Family visit to see the lions.

Today, I thought I’d show you a few photos from our time in Johannesburg with our daughter, son and three of the grandchildren, but firstly, I must tell you my tale.

We did the seven hour drive from our home in Durban and it was uneventful, except for a few very tense moments after we’d been going for about an hour. We were on the motorway, travelling at about 100kmph, when Sienna asked for her Barbie blanket which was on the floor in the front of the car with her dad. He passed it over, and it was put on top of her doll which lay between us on the seat. A short while later, Sienna said that she was cold, so I picked up the blanket to cover her, and there in the doll’s long blonde hair, was what looked like a very large cricket. We both sat mesmerised by this thing, hardly daring to breathe.

It was so shiny and very still, that we both thought, at least we hoped, that it was one of those plastic trick insects….until it moved ever so slightly. Oh horrors! I wanted to scream blue murder, but daren’t distract hubby who was driving, so I just said, “Jeff” in a very small voice, and thankfully he heard me and turned around. He too was horrified, but knew he had to be the hero, so he reached to pick up hubby’s jacket which was between the seats. I suddenly had visions of squashed cricket all over the only jacket he had brought with him, and remembered having stuffed a handful of tissues into my bag, on my way out of the house, just in case we needed them. I carefully extracted a few, still without breathing, and passed them over. My son knew that he had to get this operation right the first time, as there would be absolute bedlam in the car if that cricket starting leaping around. Thankfully, he aimed right, as he desperately made a grab for it. Result, one squashed cricket, and two females who could breathe again. Now I’m sure that some of you brave readers would, without a second thought, have simply picked it up and nonchalantly tossed it out of the window. Right?? 😆

Here are a few photos of more pleasant creatures, taken when we visited the Lion Park on the Sunday.

The white lion cubs were too adorable,

and we all had a turn at petting them.

We then went for a drive to see the adult lions, who were just ambling around right next to the cars. We were of course, told to stay in the car with the windows closed.

It was almost feeding time, and when the meat truck arrived, there was a mad stampede to get there first.

The hyenas also got their share, but this one didn’t want to share with this hungry-looking bird. It looks like a type of crow, but maybe bulldogsturf  the bird expert, can please enlighten me as to what it actually is.

The giraffe feeding platform puts you at eye level with these docile creatures. We bought a bag of food pellets, and waited our turn.

I love this close-up taken by my son. “Hellooooo.”

We spotted this cheetah lying, rather well camouflaged, in the shade of a tree.

We also saw ostriches,

and a gorgeous family of meerkats. This photo is especially for Colonialist   who is rather partial to these little creatures. 🙂 This is the lookout, and we waited around for ages hoping he would stand up in that typical meerkat pose. When he eventually did, he was quivering so much that the photo was very blurry. 😦

It really was a great family day, and tomorrow I’ll show you a few more pics of our time together.