November 11th
Another early start, so we managed without breakfast. We boarded the coach at 8 o’clock for a short drive to Antelope Park, where we had a short talk after being welcomed by an African band. After this we boarded a game vehicle for the very short ride to the lion enclosures where orphan cubs were rehabilitated to be returned to the wild: but although some of these lions who is six years old, they still had 57 of them, and none have been returned yet to the wild. They put chicken carcasses in their enclosures once a week and we witnessed two lions in each racing forward for them. It was all behind wire fencing and gave the air more of a zoo. In reality Antelope Park was more a commercial zoo, than an animal rescue centre. For me this was a disappointing venue, but it no doubt appealed to some of our fellow travellers.
Antelope Park is the base of the African Lion and Environmental Research Trust (ALERT), and they claim lion conservation efforts include being the proud home of the Antelope Park lion rehabilitation program, which works to reintroduce the offspring of captive-bred lions into the wild. As far as we could ascertain they have not released any lions back into the wild in the last 10 years
After the lion feeding, many people chose other options which had to be paid for. We just went for a walk over a scenic bridge and sat in an arbour overlooking the lake. After a a pause here, we continued until we got to a dam and sat there until the Sun became too hot. We then retraced our steps and went to the swimming pool, which was a bit slippery, slimy, but with David‘s help, I got it in and out okay . Then it was time for lunch which was a pleasant buffet.
After this, we went back over to our shady pergola overlooking the lake before going back to the swimming pool for another swim. We caught the second bus back to the train at 4 pm. The train departed an hour later for Bulawayo,
Click on any of the thumbnail photos for a larger version
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