Where To Pat The Lions – Seaview Game And Lion Park, South Africa

Seaview Game Park

White Lion

Lions truly are dangerous creatures – we became well aware of that when we travelled to the larger game reserves. However, there is a place in South Africa where you can actually get “up close and personal” to them (at least the “tame” ones).

BG’s mom took us on a day excursion to Seaview Game and Lion Park, a short drive from Port Elizabeth. It is one of those “smaller” game parks that still blows away the zoos I have been to…

You can actually drive in an enclosure and watch the lions romp around (safely from inside your car, of course). We also took a short walk to see a white lion sleeping next to the fence. It was a beautiful animal – I recommend you read the Wikipedia white lion entry to learn more about them.

Seaview also lets you actually pat the lions. Fyi, BG told me that you “pat” the lion in South Africa while you “pet” the lion in Texas – if you can find a lion in Texas…Younger children are allowed to pat the lion cubs (extremely cute!) while adults and teenagers can stroke a larger lion (they look like teenage lions to me!).

We even saw a litter of newborn babies in the reception area – unbelievable!

Seaview was definitely one of the “surprises” I encountered during my travels to South Africa. Sure can’t do that in Texas…

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Raymond Pechacek lives in the U.S. and is married to a wonderful South African lady (BG!). He writes about the people, customs, wildlife, and places of South Africa, runs a consulting firm to help companies improve their global trade processes, and imports products into the U.S. - with an emphasis on supporting South Africa!