Serving The Lord With Zeal: Here kitty, kitty, kitty. The Lion Park.

One perk of being able to drive on the left side of the South African road, with a manual, is taking visitors to tourist attractions. Such was the occasion on Saturday, October 22, 2011. While living/working at the Lutheran Seminary in Pretoria, South Africa, American Deconess Grace Rao and Pastor Stephen Rosebrock had a free morning and wanted to visit the Lion Park. So, my ministry partner, Ginger and I took them for a fun-filled day of furry friends.

First stop, the lion cub petting enclosure.

mommy

baby

snooze... tourist are so boring

looking for fun or food

What is so interesting on the other side of the fence?

Thirsty

Obviously, I've never been so close to a drinking lion cub

I want to bring one home, they're so cute.

The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan". A meerkat clan often contains about 20 meerkats, but some super-families have 50 or more members. In captivity, meerkats have an average life span of 12–14 years, and about half this in the wild.

The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant. Its specific name refers to its camel-like face and and the patches of color on its fur, which bear a vague resemblance to a leopard's spots. The giraffe is noted for its extremely long neck and legs, as well as its horn-like ossicones. It stands 5–6 m (16–20 ft) tall and has an average weight of 1,600 kg (3,500 lb) for males and 830 kg (1,800 lb) for females.

Deaconess Grace Rao

Pastor Stephen Rosebrock from St. Louis, MO

Giraffes see in color and their senses of hearing and smell are also sharp. The animal can close its muscular nostrils to protect against sandstorms and ants.The giraffe's prehensile tongue is about 50 cm (20 in) long. It is purplish-black in color, perhaps to protect against sunburn, and is useful for grasping foliage as well as for grooming and cleaning the animal's nose. The upper lip of the giraffe is also prehensile and useful when foraging.

It is classified under the family Giraffidae, along with its closest extant relative, the okapi. There are nine subspecies, which are distinguished by their coat patterns.

Ginger feeding her new friend.

Anyone want a kisssssssssssss?

Eating my ministry partners fingers.

The is one seriously long neck.

The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa,

Ostriches normally spend the winter months in pairs or alone. Only 16 percent of Ostrich sightings were of more than two birds. During breeding season and sometimes during extreme rainless periods Ostriches live in nomadic groups of five to 50 birds (led by a top hen) that often travel together with other grazing animals, such as zebras or antelopes. Ostriches are diurnal, but may be active on moonlit nights. They are most active early and late in the day.The male ostrich territory is between 2 and 20 km² (0.77 and 7.7 sq mi).

With their acute eyesight and hearing, Ostriches can sense predators such as lions from far away. When being pursued by a predator, they have been known to reach speeds in excess of 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph), and can maintain a steady speed of 50 kilometres per hour (31 mph), which makes the Ostrich the world's fastest two-legged animal. When lying down and hiding from predators, the birds lay their heads and necks flat on the ground, making them appear as a mound of earth from a distance. This even works for the males, as they hold their wings and tail low so that the heat haze of the hot, dry air that often occurs in their habitat aids in making them appear as a nondescript dark lump.

When threatened, Ostriches run away, but they can cause serious injury and death with kicks from their powerful legs. Their legs can only kick forward. Contrary to popular belief, Ostriches do not bury their heads in sand. This myth likely began with Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), who wrote that Ostriches "imagine, when they have thrust their head and neck into a bush, that the whole of their body is concealed.

Zebras are several species of African equids (horse family) united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds. Unlike their closest relatives, horses and asses, zebras have never been truly domesticated.

Oryx is one of four large antelope species of the genus Oryx. Three of the species are native to arid parts of Africa, with a fourth native to the Arabian Peninsula. Their pelage is pale with contrasting dark markings in the face and on the legs, and their long horns are almost straight.

The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg (550 lb) in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. Wild lions currently exist in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia.

Lions live for ten to fourteen years in the wild, while in captivity they can live longer than twenty years. In the wild, males seldom live longer than ten years, as injuries sustained from continual fighting with rival males greatly reduce their longevity.

White lions

The white lion is not a distinct subspecies, but a special morph with a genetic condition,leucism, that causes paler colouration akin to that of the white tiger; the condition is similar tomelanism, which causes black panthers. They are not albinos, having normal pigmentation in the eyes and skin. White Transvaal lion individuals occasionally have been encountered in and around Kruger National Park and the adjacent Timbavati Private Game Reserve in eastern South Africa, but are more commonly found in captivity. The unusual cream colour of their coats is due to a recessive gene.

Kevin Richardson is an animal behaviourist who works with the native big cats of Africa. He currently works in a special facility called the Kingdom of the White Lion in Broederstroom which is 50 miles form Johannesburg. He has 39 white lions on-site and works diligently to protect and preserve the white lion type. While the

Highly distinctive, the male lion is easily recognised by its mane, and its face is one of the most widely recognised animal symbols in human culture.

"I'm sexy and I know it."

snooze time...

Lycaon pictus is a large canid found only in Africa, especially in savannas and lightly wooded areas. It is variously called the African wild dog, African hunting dog, Cape hunting dog,painted dog, painted wolf, painted hunting dog, spotted dog, or ornate wolf.

There are several geographically isolated populations of cheetah, all of which are found in Africa or southwestern Asia.

Such a beautiful animal.

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africaand parts of the Middle East. The cheetah achieves by far the fastest land speed of any living animal—between 112 and 120 km/h (70 and 75 mph) in short bursts covering distances up to 500 m (1,600 ft), and has the ability to accelerate from 0 to over 100 km/h (62 mph) in three seconds.