Grade 0 Visit to the Lion Park

On Thursday 17 February at 8.00 in the morning, 46 very excited little Grade 0’s boarded a bus that would take us to The Lion Park in Krugersdorp.

On arrival, we were taken to the lion cub enclosures. The first enclosure had 3 lionesses of about 3 months old. They were lazy and lounging around at first, but were soon aroused by the boys and paraded around proudly, with their big floppy paws padding the ground.

Just then a vehicle arrived to bring an older lion into a nearby enclosure. The rangers lured the lion into the enclosure with some meat.
Next to the lion's enclosure was a spotted hyena that had become very agitated by his new neighbour and snarled and growled aggressively.

There was another enclosure with a young spotted hyena (which looked so much cuter than the bigger one!) and 2 young striped hyenas.

We went over to view the giraffes, the zebras and the herd of antelope in the open plains.

Next our teachers had an opportunity to go inside an enclosure of lion cubs that were only a few weeks old. They could touch, stroke and pat them.

Our tummies were rumbling and so we went across to a picnic spot and enjoyed our snacks and goodies, all beginning with the sound “c”. We had cupcakes, carrot sticks, cucumber, crisps, cold drinks, crunchies and even chocolate.

We then piled back onto the bus and went on a game drive to view the wild lions and cheetahs. Wow, what an experience.

In the first enclosure, there was a black-maned lion prowling up and down the fence and a pride of white lionessess. The next enclosure had 8 lionesses all lounging in a tree and the only male lion was striding along the fence.

As the bus came closer they got up and began to stalk the bus and then pounced onto and up against the side of the bus, coming face to face with our little passengers! Luckily the windows were closed!

In the last enclosure we came across the cheetah hiding in the long green grass. 2 of them were lying on their backs with their paws up.

...How exciting.

We had an adventurous outing and headed back to school ... quite a lot quieter.

Interesting Facts about Lions and Cheetahs:

* Lions are colour blind.
* Lions are very good jumpers. They can leap as high as 3,7m.
* Lions dislike washing, so their manes can be dirty.
* In the wild, lions live for about 12 – 14 years.
* Cheetahs can run at an incredible 120km/h for short distances.
* The African cheetah is an endangered species and the Asian cheetah is even more threatened.