I’ve always wanted to go on a safari. Visiting Animal Kingdom in Disney just doesn’t cut it, and our time schedule didn’t permit extending this trip for a true safari. So I was thrilled that we had the opportunity to interact with lions and go quad biking at La Casela.

The lions were beautiful. We were permitted in groups of ten to enter their pen and crouch behind them to firmly pet them. We held walking sticks between us and the lion in case the lion rolled over he would come in contact with the stick versus human. After petting them, the guides demonstrated how gentle the trained lions were by playing with them, having them climb and eat in front of us.

Then we hopped on quad bikes for a 60 minute excursion through the mountains and had ostriches running alongside our vehicles, drove right up next to zebras and saw much much more. It rained while we were at lunch and while we were on the quad bikes which meant we were wet and covered with mud by the time the afternoon ended.

Tonight we ended with a reception and then “celebration dinner” which meant a huge feast of local foods and music/dancing on the beach. Paul likened it to a six weddings on steroids due to the sheer size – at least 8 large tents with 16 tables of 12 under them, plus smaller tents with food stations and drink stations, plus the live bands (African and contemporary) and lighting/staging.

The weather has been ok…comfortable, not too hot, but overcast and sometimes rainy which has meant no time to just sit and sun by the beach.

It also gets dark here – pitch black – around 5:30/6pm which is very disorienting. Looking forward to tomorrow where we’ll have a day to ourselves to sightsee. Getting an early start to take advantage of the sunlight!