Yawn and Snarl - World Lion Day

Today is World Lion Day.  It's the first global campaign to celebrate the importance of the lion world wide.  People tend to be very aware of the plight of animals like the rhino, the gorilla and the African penguin due to their vulnerability, but very few know that it won't take much for the lion to be in the same situation.  The king of the jungle is probably the most iconic of the animal species and have over the ages fascinated man, guarded our temples, adorned our flags, decorated our coins and been a symbol of strength. 

Yawn and Snarl is Matt and Kalahari at Kuzuko Lodge

A memorable weekend

Clan Firefly spent a memorable long weekend across the Zuurberg enjoying the best the southern Karoo has to offer and as soon as I get a chance to edit the pictures and write a blog post or two I will share it all with you.  Here's a taste of what we did so long, most of which were new experiences for the KidZ.

 

 Game drives at Kuzuko Lodge...

... looking for big game. 

Learning about the history of Ann's Villa...

 

 ... and taking in the beauty of the flowering aloes.

Enjoying endless views...

... while ending the days off with breathtaking Karoo sunsets

The Lion Matches lion

When I saw this lion at Kuzuko Lodge near Port Elizabeth it immediately reminded me of the lion on the Lion Safety Matches logo. 

 

There is a bit of a resemblance.

White Lions at Pumba

There are about 500 white lions left in the world, most of them in captivity.  Pumba Game Reserve is one of only a few game reserves in South Africa that has free range white lions on its property.  Pumba's white lions is right at the top of what visitors to the reserve wants to see and it was no different when I got to visit for a night.  On the evening game drive we spotted a female with two cubs in the distance, but struck it lucky on the morning game drive with the other female and her juvenile cub.  

Mommy surveying the area from a little hillock

White lion

Don't you want to just cuddle up to this big furry mane and fall asleep with him?  White Lions is quite a rare sight and the only Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape where you can see them in the wild is Pumba Game Reserve (which I hope I'll have the opportunity to visit some time soon).  The second option to see them is the Seaview Game and Lion Park just outside Port Elizabeth where the park has a breeding program for white lions.  This bug guy's name is Thor and on my visit he wasn't really in the mood to get up out of his sunny sleeping spot.  Not that I think he would have been too impressed if I slid in next to him for a snooze. 

Kalahari the Lion

Kalahari was one of the original lions brought to the Addo Elephant National Park from the Northern Cape in 2003 to reintruduce lions into Addo.  At the time Kalahari was one of the two younger males in the group of six that were brought to the park as got his name from the area from where he originated.  A couple of years back he was moved to his present home in the Kuzuko section of the Greater Addo Elephant National Park north of the Zuurberg mountains.  

A truly magnificent beast

Biiiiigggggg Yawn

Out of all the animals in the animal kingdom the king of the jungle, or in this case the Karoo veld, must be the one with the most impressive yawn.  The lion in question is Matt, one of the two male lions at Kuzuko Lodge in the Greater Addo Elephant National Park.

Kuzuko's lions

Our first game drive at Kuzuko Lodge was a "hunt" for lions.  The rest of the guests on our vehicle were all staying for two nights and had seen most of the other animals the evening before, so the ranger indicated that we were going out specifically to look for Kuzuko's two big male lions.  About 30 minutes into our drive the lodge manager radioed in to inform us that he had found them on the reserve's air strip so off we went to find our lions.  I wasn't disappointed at all.  The two gents in question are both stunning specimens of what a big male lion should look like.

Kalahari is one of the original lions that came to the Addo Elephant Nationa Park from the Northern Cape when the park first reintroduced lions and has since been relocated here to the Kuzuko section of the park.  This to me is what a lion should look like; big, proud and magnificent.  He and his companion seem to get into a brawl every now and then if you look at the fairly new mark on his face.

Matt is slightly smaller than Kalahari and was unfortunately injured in a fight between the two some time ago.  Apparently most of Matt's teeth in his bottom jaw was ripped out in the fight, but he seem to have recovered and adapted very well from his injury with the only after effect seemingly being his slack jaw.