First job of the day, running the cubs down from the nursery, turned, again, into absolute shambles and hilarity. The three month old cubs must know they're on to a soft touch because they were really playing up today. As if 'exploring' the car park wasn't enough they then went for the visitor centre and then the rest of the park. Until that is the most boisterous of them bumped into a tiger. Poor wee sould didn't know what to do with himself! But after that they still weren't for co-operating and it took ages to have them in their enclosure. The park staff think it's hilarious they give us such a hard time.

Got off with poo duty because I 'had' to go to the vets with Charne, our duty manager when Earl's not there and park manager, and the lion who needed an op (because the trip back was the only shopping opportunity to pick up memory card for the camera)! Took less time to load her than it had to run the cubs down! Nadien (one of the park employees) was in the back of the bukkie alone with her for the whole journey and as soon as we set off the lion just jumped on her lap like a frightened wee soul, nearly knocking her flat! Vets was wicked - a surgery where the waiting room was literally comprised of a dog, a cat, an otter, a horse and a lion! Fantastic. Anyway our girl had a hernia op whilst we went to the shops and was done by the time we got back. When we got her back to camp she was put in the nursery until she was fully round from the anaesthetic. She was a bit grumpy when she came to but was back with the pride by the end of the day so a bit of a success.

Manned Cubworld gate for a bit then had lunch with Pete and Sarah and worked out where we were going on our final days with Mike (the guy who picked us up from the airpirt and takes us on safari and to Pretoria at the endy).

Didn't get to see much of Purdy today but Gambit tried to break into camp at the end of the day (he's worked out how to move the gate with his mouth!).

Got to go on another game drive in the afternoon so got some fantastic shots. And when Earl heard we were back he took us back out to Sly's pride and let us get up really close with the big lions.

We spent most of the rest of the afternoon with the cubs and got some brilliant photos with them. They are so adorable and the smallest (I call her Tigger, not original I know but suits her) is just a sweatheart. When we run them back up to the nursery of an evening - which is always an easier task than running down in the morning due to the fact there's food waiting in the den for them - she always straggles behind and always looks so tired. We always end up taking pity on her and picking her up so she gets back whilst there's still food to be had - the white baby is a bit of a bully and would gladly eat her food as well as his own.

Quiet evening back at camp because we're all bushed.

Night x

• first
• Day
• south South Africa
• Lions