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Published: December 2nd 2009
Hello again,
Sorry about that last message, I had typed the entire thing and when I went to publish the entry, the internet messed up and I assumed the blog entry was lost. I guess this website saved it automatically, so therefore there will be two updates entered today!
The last two days here at Antelope park have been wicked!
We started yesterday morning bright and early with the elephant training! It was pretty cool, but still felt a little weird - like a circus. I think I prefer seeing them out in the wild. But we got to sit on their legs and feed them, and then sit on top of them while they stood up. It was really neat.
After the elephants, we were supposed to have "cub feeding" but it poured rain all day yesterday so we decided to postpone the cub feeding - poor little guys!
Some of us went into town (Gweru) for a few hours to get money out etc.
I went along because a couple of the girls were going to the doctor, and I thought it couldn't hurt to get my foot checked. In the night I got this DISGUSTING bug bite on my foot. It was painful at first, but just kept getting worse throughout the day. My entire foot was swollen and red and the bit itself was really really gross.
Well the doctor wasn't in - but the pharmacist gave me some stuff to put on it that will apparently help get the poison out of my foot!
After town, we did a lion walk which was really cool! We went with 2 14 month old lions. One male and one female. They were really awesome! When the lions would stop to rest, we could kneel behind them and pet them and take pictures with them! It was really awesome.
Finally, yesterday we got to watch a lion feeding. First it was 2 females eating. They feed them cows that have apparently died naturally. This one must have been a couple of days old because the smell was brutal! It was pretty cool to see the lions fight over the meat though. After the females there were 7 males to eat. This time, they cut up the cow into 7 pieces, so that each one gets a piece. It was equally stinky, but really cool as well. The males were very territorial of their meat.
This morning so far we've done a cub feeding, which is very similar to the lion feeding, just with younger lions. The first cubs we watched eat where about 10 months and SO CUTE! and the second two we watched eat were the ones we walked with yesterday - so 14 months.
Tonight we are doing the 'night encounter' where we take a lion that is being trained to hunt so that it can be released into the wild - and we follow him around to watch him make a kill. We go out at night, so it should be pretty neat.
Other than the night encounter I have signed up for one more activity which is called the breeding program - I think we just learn about it basically. And then the day after tomorrow we take off to Bulawayo for 1 or 2 nights.
I'll try to get some pictures up soon as well!
Bye again!
-Denise
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Dad
non-member comment
2 at a time
Hi Denise I was working on a comment, took a break came back, and it was gone. So if you have 2 from me that's why. I was wondering if you had been on the site, as it stated "last updated" on Nov 30th, with comments from Nov 25th accepted and yet no new entry. It was nice to read 2 at a time this morning. Sounds like you are getting a chance to get up close with lions. I can just picture my beautiful Hakunna conversing with the big cats. I just hope you and Matatta spend your time with them AFTER they have eaten not before. So how is that foot of yours? Did the swelling from the bug bite resolve? And how did the "night encounter" go? Did you get to see a kill, or was the lion in training given "smelly cow" instead to eat? Not too much new back here. The new kitchen sink is being hooked up this morning. We had to go 2 days without one, as the glue must set. Ev's hockey game went into overtime last night so that was good, however they lost, so that was not so good. Brodie had a jaunt in the dog park this morning so she is having a good day. We did wake up to a snow covered world yesterday, however it warmed up and the snow is all gone. Don't worry, I'm sure there will be some cold weather for you by the time you get home. Bye for now Love Dad I hope