CATS!

 Saturday, March 11, 2023

We spent the day with lots of cats...lions, servals and meerkats.  We visited a private game reserve, Colin's Horseback Africa, for an educational tour.  It was an adventure just to get there, but a very special place!

Geoffrey the giraffe was the greeter...

and Dr. Colin McRae explained his 20+ year involvement in lion conservation efforts, as well as African Serval cats.  He is extremely passionate about conservation, and it was interesting to hear about it first hand.

The meerkats ran around with us all day.  We had seen these little creatures at several of the parks, but never up close.  They are a small mongoose, very sociable, and really cute!   They stand up on their back legs, looking for eagles or hawks who are their primary predator.  

We got to hold some of the babies!

We learned about Servals....one of the 42 species of cats.   They are second to the Cheetah in speed, and can leap higher than a cheetah.  We visited the "nursery" where we got to "play" with nine month old baby servals.

These were abandoned by their mother, and nursed along by one of the staff.   They were very playful and very curious.  Note the white "follow me" spots on their ears.  These show up at night, and the mom can keep track of them, and to the predators they look like a set of eyes!

Then we got to visit the older serval cats, about 3 years old, and walk  in their enclosed area.  They were shy, but we did get a chance to interact with them.

Next was a visit with the lion cubs, about 3 months old--they went for a walk with us and then we got to play.

Check out these cool tiles in the bathroom!

And finally, we got to see the BIG cats.  Colin explained that 20 years ago there were 250,000 lions in Africa.  Today there are less than 25,000.  Poaching and disease is taking its toll.   His efforts are to ensure a healthy stock of lions, and to limit the inbreeding.   He distributes the lions to other reserves or parks, in exchange for half of the offspring, to help continue to develop the number of healthy lions. 

The female was in heat, so the male was very aggressive, and protective of "his girl", so we observed them with a fence in between!

They truely are majestic creatures.

The roar of the lion is deep and throaty...make me very sure that I wouldn't want to get crosswise with one.  Better give this guy some coffee (or maybe a cigarette?)

What a great place to visit and learn.  We finished our visit with lunch on site at the Wild Horse Cafe.  

As we left the reserve, we were escorted by horses who were on their way to the watering hole to cool off with a dip in the pond.  It was very hot again today.

On a sad note, I received word that my Aunt Barbara Broussard died on Saturday.   We have lots of good memories from times spent together on trips to Texas.  We last visited with her in 2021.  Thoughts and prayers UJ and all my Texas cousins.