Lion & Safari Park is a conservation enclosure for lions, cheetahs, hyena, wild dogs and various antelope. It is located in the Cradle of Humankind in the

North West province North West is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Mahikeng. The province is located to the west of the major population centre of Gauteng and south of Botswana. History North West was incorporated after the end of Apartheid in 1994, an ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

The park

The Lion & Safari Park was originally a

wildlife conservation Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to maintain healthy wildlife species or populations and to restore, protect or enhance natural ecosystems. Major threats to wildlife include habita ...

enclosure for lions located in the

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

. In 2016, the park relocated to new premises of 600

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

(ca. 1,500 acre) in the Cradle of Humankind in the

. The park is situated north of

Lanseria Airport Lanseria International Airport is a privately owned international airport that is situated north of Randburg and Sandton to the northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa. The airport can handle aircraft up to the size of a Boeing 757-300 and ...

within driving distance of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

and

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

. It has a large variety of

predators Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

and large herbivores

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. The Lion & Safari Park is home to over 80 lions including the rare

white lion The white lion is a rare color mutation of the lion, specifically the Southern African lion. White lions in the area of Timbavati are thought to have been indigenous to the Timbavati region of South Africa for centuries, although the earliest ...

s and many other carnivores such as

South African cheetah The Southeast African cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus jubatus'') is the nominate cheetah subspecies native to East and Southern Africa. The Southern African cheetah lives mainly in the lowland areas and deserts of the Kalahari, the savannahs of Okav ...

Cape wild dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' L ...

, brown hyena and spotted hyena, black-backed jackal, and a wide variety of antelope which roam freely in the antelope area. The antelope area, containing giraffe,

warthog ''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly co ...

, blesbok,

wildebeest Wildebeest ( , , ), also called gnu ( or ), are antelopes of the genus ''Connochaetes'' and native to Eastern and Southern Africa. They belong to the family Bovidae, which includes true antelopes, cattle, goats, sheep, and other even-to ...

, impala, gemsbok, and

zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zebr ...

, is a separate area away from the lions and other

carnivores A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other so ...

. In addition to the animal enclosures the new park has a children's play area, restaurants, conference facilities and a retail centre within five small domes. Guests are also able to hand-feed giraffes,

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There ...

es and antelope. Twice a day the park also offers Lion walks and Cheetah walks in which clients, in the company of a park employee, follow the animal for a short walk within the park.

Cub interactions

Cub interactions involve the clients being in a separate enclosure with a lion cub for a short period of time during which photos can be taken and minimal interaction with the animal is possible. In 2015 the Lion & Safari Park banned cub interactions but found that visitor numbers dropped dramatically as people were going to other places that still offered cub interactions. In 2016 cub interactions were re-introduced as an additional part of a guided tour at the new premises of the park. The CEO, Rodney Fuhr, said that they had no choice since the "survival of our business will be at stake."

Non-profit organisation A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, Blood Lions, which is opposed to the

exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of labour ** Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery ** Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts and entertainment *Exploi ...

of lions in any form, condemned the park and those who chose to visit it for the cub interactions. The park believes that they are managing the interactions with the cubs in a way that will not have a negative impact on the cubs.

Attack

On June 1, 2015, Katherine Chappell was visiting the original location of the park in the company of a tour operator, Pierre Potgieter of Kalabash tours. Chappell had opened her window and leant out to take photographs, against park rules, when a lion lunged through the window of the vehicle and bit her on the neck. Chappell died in the Lion Park of her wounds before the paramedics arrived. Potgieter fought off the lion and suffered injuries to his arms and an unconfirmed heart attack. Chappell had been visiting South Africa to work on the

conservation of wildlife Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an in ...

, and was raising funds for Wildlife ACT, a conservation charity. Unfortunately, this attack was not an isolated incident. In April 2015, an Australian named Brendan Smith, was attacked by a lion when he opened his car window. Smith survived the attack and later admitted that he was at fault for opening his window. Two days after the Australian incident a local boy rode through the park on his bicycle after having cut a hole in the fence. He was attacked by a cheetah but also survived.

References

External links

Lion and Safari Park website
Safari parks Protected areas of North West (South African province) Zoos in South Africa Nature conservation in South Africa Tourist attractions in North West (South African province) Wildlife rehabilitation and conservation centers {{DEFAULTSORT:Lion and Safari Park