A light lunch and it was time to board a minibus for the tour described in the brochure read as follows: “Feel the adrenaline rush and your sense of excitement grow as you come close to lions. It will be a once in a lifetime experience” and that certainly proved to be the case although the adrenaline bit never really kicked in. It was a pleasant 45-minute drive out of Port Louis through sugar plantations to the Casela Nature Park. Opened in 1979 the park comprises 14 hectares and today is home to 1,500 birds, lions, zebras, giant tortoises, monkeys, tiger, lions, leopards and many other animals. Today the park is a family (The Bristows) run venture and founded on the same principles as the Masvingo Park established by the grandfather of the current owner Graeme back in 1968. The two parks today share animals that are born as part of their captive breeding programmes. Graeme like his father and grandfather uses his expertise to support film making and has worked with the BBC on such wildlife documentaries as the ‘Lions – Spy in the Den’ that used a mobile rock–like mobile camera and Big Cat Diaries.
So after a safety briefing mainly concerned with not wearing anything that might swing – remember cats focus on movement – or sunglasses since reflection again attracts attention and armed with a stout walking stick, not to be used to fend off but the ‘sign of respect’ that is used to train the animals, it was time to enter the double gated compound and meet the lions.
This photo is of a 14th month old male white lion (White lions are not albino but a rare subspecies) and he was to be followed by two six-month old cubs – a male and a female (See a later posting for a photo).
Panthera Leo is the second largest member of the cat family – tiger is the largest – standing 48 inches high at the shoulder and weighing 330 – 500 pounds. In the wild they can live for 12 – 18 years and in captivity for 20 – 30 years. Lions live in large family groups known as prides of 6 to 25 individuals depending on the availability of food. Remember in Etosha I saw a pride of 13 females with a dominant male. Females are the hunters whilst the males protect the pride from other male lions although it is not uncommon for a male who challenges and wins a pride to kill any cubs so that any new offspring will only carry the victor’s genes thus ensuring the ‘survival of the fittest’.
Lions have a gestation period of 105 days and females will look after and even suckle one another’s cubs in the pride. Cubs begin chewing meat at 6 weeks but are dependent on their mother for 18 months or so. A lion’s roar can be heard over 5 miles away and they have territories of 250 – 500 sq. km. They need 5-7kg of food a day but can go without food for 14 days and water for 4 days. Their preferred prey is zebra, wildebeest and buffalo but they will also scavenge if necessary.
No comments:
Post a Comment