(I'm paraphrasing the last two).
Despite all this, we actually got to pose with the
lions, with only minimal loss of life and limb. :-) Speaking of life and limb, I
was a little surprised when the guide decided to wrestle
with the lions as they lay in the shade! After he played with the lions for a
while, we headed back to Harnas to catch our game walk.
Morning Walk
While waiting for the walk to start, we had an unfortunate encounter with one of the
baboons, which decided to, uh, wave certain of his parts at us (the ladies got a good
laugh out of that). I also got my picture taken with
the ostrich that had been roaming around: apparently you can attract her
attention by holding your hand in the air and flapping it like an ostrich beak. Or
maybe she thought we were just idiot tourists.
Our guide Corné took us around the inner courtyard of the reserve, where we saw some banded mongoose (similar to the ones I saw at The
Kingdom), and got to pet a couple of friendly meerkats
(suricates) named "Koerie" and "Moerie". They fed the meerkats
while we watched, and one of the baboons from the adjoining cage kept trying to steal
their food! The baboon (called "Smitty") was a notorious food thief,
apparently.
It was feeding time all over the reserve: we used a fishing
hook to toss chunks of meat to a huge crocodile that was separated in its own area
(for good reason, I should think).
Corné talked about the park and how it had developed over the years. They have
major concern now: since they generally have bought animals the local farmers had trapped
(to give them an incentive to not kill them) they had inadvertently created a market for
the animals. They were working on ways to prevent or control this problem.
Also, not all of the animals they get recover: she showed us a custom-built stroller that was used by a cheetah that had
both its back legs crushed. Despite its handicap, it was apparently a very friendly
animal and got along well at the reserve. Unfortunately it died a few years later
from bone cancer.
Babies!
Walking around to some of the other areas, we sat in a courtyard while some baby cheetahs were brought in! They were quite
playful and were jumping all over each other. To prevent them (or us!) from getting
overexcited, we were brought in a few at a time to play with them, and we weren't allowed
to walk around with them: just sit and relax. One girl got a surprise as a cheetah
cub decided to chew on her leg, but fortunately she wasn't hurt!
A little later we also got to pose with and adult
cheetah, who was far more interested in the shade (like the lions!).
Harnas has an aviary, too: we met a vulture there
who's name apparently means "Bad Breath". An appropriate name for a
carrion eater. Just after the aviary, there was a little shaded area where we had
water and scones. After that, a few at a time they took us over to see a couple more lions relaxing in the shade! Good idea,
too: it had got *very* hot that day!
A few more treats awaited us at the end of the walk. First they brought out some baby lion cubs. They were very clumsy and awkward:
they had huge feet. They so cute! We actually got to
hold them. After that, Corné brought out a couple of baby leopards only a few weeks old! The back of
their necks were pink where they had chewed on each other.
One final treat: in a little box in the corner, there was a family of jackal cubs that had lost their mother: they stick
together in the box and only come out at night: you could see a little nose poke out every
once in a while!
Winding our Way to Windhoek
After the game walk it was time to drive to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. We
stopped for snacks at one point, where I saw a woman in a traditional
Herero dress.
We got to Windhoek that evening: it's situated in a very mountainous region of Namibia:
I remember wondering at the time where the airport was going to be, because it would be a
bumpy ride out of here at the end of my tour! (We passed the airport about a
half-hour outside of town, as it turned out). Our campsite for the night had that
ultimate luxury: grass! After several days of camping on dirt, it would be a welcome
change.
There was a small bar on the campsite grounds, so we all went there to relax after
dinner. Tomorrow we would drive up to Etosha: I couldn't wait!
