Lions at Pumba

While in Kenton with R and T (over New Year) we went for a day drive at Pumba Game Reserve. A very fancy place. I would never be able to stay there it is too expensive for my budget but very nice if you can afford it. The day drive is a little pricey but not outrageously so. And it was pretty good. Here are some photos (my camera ran out of memory very early on in the day so the photos in this post are not mine they are T's photos):

This is one of their white lionesses

And this is one of their white lions. We had just woken him up. Apparently lions sleep 18 hours per day!

You can compare the colour of the white lion above with the colour of one of their "normal" lions. Beautiful creatures!
Because these lions grew up in reserves they have no scars on their faces which is unheard of in wild lions. I should say that even though those are in a reserve they hunt for their own food, but they just do not fight among each others.

And here is a young female.  You can still see her "kitten" spots.

Obviously there isn't just lions, but those stood out the most over the day.

It was really fun to watch the  elephants eating thistles. They all used the same technique. They would grab the thistle with their trunk (you think it would hurt!) then while pulling gave the base of the thistle a light kick with one of their front foot which would then release the thistle right at the root. Honestly I cannot think of a better way to get rid of thistles. I am sure I and P in Tasmania would like a couple of elephants like these on their farm.

Behing this rhinoceros you can see one of the "camps" on Pumba property.
I hate to even point out the rhino's amazing horn because rhino poaching (for their horn) is a big problem in South Africa. The all population is outraged against it but it just takes a few greedy people to have a lot of poaching. Amazingly enough when people get caught it turns out that vets are often involved in the poaching!