Yet another megaupdate post!
On day two in Zambia we decided to head to Zimbabwe for a lion walk. An organization called ALERT takes baby lions from their mothers when they are 3 weeks old and raises them around humans, taking them on walks and getting them used to their environments. They involve tourists in this process by charging fees, most of which go to supporting the lions, and then allowing the visitors to walk with the lions and PET THEM. Wonder where the appeal comes from!
We took a short drive to the border, paid our $30 visa fee, then got into Zimbabwe, a country none of us expected to visit because of its political and economic strife. After we crossed the border (filled with Zimbabweans heading to Zambia to buy things like rice and cornmeal -- food is in short supply in Zimbabwe because of how weak the economy is), we were picked up by the lion walk people, who took us to the park.
An aside: we saw two videos advertising the lion walk, both of which showed people rubbing the tummies of 20-30 lb TINY BABY LIONS, so naturally we thought this is what we were in for. When we pulled in and saw 300 lb monsters in the park, we thought these were the parents or something. Wrong. These were the 15-month old lions that we were going to walk with, pet, and cuddle (or so I thought). Apparently there are 9-month old lions, too, but they were kept off limits for reasons I'll mention in a bit.
On day two in Zambia we decided to head to Zimbabwe for a lion walk. An organization called ALERT takes baby lions from their mothers when they are 3 weeks old and raises them around humans, taking them on walks and getting them used to their environments. They involve tourists in this process by charging fees, most of which go to supporting the lions, and then allowing the visitors to walk with the lions and PET THEM. Wonder where the appeal comes from!
We took a short drive to the border, paid our $30 visa fee, then got into Zimbabwe, a country none of us expected to visit because of its political and economic strife. After we crossed the border (filled with Zimbabweans heading to Zambia to buy things like rice and cornmeal -- food is in short supply in Zimbabwe because of how weak the economy is), we were picked up by the lion walk people, who took us to the park.
An aside: we saw two videos advertising the lion walk, both of which showed people rubbing the tummies of 20-30 lb TINY BABY LIONS, so naturally we thought this is what we were in for. When we pulled in and saw 300 lb monsters in the park, we thought these were the parents or something. Wrong. These were the 15-month old lions that we were going to walk with, pet, and cuddle (or so I thought). Apparently there are 9-month old lions, too, but they were kept off limits for reasons I'll mention in a bit.
We learned how to avoid getting our faces bitten off in a short presentation, then headed out to walk with the lions which, in spite of being pretty scary, was really awesome. We were just walking with them, then when they stopped to lay down (lions can sleep up to 20 hours a day), we would crouch behind them, pet them, and take pictures with them (we'll post them when we get a better internet connection). It was pretty amazing to be so close to such huge animals!
On the way home, we decided to stop at the Zimbabwe side of Vic falls for a comparison. It was pretty spectacular, and if we hadn't had such amazing access to the water on the Zambia side, the Zim side would've been a clear winner. There was much more water, and there was so much mist that everyone walking by us was soaking wet! We walked up and down, stopped to take some pictures, then headed back over the border and "home" to Zambia.
When we got back, we decided we'd send our laundry out through the hostel's service. Turns out it would've been like $70 USD to get all of our laundry done, vs. $1 for the laundry detergent so that we could do it ourselves at the hostel. It was pretty entertaining to watch (I'm sure) the three of us scrubbing our khakis in huge tubs (though Justin was a pro, having washed all his own laundry in the Peace Corps). We laid it out to dry, then chilled around the hostel before heading to dinner.
All in all, it was another fantastic day in Zambia (slash Zimbabwe) ;)
Rach
2 comments:
YOU ARE LUCKY TO RETURN WITH YOUR LIMBS AND OTHER BODY PARTS! LIONS ARE WILD ANIMALS NOT SUITABLE FOR CAPTIVITY AND FOR PETTING. (I CAN MAKE THIS STATEMENT HAVING SPENT THE LAST 37 YEARS WORKING WITH ANIMALS.) THIS SOUNDS LIKE A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION THAT IS THERE TO TAKE TOURISTS MONEY AND PUT IT TO A CAUSE THAT SHOULD NOT BE.
FROM THEIR WEBSITE, THEY TRY TO JUSTIFY TAKING THE CUBS FROM THE MOTHERS WHEN THEY ARE 3 WEEKS OLD, RAISING THEM AND THEN AT 2 YEARS OF AGE RELEASING THEM INTO THE WILD IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN OR HELP INCREASE THE WILD LION POPULATION.
THERE IS A PROBLEM HERE!
oh, by the way, the founder of this organization, Andrew Connolly, has only one arm; anyone care to guess what happened to the other one? yes, it was cat food!
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