drank a couple Windhoek (pronounced Vinhook) beers, and as the sun set and the full moon completely illuminated those of us stragglers, I felt charged by the fact that I was here – in South Africa. I admit, the Windhoek coupled with the high altitude may have increased this high I was feeling; however, either way, I felt good.

Pay day #1 is in less than two weeks. With very little money comes very little ability to shop for apartment furnishings, so we decided to explore instead! Sam, Ev, Chelsea, Robyn and I ventured out to the Lion Park for what ended up being an incredible morning! Thanks to Chelsea, we had reservations for a guided Segway Tour through the game park, entrance into the Lion Cub section and the self-guided drive through the lion areas. All of this cost only 300 Rand (about $43) and was worth every penny.

We met Moses, our guide, and stood with our rented bike helmets strapped on like anxious children listening to him give a crash course in riding a Segway. “Who’d like to try first?” he asked and with little hesitation I volunteered. Stupid! The goal was to steer the Segway through a small tire path. Admittedly I felt pretty cocky. I thought I’d do just fine – maybe even perform impressively! I climbed up, my backpack on my back and my helmet buckled under my chin looking like a complete futuristic school girl ready to ride my Segway to school. I cruised through the first few feet, but it was pretty shaky from that moment on. I managed despite the difficulties until the very end. Despite Moses’ warnings to mind the tires, I ran the damn Segway right into one and toppled off! With the exception of some dirt and possibly a little bruise on my ankle, I was fine. However, I did suffer a greater bruise to my ego. J

There were 7 of us in our tour group. A very nice couple from SAfrica joined our small little group (The wife gave me encouraging bits of advice throughout the hour and a half tour whenever she’d see I was struggling to control my machine). Once we had all passed the tire test – no one else fell – Moses led us single file into the game park. Leaving the car park behind us, we crested a small hill and the land began to sprawl out in front of us. Off to our left, about 200 yards, stood two giraffes. It was incredibly surreal. Their giant bodies, although far away, looked stunning. Giraffes have always felt like imaginary creatures to me because the idea of ever seeing one in real life seemed impossible. As I laid my eyes on two of them for the very first time, I was amazed. However, I have to say that knowing these particular animals are in captivity deleted some of the awe – unfortunately.

As we turned to the right, a handful of zebras striped the landscape (haha, get it?). At one point, we were less than 100 yards from them! Moses shared some facts with us about each animal we encountered. With the zebras, he shared with us that the females have a small brownish stripe amidst their black and white uniform. As I listened and tried to gather as much information as I could, I couldn’t help but snap as many photos as possible of these gorgeous animals. I have always loved the question of “which color came first and which color are the stripes,” and standing their seeing them in real life brought new meaning to the question. Moses told us that one defense mechanism for the zebra is to travel in groups and when a lion attacks, they all run together in a large group. This is because apparently, lions are color blind, so the zebras running together creates one giant black blog of color!

As we scooted along on our segways we saw some Hemsbuck, Blemsbuck (not sure on the spelling!), Springbok (SAfrica’s national animal), ostrich, wildebeest, cape buffalo (too far away to see unfortunately), and some impalas. I found myself repeating in my head, “I’m in SAfrica!” as I experienced each new animal. Who else was having this kind of Saturday morning!! We finished our tour with Moses after we waited for three HUGE ostriches to meander across our path. In some ways it was a sad truth to the park – three exotic creatures like ostriches walking past eight crazy humans on engine driven two wheeled machines. It was moments like that when I was sad for the fact that parks like these exist. However, the sadness did not stop my from whipping out my camera.

After entering the Lion Cub part of the park and petting some very friendly little ones, we got back in the car and took the driving tour. KEEP YOUR WINDOWS CLOSED was a major rule for this park of the park. I am happy to report we did not follow that rule! It’s nearly impossible to take a good picture out of a car window! Although I was completely in support of rolling the windows down, I joined the car in giving Evelyn a hard time as she rolled hers down every time we stopped. The fact that the car windows were not automatic added some excitement to our rule breaking!

The lions were beautiful. One nearly full grown male laid in one area of the fenced in grass. With his back to us, it was hard to get a great picture. After willing him to turn around, he finally did and he appeared so majestic. The window went right down! Ahead of this male was a female laying in the shade. It wasn’t long before the male made his way over to her. All of a sudden, Chelsea points toward the couple, “Oh My God – they’re doing it!” It was a hysterical scene as our cameras popped up and began snapping. Maybe it was his large audience, but the poor guy didn’t last too long, and the moment had passed us by – but not before we snapped some quality pictures and even a little video! Some of us never grow up!

All in all, the three hours spent at South Africa’s Lion Park may just have topped my list of favorites so far. As we drove out of the park, I felt fulfilled. Locals tell us that this park pales in comparison to what we’ll see on our camping trip in 2 weeks and in other larger game parks, and I am sure it will. However, you have to start somewhere, and what we were able to see in such a short amount of time and in such a unique way was perfect.