Zorgfontein Game Farm Lion Walk

After leaving the Garden Route Game Lodge on Thursday, November 13th, we drove on to Mossel Bay.  We checked into the Backpacker's hostel and set out for dinner.  There was a Cuban restaurant a couple blocks from the Backpackers so we went there to eat.  It was surprisingly good.  Dining out is SO CHEAP here!  The bill for 9 of us was just a little over $100 USD - that was appetizers, entrees, drinks and dessert. WHAT???? Yeah, no kidding.

The next morning, Friday, November 14th our group split up to do different activities.  One guy, Ryan, went to do some surfing.  Four people went sky diving: Caroline, Lisa, Teresa and Ben.  The last three of us went to Zorgfontein (me, Tammy and Louise).  I have been sky diving before and I'd love to go again but I figured I could do that anywhere. You can't get this close to lions anywhere else in the world so I decided to do this instead. Poor Karla, from WSP, had to drive us all around all day!

Zorgfontein Game Farm is located about 25 miles northeast of Mossel Bay.  Their "Cat Walk" is an opportunity to accompany white lions on foot in their natural habitat. It is an unparalleled experience! It really gives you insight into the behavior of these cats. It was really interesting to see the lions act just like house cats; climbing and scratching the trees!

We had 5 guides/handlers to accompany us on our walk.  The four handlers watch the lions so they don't attack you (yay) and encourage them to go to the right areas; the one guide gave us information about the animals, took photos and answered questions.  We walked with two young female lions.  One was 3 years old and the other 4 years old.  They both had Afrikaans names that I couldn't repeat if I tried!  They did say the younger one's name meant "naughty" in English and boy was she!  She talked back a lot to the guides/handlers and didn't do her routine exactly right but it was great fun!  The walk was about one hour in duration.  We were unable to actually touch the lions but the handler's did.  They pet them just like house cats.  The guide answered a million of our questions and gave us some interesting facts about the raising of these animals, their care, their diet, etc.

Me and the lions

"Naughty" cat

Tammy, me and Louise

Up the tree

Louise, Me and Tammy - Naughty lion :) 

Lion Print

We found out this morning that tomorrow (Saturday) was going to be a "no sea" day again due to continued inclement weather so we are going to take a trip to Betty's Beach at Stony Point (near Cape Town) to see the African Penquins.  Hopefully I will see sharks soon!










"The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort."


- Chanakya