Steve Departs

A sad late afternoon ... he is on his way and that will involve a drive of an hour and a half to Johannesburg airport (alone) and then two ten-hour flights. May God have mercy on his soul.

Jim, the volunteer here who has been so friendly and generous with information and experiences, came by for a chat at "happy hour." We had a very nice chat. He is coming to fetch me at 7;30 (after dinner) to make sure I am not down about being alone. He is a real gentleman; I like him very much and Lisa is as warm as the sun.

Lion Walk

We went for a lion walk this morning at 8:00. It involves the guides getting releasing two lions from their pen into the reserve. They go for an hour walk and we go with them. The guides have buckets of chicken with which to direct them and a stick to control any that might become aggressive. After the walk, we walk past rescued animals that have huge pens—tigers, hyenas, cheetahs and caracal. Then we are given a drink and pastries, then we go off to spend time with Emma the cheetah and look at the lions that are between 2 and 6 months. We get to play with about ten of them. I have scratches (souvenirs). Then we spend about half an hour with the cubs. Then lunch. What a life!

 On the walk.

This one is losing its baby teeth and the canines are about to come in.

 Stunning white male. ALl the 100 lions here carry the white lion gene. It is the white lion that established this place as a research institute when their tawny lion gave birth to a white lion. Both parents must carry the gene for there to be a 50% chance of a white cub.

Unreal luck to see this in the pen.

Tigers seized by the government and brought here for protection. They are a mating pair.

Hyenas look like evil.

 A mating pride sire.

Caracal.

Emma, Bwana and Steve.

 Emma.

Cub.

Early Sunday Morning

Weaver bird. I love my new camera and its ability to get up close. 

White lion (above and below). 

Why Ukutula?

Dinner time. It is quite an experience to watch. These cute little dumplings turn into aggressive in a millisecond. They eat as fast as cheetahs run.

Everyone has a story… Jim and Lisa and their two boys are here at Ukutula from New York. They lost their home in Hurricane Sandy and came here six months ago for the first time. They have returned here for two weeks to work and stay. Yesterday a dead horse was delivered. They had to butcher it and each day they prepare the food for all the young lions. I will never tire of being here for my four days.

A lion’s life is not at all what you think if you, like me, developed an impression based on the usual childhood sources. All young males are shunned by the pride (the dominant male, really) and have to survive on their own. Sixty percent of them will die in the first two years. In adulthood they struggle as well. Big cats often lose their kills to jackals and hyenas that take over kills in packs. There’s can be a hard life.

The male of each pride provides security and sperm. The females do most of the hunting and their lives too, therefore, are full of risk. And there are poachers, diseases, droughts, floods, fires and so on to contend with.

And all of this is to explain why Ukutula established a wide net to receive lion cubs seized from captive prides (in private reserves or zoos or…). They raise them here and then release them. Consequently, there are several crèches here. The ones we have seen so far, thanks to Jim and Lisa (because my pre-paid education program starts today) were two: one for cubs up to about a month old and the other for cubs from one to several months old. Personality also affects crèche membership—aggressive lions often stay with older cubs.

The program for which we visitors pay, is built on the contact people get with the lion cubs. Some older lions live in Ukutula’s reserve, others are provided to African national parks and reserves and some are on cages; human contact with lion cubs until they are two years old does not interfere with their capacity to return to the wild.

The Ukutula Lion Project is respected and now research is underway to undertake the same style of project for other big cats.

We are constantly amused.

Touching Heaven

Ukutula: The Lodge

We checked in at 10:30 and have just stayed in our cabin—except to cross to that hut you see in the centre of the picture below, which is where the lion cubs live. There is more to see here that I will see over the next four days. This gives you an idea of the place though. $120/day approx. plus meals. Plus some other things I do not know about. I like not to know and to find out when they occur. But I do believe we go for a walk in the lion zone tomorrow morning.

I am going to miss Steve a lot when he goes tomorrow.

The view from our cabin. 

Our room is on the left. 

Inside.