A couple of weeks ago, Danie took Jake and I to the Drakenstein Lion Park.  We've been before, but they have done the place up a bit and added quite a few extra cages for more rescued lions.  After our trip to Kruger, it was quite sad to see these beautiful animals in "cages".  Well, actually, decent sized camps, but I hate seeing them in captivity like this. But, living in the rescue centre, these lions can be grateful that they have been rescued from canned hunting farms and circuses around the world.

Not too long ago, the circus paid a visit to Jake's school and I managed to snap a few photos of the lions in minute cages before being told off by their security guard.  This first cage contains two adult lionesses.  The next trailer had a tiger in it, but I didn't get that far with my camera.  I've actually been meaning to post these pictures for a while, but wasn't sure if I could...

One of the lionesses - what a life this must be for them, it makes me so sad.  Oh, by the way, we didn't go to the circus, much to Jake's disappointment.  Hopefully one day he'll understand...

 Contrarily, the lions in the lion park, have lots of space, sunshine, company of other lions and food.  Some of them are slightly on the plump side, but they all seemed in pretty good condition...

 Did you know that lions sleep an average of 20 hours a day?  I think I have a little lion in me.  And elephant...

 Jake was a bit grumpy.  My boy needs his sleep.  Any changes to his sleep routine and he's a grump...

 This picture explains some of the things we saw in Kruger...

 Happy families...

 Buddies...

 They also had a rooikat, or lynx there.  I've never seen one before, but it was rumoured that there was one living in the mountains near Buitenverwachting when we lived there.  Who knows...

Jake and I also took a drive through to the World of Birds, a sanctuary for birds and monkeys.  Jake loves birds and this is always a fun outing with him.  We haven't been in ages and I was a little surprised by how expensive it was to get in now days, but I guess their running costs must be huge too.  They're also all rescued birds and it's really great to see so many being so well taken care of.  Jake loves the raptors, I love the owls.

A quizzy Macaw...

 A rock pigeon and her baby...

 This guy was enough to put me off my Christmas lunch.  He is ugly in a beautiful way, of course...

 Another Macaw, they're so pretty...

 Hungry Guinea pigs...

 A little monkey trying to get hold of some one's ice-cream through the glass...

 Jake thoroughly enjoyed our visit into the squirrel monkey cage, where you're allowed to hold the little monkeys...

 Making friends...

 Separated at birth...

And that's it.  Well worth a visit to both of these sanctuaries if you're looking for something to do with your offspring on a sunny day!

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Love Sue XXX

PS.  I miss PhotoShop!!!