Up close with really big cats

Polokwane - The last time I visited Mystic Monkeys and Feathers Wildlife Park a couple of years ago I had a rather close encounter with a lion cub – and we are not talking a cute cuddly cub who is just a few weeks old. He was huge.

I had tagged along with a colleague on a story about the park’s famed lions and, on the spur of the moment, decided to take up an invitation to enter the enclosure.

No sooner had I got in, than one of the young lions approached me.

Having not had much experience with felines of any size, I tapped into my reserve of dog knowledge and remained still. The cub did not, and thought I looked very friendly and put his paws on my shoulder and put his head against mine.

I am about 1.69m tall, so you get an idea of the size of the cat. I remember thinking “his paws are huge, they make Turbo’s (my uncles’s Great Dane) look tiny”.

So what did I do, I tickled his ribs.

Eventually he decided enough was enough and moved on.

Since my visit the park has acquired a lot more special cats including a snow tiger, a black leopard and more recently black jaguar cubs.i

With all these felines, one might wonder why “cat” didn’t find its way into the park’s name.

A little history lesson: the park, about 45 minutes north of Pretoria, was established eight years ago when Christa Saayman bought her first pair of golden-handed tamarins (monkeys).

Mystic Monkeys and Feathers grew rapidly and Saayman’s love for animals paid off when the park was awarded zoo status. “It has been my passion to work with primates, but I never thought it would grow like this.

“We have also been given sanctuary status and are a proud member of PAAZAB (the African Association of Zoological Gardens and Aquaria),” said Saayman.

Although the park has zoo status, it has a park-like feel with its beautiful gardens, waterfalls, and koi dams. It is host to one of South Africa’s largest private primate collections featuring 44 species, plus a large number of exotic birds.

It is also home to the first two Angolan Black and White Colobus and Bearded Saki’s babies born in captivity in the country as well as chimpanzees and white-handed gibbons, two of the “Big 5” in the “ape” world.

Saayman’s favourite is a chimp named Fiona. “She has been with me about seven years now, I raised her in my bed. A lot of the primates have been raised in my home.”

Like a doting mother, Saayman speaks about the primates which total about 350 and the success she has had with some of them including the endangered russet lemur, gibbons and mandrils.

She sources the most exotic animals from zoos and sanctuaries around the world in an effort to ensure a good gene pool. “Some of the animals I sell and others I exchange, I have zoos calling looking for particular animals to use in their breeding programmes.”

And when she sells it is not to collectors, but to zoos or sanctuaries.

When it comes to the birds her rarest feathered friends are a pair of palm cockatoos she got from a sanctuary in the Phillipines.

Back to the cats and Charmaine Joubert, who is the only one to interact with the predators daily.

“I play with each and every predator for half an hour a day just to keep the bond between me and my furry friends,” said Joubert.

“I also swim with the tigers, play ball, or play with tyres, and sometimes just sit and spend quality time with them, talk to them, brush them and enjoy it.”

But she is quick to point out that she does not take her encounters lightly. “I can play with the majestic animals because I have hand-raised them so they know my smell, my voice and how I work and play with them.”

She is proud of her charges and can list them all.

“Our lions, cheetahs, tigers, leopards and jaguars always create a feeling of disbelief with our visitors who are taken aback by their size, strength and beauty.”

So just who are her playmates?

“Sheba the mother is a white tiger and Nonyx the father is a golden tabby tiger and the cubs they produced are named Narnia and Sasha – a snow white tiger and a golden tabby tiger.

“Nonyx is now five years old and Sheba is four.

“The golden tabby tiger is a very rare species and we are the only ones who have them, there are only 50 left in the whole world,” she says.

The black jaguars come all the way from the Amazon in South America.

“We got the black jaguars to make the public aware of them, because some people don’t even know that they exist in the wild.

“We also want them to breed successfully at our facility. The black leopards we have now come all the way from South Asia.”

And when it comes to the king of beasts, Joubert says: “We have white lions, brown lions and tawny brown lions.

“We have our own white lions. Zuba the male lion is nine years old and Lilly is eight years old; they come from Hoedspruit’s Timbavati area where white lions originally come from.

“Our white lions are a breed on their own with their white fur and crystal-clear eyes. If they are not white with the crystal eyes they are not purebred white lions; if their colour is off there has been in- breeding with other lions,” she explains.

The lions are especially close to her heart, and her feet, as she has walked 540km to raise awareness about canned hunting and to raise funds for lion conservation.

“At Mystic Monkeys we have a variety of animals. We have tours with our trained guides that will inform you about the animals’ behaviour, habitat, breeding etc,” said Saayman who runs the park with the help of 14 employees.

So take the time to get to know more about some of the world’s endangered inhabitants and you may bump into Ape Lady or Predator Lady (Joubert’s names) or some of their close friends.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

l GPS CO-ORDINATES

S25º 12.635

E28º 31.551

l OPERATING HOURS

Monday to Sunday

All public holidays :

9am till 4pm

l ENTRANCE FEE (PRICE PER PERSON)

Includes Tour ± 2 – 3 hours

Adults: R100

Children between