A Spring Clean for the Lions!

In February it was time for a regular spring clean of the lion camps. This involves entering the camp to clear away the long grass and remove any bones and faeces in order to give the lions a cleaner environment.

The first camp to be cleaned was Meatball and Gobbolina's camp and at first the aim was to dart the two lions in order to keep the co-ordinators and volunteers safe and not allow the lions to become distressed by the volunteers’ presence in the camp. Unfortunately the darts missed the lions! So the cleaning teams then decided to proceed with utmost caution and go into the camps with the lions. Co-ordinators and volunteers were stationed all around the camp to watch the lions and once the lions were confirmed to be at the bottom of the camp the cleaning teams entered the top of the camp in a convoy of cars. 

In constant radio contact, the teams quietly set about clearing bones and faeces from the lions’ regular eating areas. There were lots of skulls and huge thigh bones littered around!  

At one point Meatball made his way towards the top of the camp and the teams had to quickly sneak back in the cars and sit in silence.

Once the clean-up was complete the teams also cut back the grass around the edges of the lions’ camps in order to stop it interfering with the electric fence. The day was very successful with the lions barely noticing us and getting a nice clean camp by the end of the day!

Next up it's time to clean Clarence, Winnie and Nancy's enclosure.



Clarence is clearly very hungry - he'll take it to go!

Wnnie catching some shade





Gobbolina is clearly feeling a little hormonal