On Safari

There are quite a few places where you can go on safari without leaving the UK. One is what used to be called Port Lympne Wild Animal Park - now Port Lympne Reserve (Lympne is pronounced "Lim").

The park is on hundreds of acres of Kent hillside, and you go round in huge tractors pulling huge trailers. There always seems the possibility that you might all topple down the hill on one of the hairpin bends, though it's never happened.

It's not easy to get good photos on the safari, where there are giraffe (including a new baby), rhinos, all sorts of hoofstock, all roaming free in the countryside. They are often distant, the ride is bumpy, and if you don't lose your lunch, you might lose your camera!

Of course, the animals who need protecting - or who we need to be protected from - are still enclosed.

The snow leopard was being secretive.



Tiger mum was sleeping but her two grown-up daughters were alert.







The tapir was happy to mooch round near the humans having a drink.



Two fossas were happily snuggled up together.



Another in a different enclosure paced about displaying his impressive manhood (though catching that on camera proved rather difficult).



My friend and I needed to send for the minibus to get us back up the hill. The driver was hilarious. His best trick was stopping beside some young people perched on the handrail of the walkway back to the entrance eating their ice creams. He told them they were loitering, and should move on - which they did, despite our hilarity at the joke. He then told them he would be driving slowly up the hill to check on them, so they must not stop again!

Nice to know young people can still respect authority, even when it is having a laugh at their expense...

We were lucky in the day we chose, because three days later some prat with a digger on the back of a lorry managed to demolish a footbridge across the motorway we used to get there.

Luckily only one person was injured, with broken ribs - a motorcyclist who saw it coming and threw himself off his bike. The other carriageway was the busier one. But the whole road was shut for miles for over 24 hours on a busy holiday weekend. I can't think the safari park was very busy on what should have been one of its busiest days of the year. I hope that driver's pleased with himself.

Signs of Life

Such a good-looking boy.
 

At last - Bhanu!

A couple of years ago the female Asiatic lion at London Zoo had to be put to sleep. Her faithful mate was moved to another zoo, as the only females they had to stay with him were his three daughters. So the girls were moved to their sister establishment, Whipsnade Animal Park, while their enclosure was rebuilt as an Indian village.

Since their return, they have spent all their time in this great new place in exactlyt the same place they used to lie with their mother.

A new male, Bhanu, has been introduced to engage their interest. Sadly, they haven't engaged his. He lived till now with his brother, who has settled in well with a single female in another zoo, but Bhanu hasn't really risen to the challenge of of making himself the boss of three feisty girls.

After a tip from a member of staff that he deigns to join the world for a feed at about 2pm, I made my way to the feeding place, where the handsome Bhanu dutifully appeared.

 


Nearby, a Hanuman langur - a species previously unknown to me - relaxed his elegant body in the shade.

Salute of the Jugger

This is the kind of movie the young, tall, muscular Vincent was made to be in.

Gorilla babies

I took my friend to see the tiger cubs the other day. She arrived quite late and I was pretty shattered, so in the end I left her to it. But not before I caught the two baby gorillas on camera. The younger one - the little boy - was having what may have been his first climb, watched over by his half-sister.


Eventually Mjukuu, the mother of the 18-month-old girl, unhooked the 8-month-old boy (not her son, but her daughter's kidnapped half-brother) and took him to safety. Meawhile, her little girl had to look on, which I found moving in a rather sad way.

The Salton Sea

Not a good look. Not my kind of film.
 

The cubs at 1 month

Melati is being a terrific mum to her two new cubs. They spend almost all their time together.

Almost.
























Then a brave little creature wandered off by itself.


Is this true love?



Handsome dad got up for a quick feed.

Sorry for the white sheen over some of the pictures. These are reflections of people's clothes on the glass. Given the understandable crush of people wanting to see and photograph the special babies, finding a suitable gap is very difficult.

Salt on our Skin

Along with Guy and The Velocity of Gary, possibly one of the sexiest films ever made.

Wildlife Heritage Foundation

Thursday was the first of four open days at the Big Cat Sanctuary. When I arrived there were already thousands of cars parked on an immense site of several acres. After parking, I walked towards the entrance, only to hear the mad shouting of my name as my friends arrived independently just nearby.

 It was a very hot day, so the chances of seeing cats was increased. And we were not disappointed. The spotty male jaguar was in total relax mode.



The black female jaguar, Athena, only appeared for food, and was in a very grumpy mood. She is NOT yawning.



I don't think the male snow leopared, Yarko, took kindly to being confused with his mate after their enclosures were swapped.



The clouded leopard put in an appearance.



As he strode by, he displayed his coat patterns beautifully.



Then he decided to pee for us. Or was it she?



Star of the day, though, was the jungle cat, Jack. Looking just like a largish house cat, he posed and paced, apparently hoping for a little snack if he was on his best behaviour.

The Red Sneakers

Rip-off of the classic Moira Shearer film The Red Shoes?

Brand New Baby Tigers

Melati and JaeJae were allowed back together after their previous three cubs grew up and went to new homes. They immediately rekindled their love, and the result is two new cubs, born on 27th June. On the videos from CubCam on the ZSL London Zoo website, JaeJae has obviously been allowed access to his offspring this time round. But Melati was a very cautious mother last time, and no one expected the cubs to make their public debut any time soon.

So when I finally managed to be free to go to the zoo on a day when it wasn't threatening to rain, as they were only 18 days old, I had no expectation of seeing them.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I found it was the second day they have been taken outside by their loving mum. Of course, she made her family at home in a dark corner of the enclosure, where the trunks of small trees and the leaves of bushes made them difficult to see. But we cub junkies just wait around till we get the sightings and the photos we crave. Therefore here we have Melati feeding her two tiny darlings:


One brave little soul is already wandering away from mum in this strange new world, safe among the long grass nearby:

Nunzio's Second Cousin

Amazing how many obscure films we managed to get hold of back in the days of V-Mania!

The Newton Boys

Remember the erect Vincent beside the erect derrick? Ah, yes!

Naked Tango

How sexy can a man be with so many clothes on?

Mystic Pizza

Here's the Vincent we all fell in love with.

Mr Wonderful

Another example of someone making the wrong choice of man.

Wrong and right reasons to be known

When I put the Victoria Wood sketch Two Soups, starring Julie Walters, on my YouTube site it was the only place it appeared. Even though last time I looked there was one more, it continued to be my most viewed and commented-on post.

But when I got home on Wednesday and checked my emails, I was surprised and shocked to see a new batch of comments with messages like "Victoria Wood RIP".

But so it was. A true comic genius was gone at just 62. I'd rather my YT remain unknown and she still be alive.

I'm quite chuffed to have been on the radio twice today, though, in a programme on BBC Radio 4 called iPM. I was interviewed a couple of weeks ago by one of my favourite news presenters, Eddie Mair. I had responded to an item about a young woman of 30 who didn't want children, but couldn't get sterilised. I was sterilised 40 years ago at the age of 23, and I was amazed to find that all these years later women were still being treated like idiots who don't know their own minds.

I was taken to Broadcasting House and back in a Prius taxi, and was delighted to find that Eddie is every bit as charming and professional as he sounds.

Yesterday I was asked to OK the publishing of an article on the BBC's online news magazine, and agreed to forward some pictures. After the morning broadcast the article appeared, as I discovered on my way home from the shops when I bumped into the mother of a former student of mine who had already seen and read it! I don't know if it's available abroad. Here's the link to the magazine for those who can access it:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36110671

And here's the link for the broadcast:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b077jqst

I think you'll have to copy and paste.

Now I've received a request to take part in a telephone interview tomorrow evening on Radio 5 Live. I almost feel like a celebrity!

Meanwhile my cousin's daughter has come through the third brain operation of her 40 year life. This time she has a small daughter of her own. My cousin is now in her 70s and has had to deal with death after illness after tragedy in her family. She seriously deserves some good luck. And a rest.

Men In Black

Poor Edgar.

The Investigator

I've only ever read one O Henry story - The Green Door, on which this film is based.

Lion Emergency, Tiger Doze and Ape Adoption

I knoew the new Land of the Lions exhibit was due to open at London Zoo, but I didn't read the preview invitation letter properly. The Queen opened it on Thursday, which I had read as preview day, so I went along on my free day, Friday, only to find that it was still previews.

Without having ordered a ticket, I thought I was going to be out of luck. But at the entrance I found that just giving my name as a member was enough to get me a tick on a list and entry into the new exhibit.

There was no sign of the new male, but the females, Rubi, Indi and Heidi, who've been on holiday for a couple of years or so from the place where they were born, were wandering about mainly in the area they spent so much time in as cubs. So much for increasing their space!



Then there were shouts from behind to clear the way - injured lion coming through. And there were some - what? keepers? actors? - apparently carrying in an injured lion on a blanket. Of course, it was a dummy, but a pretty realisitic one. It even appeared to breathe. They enlisted the help of some rather nervous kids and priceeded to perform wound clean-up before declaring the animal to be on the mend, and carrying him back out.




 Meanwhile, JaeJae and Melati have been reunited in the hopes of them producing a new litter of cubs. But apparently Melati, though half JaeJae's size, is seeing him off. SHe's not yet ready to commit another two years of her life to raising demanding cubs!




On the other hand, something extraordinary, and almost completely undocumented, has happened in Gorlla Kingdom. Mjukuu, who has a daughter just over a year old, has acquired a foster child. Effie, so desperate for a baby, has dumped her 3-month-old boy and Effie has taken on the care of her little stepson.

This is Mjukuu-s daughter's head peeking round mum's back:


And here's the little boy poking his head out from the other side:

Lucky little boy!