Without a doubt, I love wildlife,
I love travelling, I love the mixed feeling of curiosity, adventure and rush that visiting a new country for a few days can bring.
My name is Lawrence and this is my story about my favourite place on Google Map.
2018
The first time I interacted with big cats was in the beautiful city of Johannesburg in South Africa in 2018.
Standing so close to full-grown lions and tigers was the most enthralling feeling I’ve felt. It was amazing to see the sheer size and strength of these cats and I fell instantly in love with em’.
I wanted to get as close as possible to these cats, yet be as safe as necessary… It was a beautiful concatenation of excitement, rush and awe, all in a loop and I loved every bit of it.
The only problem was… Lion interaction in Joburg in 2018 was limited to lion cubs, we could only take pictures of full-grown lions, from a few meters, but nothing closer. So cool! I got the best of the situation.
And then we saw other animals like monkeys and birds and finally, I got to groom the magnificent South African Elephants… This was a great day for me.
[video]
So we ended up staying at Sun City for a few nights, wined, dined and eventually flew back to Lagos.
But I wanted more, I wanted to see those big cats again, sadly, like all things, life happens and sometimes we let go of our dreams and desires… But not this time.
2019
The year of magical moments for me…
Once again we were getting set for a vacation and my partner saw an advert from Diamond and Pearls tours to Mauritius,for 7 nights at a relatively affordable rate. It seemed like a good idea, but I was a bit hesitant cos I wasn’t sure of the fun things to do there.
Then I saw Casela World of Adventure!
This was a magical place where humans and big cats can interact on a level similar to the proverbial Tarzan. I saw videos of people walking with huge lions in the wild, without any protective barriers, these lions were not drugged or sleepy but trained to interact with strangers, yet in a reserved enclosure in the wild.
I was hooked!
We quickly paid, got on the flight, arrived Mauritius and checked in to Maritim Crystal Beach resort… A great place with 5-star facilities, unlimited food and drinks, two huge swimming pools, a beachfront and all the usual thrills… But my mind was with the Lions, I couldn’t wait to be soo close to these magnificent beasts, to even pet them out there in their enclosure in the wild.
We had a nice time in the city, it’s quite a small place by landmass, with an economy based on sugarcane exports and tourism, but interestingly Mauritius is the wealthiest country in Africa, with average wealth per person up from $21700 to $25,700.
In Mauritius, we did the underwater walk, we did para-sailing, para-gliding and lots of other fun things.
Eventually, we got to Casela World of adventures and started seeing the animals, working our way up to the lions’ enclosure.
And there we were… staring at the biggest lions I’ve ever seen, I looked into the enclosure and I could count thirteen (13) lions. These included lionesses and some mid-sized cubs and of course some very fierce-looking adult male lions.
I must admit at this point I got a jolt of concern, reality started to sink in…
It became worse when the enclosure guards gave us a document to sign off, that basically stated that we could not sue them if any of us got attacked or killed by the lions… Phew! That was a scary moment.
Some other guests who had gotten this close decided to turn back, the risk wasn’t just worth it. Who in their right senses would walk voluntarily into an enclosure with over a dozen lions? Who? Because anything could go wrong and with over a dozen wild beasts, it could go wrong very quickly.
But I had come this far, I had waited for this moment right from the day I put my hands on the lion cubs in Joburg… To me, there was no turning back, But I had a partner and her family with me, I needed to be rational.
So I looked at my partner Esther and asked her if she wanted to do this? She looked right back at me and said yes baby, let’s do this and that was it!!
Of course, more people turned back and it was just about eleven of us, flanked by the enclosure guards and lion trainers.
So first they laid out the rules:-
- We were each given a long stick, referred to as a staff of authority and we were asked to always hold it firm and in front of us, between us and the lions.
- We were asked to all walk-in together, in one accord like a team.
- Under no circumstance should anyone of us isolate or distance himself /herself from the group while in the lions’ enclosure.
- Under no circumstance should we turn our backs at the lions without the prior-knowledge of the guards.
- Under no circumstance should we pet the lions on their heads or touch their paws, they may interpret this as a challenge or aggression.
- We could spank their backs or butts, lions love to be spanked. we could pat them or caress their backs but avoid grabbing their tails.
So with all these rules fully understood, we stepped in together…
This was the most amazing day of my life, I was speechless.
Casela World of Adventures is my most favourite place on Google Map. it’s a place of true freedom, a place of indescribable expressions and a place I look forward to visiting once again, hopefully after all the scourge of Covid-19 is over.
We also saw the tigers and other exquisite animals, I absolutely, thoroughly loved every bit of my adventure, and I thank the Casela park management for taking great care of these wonderful animals, though in captivity, they made the enclosure feel as real as the wild.
Cheers and thanks for reading this.