Lion scratches and other premieres

Today I finally got a lot of photos for you, because I think that my weekend can be much better described in pictures than by words. But before that, just a few introducing words:

Even though the spring weather here in Joburg is already very nice – normally at least 25°C and the sun is always shining – I have to spend most of my time during the week inside working. After work, at about 16:30, Stella and I normally go to the gym and after that it’s already dark. That’s why we definitely wanted to do something in the nature and open air this weekend and quickly found our perfect activity: Lion Park.

Lion Park is a small game reserve in the north of Johannesburg. Certainly it’s not comparable to popular reserves like Kruger national park for example – and of course that’s also on my to-do-list – but it’s a good start if you only want to spend one day and not disburse too much money. And even though the name could suggest that, the park is not only home to lions. There are springboks, antelopes, wildebeests, cheetahs, giraffes, wild dogs, ostriches and of course brown and white lions living in separated areas. And what’s probably the highlight: the lion and cheetah cubs.

So we were joining a guided drive through the different areas. Our guide told us a lot about the animals and we had the chance to get really close to them and in the meantime take lots of pictures. But the best is yet to come: the interaction with the lion cubs. The cubs are between three and six months old and live in a separated enclosure. We could stroke them almost like normal cats and they were completely peaceful and so cute. Only one of them was quite playful and that’s how I got my first lion scratches that I would not want to miss anymore. But now see yourself!

Even though I unreasonably didn’t stick to "business before pleasure", I still have to say some words to our project. Because after our one month period of grace we got some new duties: We have to bring the two five- and six-year-old children that are living at Cotlands to school. It’s not far away so that we can walk and even though we have to start work earlier now it’s a pleasant way to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. Furthermore we normally don’t walk around in our area because it’s not that save, especially after four o’clock, so it’s a nice chance to get to know the area a little better.

So far it was always varied to walk them to school, because we always met many other children that are going to our early learning groups or our homework assistance. At first we were a little bit confused when children, that we only met once or twice before, ran across the street, loudly shouting our names and just hugging us. But they are all really sweet and we enjoy having our personal welcoming committee wherever we go.

Last but not least I kept my promise from the last post: I took some pictures of our area and I hope that they can give you a first impression of Turffontein.