Antelope Park

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We moved onto Antelope Park which is high on the plateau and very cold at night and fairly cold during the day! This place was set up in the 70's as a lion breeding program to re-introduce lions back into the wild as their numbers slowly dwindle. Set on 33000 acres complete with a lake and all forms of wildlife it is truely a great spot to camp for a week in the summer. They also raise elephants here along with a number of other projects. The main higlight here for us was to go out on their night time lion stalk. This is where the lions are taken out to hunt naturally and armed with spotlights we got to see the 3 lions in action and successfully catch an impala for dinner. The whole excursion took about 3 hours and this was stage 2 in the re-habilitation process -learning how to successfully hunt a wild animal.

We also viewed their breeding progam, currently 66 lions in captivity, played with 3 month old cubs, and walked out in the open with 13 month old "cubs". As the water was too cold for the elephant's to swim in ( we tried Browno & Penny!), we settled for a 1 1/2 hr elephant ride safari, where we got to go up close to our 1st herd of Zebra seen in Africa. The animals only sense elephants and not humans so we got very close.

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Photos

Lion by night
She's sussing out her prey

Maximus
The old boy of the park

I'm not scared....
I've got a stick

Sleepy cubs
It was morning and two of them were a little grumpy.

Elephant Safari
Elephant kneeling down so we can clamber up

A treat for my elephant
The banana was swallowed whole and quickly

Comments

[Amber]

hey BJ
Great to see all your travel blogs! Looks like you're having an awesome time over there! Bet you won't want to come home! Enjoy :)

[Cuz]

Amamnda's
I wouldn't be too worried about the lion BJ, I would be more concerned about Amanda's stick as it is bigger than yours. I assume she will be bringing it home. LOL

[Noldy]

Hello
You braver than me patting Lions mate. Man you seeing heaps!!!! Good on ya. Enjoy. Noldy

[BJ]

Amanda's stick
Yeah Ive been whipped into shape.... Would rather sleep with the lion haha

[Lani]

Hey you two, loved reading your adventures and amazing pics! hope your having a great time :)

[earle and sharlz]

nice photos
we went here isn't it cool, i loved the cubs best