The Lion Park!

So after my few days in London, I took off for Johannesburg.  Sam (a close friend and fellow missionary) was staying with her family there for a week, and I joined them for the weekend.  It was such a blessing to be able to have a few days of rest and good sleep before coming back to the center.  Her family is fantastic and welcomed me with open arms into their home and life.
But, by far the most exciting part was a trip to The Lion Park.  This is a place Sam has been telling me about since we met.  And I was very blessed to be able to spend a day there.  Amazing enough it was feeding day as well.  So we got to see all of the lions get fed, which happens twice a week.  The rangers drive through in a truck and throw meat out the back...then the lions fight over which piece they want or what piece they think they deserve.  Check it out!

All while only this far from the car!!!

Then, we went to go see the rest of the place.  We saw cheetahs and hyenas first!





And we also got to see the adolescent lions...ok, well really they are about 1 year old and almost ready to be released back in with their prides!  But they are still quite cute and cuddly with all the rangers.

Then we did my favorite part...we got to play with lion cubs!!!!  I will share those pictures in my next post because otherwise this will go on forever. 
After that we went on a little game drive.  There was a gorgeous zebra that came trotting up and nicely posed for us!
And then there were the giraffes.  The first one didn't want us to enter the reserve area.  She was nicely guarding the entrance.  Hilarious!  The second was in search of food and stuck it's head in our car and LICKED me!

Honestly, it was a once in a lifetime experience that I am very thankful for!  I'm sure I'll never be that close to these African animals ever again.  So my trip back went from chilly London to humid Johannesburg...from The Lion King to The Lion Park...it really was a great time filled with fun, laughter, and memories!  A wonderful close to a great 6 weeks in the States with all of you!