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Published: June 28th 2017
Lion Encounter
Today i was up early, for my Lion Encounter. Geo: -17.9351, 25.8375
Today my tour came to an end.
I had a flight out to Joburg/Durban at 1.25pm, and so had just a couple hours to squeeze in some activities. Time permitting, and given the circumstances, i elected to do the Walk with the Lions, and then Helicopter Ride above Victoria Falls.
I was struggling a bit from little to no sleep, and the big farewell cruise the night before. However, soon as the activites got under way, that was forgotten.
The Lion encounter was an experience to behold indeed.
With a small group, i was allowed to pet, and walk with two 9month old lions. They are in the process of being trained to be released into the wild, as part of the Lion Conservation process.
It was amazing, petting them, touching their paws, and having them up close and personal. Whilst at times temporamental, the lions were generally well behaved. It was an effort to get them into walking gear however. Lions sleep 22 hours a day, and would rather lie down than exercise.
The experience was concluded with dinner, and a video of our walk. Inspiring indeed.
From here, I quickly got on another bus for my second activity - a chopper ride over Victoria
Falls. This was amazingggggggg.. going for about 15 minutes, but giving us an extensive view of the falls from the air.. and just how huge/wide it actually is. You could also see the snaking Zambezi river, from above the falls, to below, and through the gorges in the area. I got some fantastic views from the air and will never forget the experience.
Now it was time to say goodbye to my friends from the tour.
Tragically the day was to have one final twist. Let me preface this by saying my tour guide had been amazing, the best id ever had. Yet, his final act of generousity, taking me to the airport, was to be tainted. I asked to be taken to Victoria falls Airport, but instead, i found myself taken to the Livingstone Airport.. making it difficult to catch my flight from the wrong place!!
After a bit of panic, the airport manager was kind enough to take me under his wing and sort things out. There were transfer fees and costs incurred, which was really difficult (given Zambia ATMs didnt work, and of course their credit card options were unavailbale or out of service). It was eventually sorted, at a
Me touching the Lions Paws
Lions paws are really warm. They are the only spot on a lion that sweats price, and i got a different flight to Joburg.
From there i managed to successfully postpone my connecting flight to Durban, so i could sit in a cafe and watch the Netherlands Vs Brazil.
Holland came from behind to win 2-1, and give me a delerium i didnt know what to do with.. lol.
What an incredible experience this safari was. One il definatley look to replicate and do again in the not too distant future.
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Annette
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You make me want to pack up my gear, go to the airport and fly out. You have some fantastic photo's.