Arrie's Blog

26th February - I'VE rescued lion cubs and hand-raised them in my house. I've even taken a lead-free lion for walks with me.

But I've never had an opportunity to be present at their birth – until now …
 
For thanks to a revolutionary spy cam installed in our on-site maternity ward, I'll be there to see Precious the lioness give birth to her first set of cubs.
 
Precious is 27-months-old and one of the big cats we inherited here at the Centre. She lives on one of our lion islands with Lucky, the tawny male, who is father to her unborn cubs, and our resident white lion pride. And I'm thrilled to say Precious is due to give birth any day now.
 
What's even more exciting for me is that I will be there to support Precious throughout the big event. Nobody ever gets to see a lioness give birth because no-one yet has had the courage to crawl up to a lioness with her young!
 
But thanks to a company called Riso Africa we now have a camera fitted in the roof of our maternity ward which means we can learn more about the birthing process of these big cats and exactly how a lioness raises her cubs in those critical first few weeks.
 
It also gives us the opportunity to ensure that nothing goes wrong during the birth. Unfortunately there can be complications and it's not uncommon for lionesses to abandon their first set of cubs and simply walk away.
 
What we want to see is Precious deliver the cubs safely and raise them as her own on the island without any human intervention. That way these cubs will potentially be released into the wild.
But if there are difficulties it means we can intervene and potentially save their lives. And if she does walk away and abandon them, we will of course take them into hand raise them.
 
Riso Africa donated the camera after they came to visit us at Legend Wildlife & Cultural Centre. They were so impressed with the conservation work we are carrying out that they asked if they could get involved.
I've already moved Precious into the birthing hut so now it's a matter of waiting. It's designed to mimic the birthing process in the wild as normally the lioness will leave the pride in the wild and travel kilometers away to give birth to her cubs. She only returns six to eight weeks later to introduce them to the rest of the pride.
If Precious had the cubs on the island they would be killed by the other males. This way we are giving them every fighting chance to survive.

4th February 2010 - We’ve had a roaring good week here at the Wildlife and Cultural Centre as myself and the other – more fearsome – residents welcomed two new predators into our midst.

Not that the two cuddly balls of white fur who arrived on Wednesday look anything like the deadly big cats they will eventually grow into. These adorable white lion cubs who have taken up residence in Little Mapimpan's old enclosure, not far from the Tea Garden, are already looking quite at home.

All eyes – cats' and human - were on the crate as I arrived back at the centre at 9.30am, having travelled through the night to pick up and bring home our new additions.
 
The cubs are both about 10-weeks-old and a male and a female, although they're not brother and sister. The male was hand-reared and as you'll see from our pictures, he's quite photogenic!
The female is much more feisty, although that's probably because she was partly hand-reared when her mother abandoned her. 

These first few weeks are going to be particularly important as they get used to their new surroundings as well as their handlers. At the moment I'm trying to let them settle in so I'm not allowing them too many visitors at this stage.

 
For myself, I want to have a strong relationship with them so I'll be spending four to five hours a day with them to allow them to get to know me. During that time I go into their cage and I literally wait for them to come to me. That way they don't think I'm a threat.
 
It's the same principle as horse whispering; you wait until the animal is comfortable enough to come to you, not the other way round.
 
Already the male is quite happy to come to me and allow me to stroke him.
The female's still quite skittish, but then she's had little human contact. Saying that, as soon as I sit down on the ground she is quickly more confident because there's less of a height difference between us. I know though that within a couple of weeks she won't be recognisable from the spirited young lady she is now and she'll be much more comfortable around me. I'm secretly hoping that I will be able to take them out for “walks” with me, just like I used to do with Mapimpan before he moved on.
 
The cubs will stay in the enclosure for the next couple of months – and I'm sure we're going to have lots of fun watching them grow - but my plan for them, as with all of our lions, is to eventually return them to the wild. First up we'll introduce the white lion gene into the Big 5 Entabeni Safari Conservancy here, then into the wild.
 
15th January 2010 - Now I've no interest whatsoever in hearing about botox and breast implants but when they told me Legend Wildlife and Cultural Centre was going to receive a face lift I was all ears. No longer will we be all fingers and thumbs as we tackle the electrified gate when we welcome guests into our corner of the resort. Our brand new, eye-catching signage, thatched entrance and remote controlled gate – complete with our own security guard to greet our visitors – is quite the business. We've also got our new prices in place: R40 for adults; R20 for children under 12 and little ones under six years old go free. When you see what our ever expanding centre has got to offer I'm sure you'll agree it's a bargain.

You'll be pleased to hear that the relationship between little Mapimpan and Jessie continues to go from strength to strength as these new house mates get to know each other and become more affectionate with each other. It's been quite a steep learning curve for Mapimpan as he gradually gets to grips with the fact that he's a lion and not a human; remember, until very recently he'd had no contact whatsoever with any other felines. But there's no aggression now between them and Mapimpan is no longer scared of her. Jessie is definitely giving Mapimpan the eye! It will be another 18 months before Mapimpan is sexually mature and ready to breed with Jessie but the signs at this stage are promising and their relationship is definitely blossoming.

December, November, October - It’s been three months of hard toil – but my dream of being able to view and photograph rare animals unhindered by fences has finally been realized. Two of the Predator Centre islands have been completed. 

So, the legendary white lions, and their tawny compatriots have a new home – a five hectare island surrounded by a six-metre deep dry moat and electrified horizontal fencing – basically an enclosure without fences.  
 
Moving the two cheetah to their new home presented some challenges – but I am delighted with their progress and they have responded well to their new environment. We will be monitoring them over the next two or three years to see how they adapt and will ultimately release them into the Entabeni Safari Conservancy.
 
Now, for a heart-warming update on Mapimpan. He has been placed in an enclosure with Jessie, a white lioness, 10 months older than himself. Let me tell you, his first physical interaction with another lion, in the form of a very robust welcome, was a rude awakening, but the two now appear to be getting on famously. With Mapimpan growing every day, the dynamics are sure to take on a different dimension in the coming months!
 
I’m pleased that my dream to have the first self-sustaining white lion breeding den in natural surroundings is taking shape – but I have even bigger plans. I want to start to introduce small cats in the form of Karakul, Serval, African Wild Cat and, if possible, the Black-Footed Cat as well as three more centres in the form of a Reptile, Raptor and Antelope Centre.

July, June - We have sold seven buffalo, but not easy getting them out. Have you ever tried to catch a buffalo? Few people have but it's not the easiest thing in the world and I needed a good sit down and relax with my pipe after that! I even had time for a round of golf or two this month but the swing's not what it used to be. Must get up to play the Extreme 19th as so many people are raving about it everytime I go to the clubhouse.

It won't be long now before our first island is ready to take the lions. That will be a big day for everyone here and we can't wait to see them roaming outside their cage.

Two male cheetah have arrived and are being housed in our wild boma before they are transferred to an island. So there's a great deal to prepare and make sure the animals are safe and secure when they are released.

May - Work continues to on our new entrance and I can't wait to have that finished and ready for the guests who are already desperate to see out white lions, not-so-little Mapimpan and our other rare and endangered species. Still waiting for the permits for the WIld Dogs - one of Africa's most misunderstood creatures. But such a beautiful and wild animal - they are aptly named.

And I think we may have just sold a few of our 50 buffalo to help another resevre and also to help us save some more endangered animals.

 

Little Mapimpan White Lion CubWe've lots to celebrate at the centre this month (April).

Little Mapimpan – which means “little baby” in the old African tongue Shangaan - had a roaring good day as he celebrated his first birthday.

Our innovate lion islands are also almost complete and ready for our big cats to move on to.

He was left for dead at three-days-old after a violent attack by a wild male lion. Fortunately he was spotted lying on the side of a track on our 22,000 hectare Big 5 Entabeni Safari Conservancy by a green keeper after the male attacked his mother and her four young cubs to protect his bloodline.

Mapimpan was very sick when he was brought to me. He was full of wounds. I didn't think he would pull through. I remember the vet saying it would be a miracle if we could get him to take 200ml of milk in the first 24 hours, which is what he needed. 

But he's a survivor. He really wanted to live. He grabbed that bottle and drank 350ml straight down.

At first he lived in my home. His playmate was Lulu, my dachshund dog.

He had a box next to my bed to sleep in. When he thought I was asleep he would climb on to the bed and curl up next to me!

Today he lives alongside our five teenage lions, three of which are orphaned white lions, although I still take him out for walks in the veld. 

I've raised six lions but Mapimpan is special. He literally grew up in my home and, although my aim is to see him living back in the wild, with his own pride, there will always be a bond between us. We will never forget each other.

We're getting ready to move the rest of our young lions from the teenage enclosure to our new lion islands. 

The islands are deep, dry moats dug around an expansive piece of land with a specially designed electric fence constructed on their borders.  

The islands will reduce the lions' sense of captivity and allow to roam without the treat of territorial retribution from the the reserve's current wild pride. 

Mapimpan will move into the teenage enclosures with one of the white lion females. It's my goal to introduce the white lion gene into our Conservancy with Mapimpan's help. We will mate with one of the females to establish a white lion pride.