We started our African adventure staying with an exceptionally generous friend in Johannesburg who opened his home to us, and made our arrival very easy and comfortable. Today we pushed through the jetlag, first to go shopping for a BBQ or Braai tonight filling the boot of the car with supplies for the BBQ (remember this point, its important!) and then onto the Lion Park in Johannesburg. It’s an open zoo, like a small version of Dubbo Zoo in NSW. True to its name, the main animals are the Lions, with 4 ‘camps’ or paddocks which the lions live in, and a cub area, where you can, yes you guessed it, pat a lion cub.

They have a strangely rough fur, and their paws are enormous.

We drove about the ‘camps’ in our car, where Lill and Jock had a particularly close encounter with one of the residents. Wonder if it had anything to do with the contents of the boot?

We also fed the resident giraffe, making Lill one very happy, if slightly icked-out girl. Having an 18” blue tongue wrap around your hand can challenge even the most profound giraffe love.

And Cec found some meerkats, so she was happy.

While it was an amazing experience, I was still left with the sensation of watching caged, wild animals, and look forward to our trip to Pilanesburg Nature Reserve.