Zion Wildlife Gardens tour #2

[vilakins]

I spent last Saturday up in Whangarei, much of it at the Zion Wildlife Gardens. All 18 photos are in my LJ gallery here, but here are 9 of them. I intended to put these up earlier, but I only just got the time.


We had to leave before 7am which was a rush, but when I saw Tessa and Claudia posing on the dehumidifier, I had to take my first cat picture of the day. :-)


I had an hour to kill before my guided tour (just the standard one this time) so I went to the Town Basin. How could I not have a coffee at the Serenity Cafe?


One of the lionesses.


We were honoured by Craig Busch, the Lion Man himself, turning up and treating us to a ball game with Sita, a young Bengal tiger who is in fact not one of the hand-reared ones. That guy is a cat-whisperer.


Craig posed for photos with one of the tourists and Sita jumped up on her hind legs to be in the shot too.


Abu (father of the new cubs) looking up at us; it was intriguing that whenever anyone mentioned Craig's name, the lions and tigers would all look over at us. All the royal whites have pale blue eyes like Abu.


There are three 4-week-old white tiger cubs which weren't part of the tour, but I could hear them squealing in the cub house. I could only see them by shading my eyes up against the glass, and the pictures I took through it weren't very good as the flash washed back. But they were the size of cats and toddling around adorably. They'll be available for encounters in about a month.


Zion is the template for the CGI Aslan in 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' and the tamest lion in the world, they say. Our guide is certain that Craig brushes his mane, it's so soft.


These are the orange cubs, Indra and Kahli, we saw last time, now 11 months old and looking almost adult, though they're still bottle-fed to keep them gentle. They're still very playful though and had fun wrestling each other.

Comments

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwww, thanks for posting these! They're so gorgeous!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'm going back in summer to see them again and play with cubs (I hope). :-)

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Beautiful!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Aren't they! Cats are the most beautiful creatures on the planet.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

They are all beautiful, but tessa and Claudia are simply gorgeous and they know it.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They do! I'm sure they were showing me that they were just as beautiful as the big cats I was going to see.

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the one in the last pic is *smiling*:D! Lovely photos, thanks for posting.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

People say it's anthropomorphism to see expression on animals' faces, but that's rubbish because they do show emotions like ours. It's obvious when they're happy, sad, or anxious.

Those big orange cubs were so ready for a game when they saw us; they rushed up to the fence for attention and to show off. :-)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Wow, those tiny cuts look so much like little Vir, except that he's gray where they're white, and his ears are pointier and much bigger in proportion to his head! Of course, he's also much tinier... :)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

tiny cuts

Um, cubs. Though I imagine they're capable of inflicting some not-so-tiny cuts with those claws. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I thought of Vir when I saw them. They were *much* cuter than the crap photos show; every time they squawked, you could see the bright pink insides of their little mouths. :-)

[kernezelda]

Lions and Tigers and Cats, oh my! They're lovely, and your two just know it, don't they?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They do! They get told often enough, too. It hasn't gone to their heads though; they're very sweet and loving.

Did you see my previous posts about my first visit here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/vilakins/108008.html) and here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/vilakins/109287.html)? I think some of those photos were better and there is much cubness. Mind you, all my photos are on my LJ gallery (http://pics.livejournal.com/vilakins/).

[trixieleitz]

Gorgeous! That's a great shot of your two - what lovely colours they are :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It was so strange: I've never seen them sitting there side-by-side before. It was as if they knew where I was going and wanted to show me how cute they were. :-) Usually by the time I get the camera out, they've moved, but they stayed there as if they were posing for the shot.

Tessa's a rich dark chocolate ('seal') and Claudia's a 'blue' but I consider it a pewter all silvery round the edges. They look smug there but they're the sweetest little things: almost too affectionate. It's hard to type round them. :-P

[trixieleitz]

...all silvery...

She is!

It's hard to type round them

You seem to manage pretty well ;)

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

Lovely photos - it looks as if you had a great time...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I did! It's a great place, and Whangarei deserves a longer visit too.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I have this feeling that if I watch long enough Tessa will close her eyes and Claudia open them.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I did take two, but Claudia's are only slightly open in that one. Otherwise I could do an animation.