South Africa: Lion Park
When I first heard about this place they told me it's just a zoo, but I found it to be much more than that. For 100 Rand (around 10$) here you get a ticket for the Drive Thru Park and the Cub World. Drive Thru begins with a trail where you can see various antelopes, friendly giraffe that likes to cuddle...etc. The interesting part are the lion camps, four fenced areas that you can go in with your car and watch lions from just a few meters. Most of them are very young, cubs actually but almost fully grown physically. They are friendly and playful, quite used to the presence of humans, but you must stay in your car with windows closed as these are still dangerous wild animals. Sometimes you can get your side mirror bent or license plate torn off by these naughty misbehaving lion kids, and then you'll have to call the lion tamer to go inside and collect your lost car parts. But anyway, you had a unique chance to see the lions up close.
In Cub World you can enter a special area and play with young lion cubs, accompanied by a zoo keeper. The cubs are only a couple of months old, babies in fact. If you wish to play with them in their own lion-like way, it is advisable to wear some old clothes with long sleeves and long trousers to increase your chance of getting out with less teeth marks on your body. I got quite a number of scratches, but didn't mind at all as the experience of rolling on the grass with two lion cubs together over me was just great. I might as well mention the complete amazement of the zoo officials watching me who must have thought "crazy Europeans".
In the rest of this place you can see many other animals, like cheetahs, hyenas, African wild dogs, meerkats...etc. When you've had enough fun, there is a nice restaurant to relax.
