Today is the last day of this leg of the trip - one more leg to go after this. We finish off this leg with a bang. We were up early to once again go and see the lion cubs being fed - once again great fun. We had the chance to feed them with the bottles and to play with them.
But then comes the highlight - we are going to go for a walk with some of the young lions (about 6 -12 months old). We head off at 7:10 AM and walk over to their enclosure. They open the door and the three young lions come out. We then walk up the trail with the three lions. They would some times walk with us and at other times they would run off into the bush.
We would then wander into the bush and go and pet them or play with them. Sometimes we would pretend to act like prey (crouch down and expose our backs) and watch them stalk us. Sometimes when you were crouched down playing with one lion, the others would come and "attack" you from behind.
Their claws were sharp and so were their teeth. While they were not really trying to hurt us, they could do some damage without really trying. We wandered down towards the river. On the way, one of the lions attacked Lars' heal (but he was able to escape).
Down near the water, a couple of the lions joined Jacqui up on a rock for a nice picture - but they are like children and would not sit still.
We then continued on our way. After walking with them for a while, they seemed to be getting a bit hot and wanted to hang out more in the shade. Jacqui decided to get them a bit excited and played prey with one of them - and he really got excited and had a good go at Jacqui (and she had the "wounds" to prove it).
They lions then disappeared off into a shady area and we could not coax them out. Finally they had to send for some meat to attract them out and get them back to the cage. We head back to the campsite to have some breakfast and to get ready for our drive into Harare.
After backing up our bags and the campsite, we head into Harare shortly after 11 AM. It is about a 2½ hour drive. After arriving, we unload our bags and check into the hotel. We checked out a few, but this seemed to be the best deal. After dropping off our stuff, we went out to get some lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and working on journals.
After a short group meeting (to settle bar bills and kitty), we headed out to dinner. We decided to go to a Portuguese restaurant. Jacqui, Paolo and Lars left a bit later then the group and were surprised to hear that there had been an attempted mugging of the main group. Someone had jumped out of a car and grabbed one of the bags, but he was not able to get away with it. Others jumped all over him and he got a punch in the nose for his troubles.
The food was great and we wandered back, a bit more nervous then when we had come, to the hotel. The streets were not very pleasant at night (the most scared we have been so far in an African city).