The adolescent lions I mentioned in the below post (between 1 and 2 years of age) are the lions that accompany you on the lion walk at Ukutula. This is because lions typically reach sexual maturity at 2 years of age and will start to challenge their human handlers. That's when they're no longer suitable for walking with people.
We got up early on Sunday morning to try and beat the heat of the day and enjoy a walk around the park with three young male lions. Their manes are only just starting to grow in, they were a 2 year and 2 month old lion, his brother and a younger lion, just over a year old.
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| See our proximity to the lions? It's a for-real walk with lions! |
Our guides gave us quite an extensive list of rules and ways to behave so as to ensure we had an enjoyable walk and didn't unintentionally turn ourselves into targets. It was almost enough to make me change my mind... but I knew that if Simone didn't turn tail and run then I certainly couldn't!
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| The lions and their handlers led the way |
We made a few stops along the way where the guides threw dead chickens to the lions and allowed us photo opportunities. It was remarkable to walk with such large lions and watch them play with each other. Hopefully the photos captured the experience. Enjoy!
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| Climbing a tree is not a smart way to try outrun a lion |
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| Brotherly affection |
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| My chicken! |
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Show off
The Alex-the-King-of-New-York pose |
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| Action shot of wet paws reaching for chicken |
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| Confucius say: he who jumps highest gets most chicken |
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We all had some nervousness about turning our backs to the lions
even for such a spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity |
Credit for images:
Damon O'Reilly
That was fun. They were beautiful lions!
ReplyDeleteI am so very impressed that Simone walked with these lions. She was a complete pro about it and no one would have known that she is not at ALL an animal lover. Nice job Ms. SK. :)
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