Greetings all,
Before we even left for Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, my husband declared he was going to feed the lions. When we arrived at the zoo, we immediately booked him for the afternoon lion feeding, then toured the zoo on bikes. We saw the lions in their enclosure first, they were very affectionate to say the least!! I actually felt like voyeur watching them, worse, photographing them.
Feeding the lions (or tigers in the morning) is for the over 15s & costs $59, i was encouraged to have lunch in the cafe with the children while my husband went behind the scenes. Handsome soldier returned, almost speechless & in awe of these incredible animals.
Just for scale, my husband is over 6' tall & the lion is standing about 5' back from the fence!!
They have INCREDIBLE reach & the keepers assure you, they are still very much wild animals, if you went in to their enclosure, they would still try to kill you. I didn't doubt that as we got up very close to them on the Zoofari tour (part of the overnight lodge stay.)
Look at her pretty face, so calm & gentle.
Handsome soldier was the only person in the afternoon feeding group so he let a novice keeper have a turn too. While my husband was watching her feed the lion, the lioness put her paw up next to his face. Look at those claws & the fluff sticking through the fence!!
This is my favourite shot, look at that magnificent face!!
This was the absolute highlight of the whole zoo for my husband, an adrenalin rush & . . . complimentary face full of lion breath!! He would do this again in a heartbeat. Actually i would have him do both lions & tigers next time & go along to take the photos (the keeper taking the shots didn't zoom in, i would have taken 100 shots!!) Value for money?? To see the look oh my husband's face afterwards, priceless!!
Gather round the children folks & show them these amazing animals. Stay tuned for the next instalment - the Zoofari lodge overnight stay & a family zoo pass giveaway!! Love Posie
