Linton Visit - 23rd July 2012

Well here is what I was hoping to be a particularly exciting post, but unfortunately there was a bit of an error!


I went to Linton on Monday afternoon to take part in the rest of my 18th birthday present, which was a big cat keeper for the day. However my original date during May half term had to be cancelled due to Safina being in season, as it was not a good time to get this close to lions behaving in such a manner!


So I did go along to the zoo and I did clean the lions out, as well as hand feeding Zuri and Safi and also Lisa the Leopard and Katinka the Tiger. However I forgot to put my memory card in my camera, so all the photos taken of me with the cats on a proper camera are still in the zoo office yet to be sorted out for me!


But my dad did have his phone handy, so below are a few photos of me with the lions, but beware the quality is not good!

Being so close to Zuri, you really can understand just how huge he is compared to myself (and I am not the smallest of people, just off six feet tall) This is something that the photos taken by the zoo will show a lot better than these taken from a distance.

What a fantastic afternoon, and my apologies for the delay of uploading these photos.

All the best,

James

Safina - October 2011

Hello everyone, I am back for this week! I have been going through my camera, and I found this set of photos from Safina taken in October last year. I have also got planned a busy zoo week this week with visits to Linton tomorrow (with surprise pictures, so you will have to wait and see!) Chessington on Tuesday and then Hamerton on Thursday. So sadly the two latter collections do not house African Lions, so pictures will not be posted on this blog, but at least you can gauge at how much of a busy 'week of rest' that I have!


So as I have said, here is Safi posed very nicely on her hill for photos, I hope you enjoy.

As always more up to date photos will be posted of Safina, and Zuri very shortly, and even more so as I start my work experience again. I hope you enjoy this small set of photos, she really does look fantastic doesn't she.

Message from James

Hi everyone!

Just to keep everyone informed, having finished my first two weeks of work experience, I now have a gap, so over the next month or so the majority of what I post on here will be news items about moves and births, as during this gap I have two holidays to go on, with no internet access or zoo visiting!


So basically as soon as I can get to a computer I will be posting about the different news items that I get, and if I ever have a free day I will go to a zoo, and hopefully take some photos to put on here.


However as far as I know, and going by the time of year, I would say that the chance of many more lion litters are not high, as most females would have given birth by now, and if they had then they were have been advertised in time for the Summer season, especially the case with Safari Parks. But I will still keep looking out for anything that I can find, and as always keep you all posted with what is going on in the African Lion community.


Have a good Summer everyone and as soon as I start my work experience again in August, regular photos of Zuri, Safi, Rizi and Karla will continue to be posted for you all to enjoy. Below is a photo of me with two of the lemurs that I will work with at the moment, Mags and Tia. They may not be lions, but I have start with the smaller things!


Cheers


James

Zuri & Safi - 11th July 2012

Well having finished my first two weeks of work experience, I thought it was time to have another visit just to see the lions! So here are my photos from my rather short visit yesterday. I didn't take any photos of Riziki and Karla i'm afraid as they spent most of their time sleeping at the back, so here are my photos of Zuri & Safi once they had gone down to have a very sleepy sunny (ish) day!

Zuri never fails to wow me every time he see him, he really does look superb, definately a proper lion now! 

Zuri and Safi ended the morning asleep together, with Zuri rather comically with one leg over her, no one is getting to his girl that's for sure!

Happy Birthday Zuri! - 3rd July 2012

Still undergoing my work experience placement I have been able to see lions every day, and this week is a very special week as not only did Zuri turn six today, but Riziki turns nine on Thursday (5th)


So here are my photos that I took during my lunch break today of Zuri and Safi, I hope you enjoy.

Not many photos taken of the birthday boy i'm afraid but that's just how it works out! What I can confirm is that he did try to mate with Safi a couple of times, and she was having none of it, so I guess time will tell if there is anything to come of this.

So if anyone is interested to see anymore photos of Zuri when he was a cub feel free to visit the Linton Zoo Facebook page, which will give you more information.

There is also a video of Zuri receiving a birthday present from the keepers, enjoy!