My new friends!!!

Close to were we live in Nairobi you can explore wildlife in the city. In Nairobi ther is a big national park right outside the city. We didn't go on a safari today, but they have a walk around park, as well as a animal orphanage. We decided to go an see all the motherless animals there. And it was so cool. You got to pet wild animals and play with some of them...







Some facts about lions...
Lions are the biggest African carnivores. A lioness weight about 125 kgs, and a male lion up to 250 kg. They eat more meat than any other african animal, between 70 and 100kgs a week. Sometimes they even go for as long as a week without food if prey is scarce. They take what they can get and if their stomacs are empty, a lioness can eat as much as 30kgs all at one go, and a male 50 kgs. Lions are not the best hunters. They are to slow, and when one hunts on his own, he is likesly to be successful in only one of five attempts to make a kill. When lions hunt together their success rate more than doubles. A single lion will rarely tackle a buffalo or a rhino, but together lions can take any animal other than an adult elephant. Lions either stalk or ambush their prey. Slinking down on their bellies to the ground to avoid being seen if the prey twins its head, or becomes suspicious. A lion needs to get within 20 meters before pouncing. It seizes the rump or tail of a big animal. Knocking it off balance so that it will fall, then bites the muzzle or throat to suffocate it. A lion cuts the skin of the prey with its teeth and then bites of the meat.

Wow, how cool isn't it to have played with a real lion after reading this!!!




It kind of look like Simba from Lion King... A small lion. Hakuna Matata!




Suddenly when we were walking around inside the park we saw something weird. In the midlle of one of the roads was Robert Buffalo walking. He had knocked open the fence and escaped. We were looking at it, and couldn't really belive that it was walking around by it self and nobody had noticed... So we went a little closer and took some pictures and a movie, and then a little later the guards came running when they heard it had escaped. We only thought it was funny, but it actually could have been a bit dangerous... Well, afterwards we read the story about Robert the buffalo on a sign.
Robert was about 9 months old when he arrived at the Animal Orphanage, 6th Dec 2006. He was extraordinary friendly with people. He came from Meru National Park where a lion had attacked him. Being rescued, he decided it was nicer being with people than trying to survive in the wild. On ariving, he had to go into this enclosure and got very upset when Shaba, Daudi and Blondie(the lions in another enclosure close by) showed a lot of interest of him. Worse still was when the lions roared that night. Soon, however, he realised that our lions wouldn't hurt him, and now he sometimes teases Blondie, his next door neigbour....

So maybe Robert was only going trick or treating for the lions!!! :-)



Well, I just have to tell you about one more animal. There was a cheetah that was a few months old. It was just so cute... We were not allowed to go inside this enclosure, but we could pet it through the fence. It was just like a big kitten. Very cozy and so human friendly. If I had the chance I would have taken it with me home... I really feel in love with this little fellow...


Look at the cute fur... It was very very soft!


But it's nice to know that even if he lives in a cage, there are nice people that care for him....