Interview with a Lion Breeder
“If I can ensure the gene pool of lions stays around for twenty or thirty years longer, I would be very happy,” says Oosie Oosthuizen, a man who fell in love with the big cats when he was just a little boy.
In fact, he has his eye on preserving the gene pool of as many endangered predators as he possibly could. These include the African Wild Dog and Cheetahs.
Teenage lions greet visitors.
A lifelong passion began when the young Oosie, now owner of Kohra Farm Lodge in South Africa’s Northwest Province, saw lions in a circus. He immediately knew he wanted to work with lions.
The dream, however, stayed with him. Later he read books by the legendary George Adams. Through these books, Adams became his mentor. Oosie even took the name of his farm, Kohra, from Adams.
Game Parks, Zoos and wild life theme parks from all over the world buy lions from Kohra. “I would love to be able to release them into the wild, but they will simply not survive.
My lions live sedentary lives. They are a little overweight from having enough food, but not enough exercise.
Wild lions have to work for their food…The lions we breed here will hunt, prey is a natural instinct, but they cannot truly compete with wild lions,” he says.
The lions are kept in enclosures of about 200m by 200m each. They grouped according to their age. By keeping the younger ones apart from the older lions, they don’t challenge each other for dominance.
At Kohra, the females have to two litters each year. “That way she has enough recovery time between litters.”
Lions have a 110 day gestation period. After the litter is born, the female is kept apart from the male lion for up to four weeks. “A female will go on heat again within seven to fourteen days after giving birth.”
Although it became fashionable to breed white lions, Oosie wanted to breed the orginal tawny cloloured lions. Finding a breeding male was difficult. He decided to use a Kalahari lion male. Like the Cape lion, which is now extinct, the Kalahari lion has a black mane. Although is not as full that of the Cape lion it is still very distintive.
Newly born cubs are left in the care of their mother for the first five days. Then they are put in a “playpen” during the daytime. In order to keep the female’s condition up, the cubs are a milk formula which Oosie developed himself.
“Once their eyes turn from blue to yellow, we start feeding them solids,” he says. They are put back in the encampment with their mother.
The mother gets chicken carcasses, which she tears into pieces and feeds to the cubs. The cubs are kept on a chicken diet until they are strong enough to rip into bigger animals.
Oosie says he goes through great trouble to socialise the cubs from day one. In that way they get to know him and each other. “If I don’t do that, there are too many fights.”
Each lion has a very distinct personality. They become very lovable and enjoy playing. Unfortunately, they don’t realise how strong they are compared to a human.
Lovable and playful or not, you still need to keep your wits about you. “You have to treat them as equals. The moment you show weakness or fear, you become prey.”
Oosie expanded his breeding operation to include a pair of African wild dogs, a Cheetah and Caracals.
It is estimated that the African wild dog will be extinct in forty years from now. “Unfortunately they have a very bad reputation and few people want to breed them,” says Oosie.
He also raised a male cheetah from the age of two weeks. “He is now eight months old and I have to find him a mate.”
Farmers, who protect their livestock, shoot huge numbers of predators. Ironically, their dead livestock helps Oosie feed his animals. He collects carcasses from all the farmers in the area.
“The farmers phone me when their livestock dies. I fetch the carcasses and bring them here. There are always enough to feed them.”
We are watching the setting African sun from a veranda overlooking the main enclosure. The lions voice their disapproval of passing traffic with roars that reverberates right through one’s body.
It is estimated that the African Wilddog will be extinct in forty years from now.
Looking into the distance, Oosie becomes philosophical. “The problem is that predators compete with us for protein, for food. Unlike animals we don’t need a reason to kill and we are much more inventive,” he says with trace of sadness.
Kohra Farm Lodge has limited guest units. A bush pub provides a peaceful atmosphere from which to watch the lions, while you drink a cold lager and talk to the man himself.
Kohra Farm Lodge is situated between Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp in the Northwest Province of South Africa. They can be reached on: + 27 18 484 – 4671
Close-up with Elephants and Lions
Fi did not expect to come face-to-face with an elephant and a few lions within her first two weeks in South Africa. I had other plans.
After a day during which Fi could make peace with the animals she saw on the night drive, I decided we will do the next drive ourselves – a morning drive this time.
Up early and ready to go we entered at the Phabeni gate, about 10 km from Hazyview. Recent rains meant the bush was overgrown, lush and impenetrable…except maybe if you are an animal hiding from tourists. The first half hour of the drive went with out incident or any wild animals.
Slowly we started seeing some more impala, got a bit closer to some buffalo and even saw a little group of impala, zebra and wildebeest grazing peacefully together.
The highlight was a heap of elephant dung, which was being worked over by some dung beetles. Interesting little creatures which truly delighted Fi. Along with huge millipedes and fireflies the night before, she was in insect heaven. But…the big surprise waited just around the corner.
Following the road and finding nothing at the closest watering hole, we were still discussing the unfortunate job of dung beetles when a flash of grey suddenly caught my attention. I saw a trunk coming out from behind some bushes. The owner ambled into view shortly thereafter.
Fi was about ten meters away from her first wild African Elephant.
She could barely contain her excitement as the young bull calmly stuffed grass in it’s mouth. It grazed without apparently even noticing us. Coming close enough to study and then meandering off into the bush again. Around the corner, we some more of her favourites. A herd of about six giraffe were lazily ripping leaves from the tops of some acacia trees.
We stopped at Skukuza camp for breakfast and were treated to the sight of hundreds of bats hanging from the rafters of the “lapa” (outside entertainment area).
On our way out, another elephant came along to say good bye.
Our wild life adventures did not end there. Family in the North West province have a neighbour who breeds lions.
As Fi was getting ready for another game drive I played it cool, not letting on. She happily allowed me to decide on the route, until we came to the lion farm. Suddenly she realised it is not another game drive, where we had to strain to see a lion through binoculars. The lions were right there. On the other side of an increasingly flimsy looking fence.
Her excitement were palpable as one large male stood up on his hind legs, fore paws resting well above our heads. In the next enclosure young lions, barely out of their cub stage were competing for attention. Jumping, mock fighting and tackling each other with astounding power.
Her pleasure just increased as we went on to see a Cheetah and two wild dogs in some of the other enclosures. The enclosures were totally different from a Zoo where you stare in vain, with0ut seeing anything. These guys were real, behaving like wild animals should.
Our visit to the lion farm was neatly finished off with a cold beer overlooking lions, while a peacock preened itself on a railing next to us.
Monkeys and Rhinos – A visit to Kruger National Park
I chose the Kruger National Park as Fi’s introduction to the wild life and flora of South Africa. A rainy, four hour drive took us from Alberton, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, to the small town of Hazyview, just outside the Kruger National Park. There we booked into the luxurious Kruger Park Lodge, courtesy of family with a timeshare unit.
Mother-and-Child - Monkeying Around
The six bed chalet had view of over a brook and on the other side one can just hear the Crocodile River flowing past. Fi first surprise was a visit from the local troop of vervet monkeys, many of whom were showing of the new additions to their families.
A casual stroll took us to the on site hippo hide, where we were entertained by two young hippos mock fighting and a young crocodile sunbathing – all this and we have not been into the game reserve yet! To top of the local wild life scene we saw a herd of impala peacefully grazing on the golf course.
As it was still raining we decided to explore the local attractions. First on the list was a visit to Pilgrims Rest. The entire former mining town was declared a museum. Visitors can while away the day touring various exhibitions, many of which are free. Various general dealers also sell anything from touristy curios and local hand crafts to home made preserves, jams and sauces.
The town is “littered” with historical artifacts and remnants from the late 1800’s, when Pilgrim Rest was a bustling gold mining town. Even panning for gold was apparently not enough of a gamble for gold miners, hence this old coin operated gambling machine.
Even Miners courted Lady Luck
A welcome historical site, is the old Church Pub. As the name implies, it was church turned pub. The walls are lined with original photographs, such as a photograph of the All Blacks touring side of 1942, and relics from a pub in a mining town. Modern day visitors can still have a pint of the local draught while studying the pub’s history on the walls.
A day of history was followed by a sunset/night game drive in the Kruger Park. Although plenty of rain meant the bush was almost uncommonly dense, Fi was happy to see white rhino, buffalo, kudu and the iconic giraffe . More hippos poked their heads out and a surprising amount of night birds entertained us between sightings.
The best however was to follow. The rest of our week we explored some more panoramic vistas and a self-guided drive through the park…
Revisiting my Roots
I left South Africa in 2005 to visit my brother, Hugo, who was living is New Zealand.
Two months later, I had a job offer and was granted a work visa. Two years later I applied for, and received permanent residence. The rest is pretty much history – I’m still in New Zealand and got married. Yes…married!
Now I’m taking my wife to see the country I was born in. It is a beautiful country, which admittedly had its problems. I hope to show her the beautiful side of Africa. The animals, a little of the African bush and the colorful people.
This also her first opportunity to meet some of my family. That could be interesting!
Our plan is fairly basic and we have very few set traveling plans.
We arrive in Johannesburg from Hong Kong on 17 November and will spend a few days with my parents. As I have not seen my mother in almost four years, there would be a lot of catching up to do.
Our first stop after that will be the Kruger National Park. We will be staying over at a lodge just outside the gates for a week. It will be Fiona’s first experience of the African bush.
Of course, we will do the touristy thing, so game drives are definitely on the menu. We may also indulge in a game of golf and a night game drive. Night game drives are really something to experience. The whole atmosphere of the bush and its denizens change after dark.
Those who can, find a place to sleep. Others just wake up after sleeping all day, crawling out of burrows or climbing down from their perches in high trees. All of them want to do two things – find food and stay alive.
Whether they are sleeping or not, others who are bigger and nastier are also out there. The lions, hyenas and jackals are among those who are searching for food in the middle of the night…
After the Kruger Park, I will show Fi the opposite side. We will travel to Cape Town through the North-West Province to Kimberley and from there to Cape town.
Ahhh…Cape Town. The city of beauty and legend. The city where it all began for white people in South Africa.
From the not-so-humble castle, built by Jan van Riebeeck, the former halfway station developed into one the world’s most desirable cities. Fishing, swimming beaches, cage diving with great white sharks – it’s all there!
Just across the mountains you can explore the local wineries, some of them scarcely younger than the four hundred year old castle. We can have a meal on the waterfront for go for a sunset cruise.
Yes, it is a destination that is worthy of the title fairest cape.
The rest of our journey will depend on how we feel and how much time is left, before heading back to Johannesburg to spend Christmas with the family.
Although…I may convince Fi to ride an ostrich in Oudtshoorn…just maybe…
