35th birthday – met a lion.

This year, I turned 35. 

Julien always super spoils me, and 35 is kindof a milestone, so I knew to expect something great, but I didn’t think I’d be walking a lion! 

This is Tao, and he is a BABY LION. He’s 300 lbs.

I spent the morning trying to guess what we were doing. I knew it was “east” and we had to get up early. So I started looking in roughly the area we would be going and was like “I hope it’s not this zoo?” It was this zoo. In general I am not a zoo person, I don’t like to see animals in captivity, it makes me super sad. This place, though, they’ve rescued all the animals! They’re then trained for films and such, and their enclosures are not pens or anything, they have room to roam. 

Tao, crouched low.

It was amazing! They take you on a walk with the “baby” lion, who is so big and scary he’s incredible. You get to meet all the other animals as well – lions, and tigers, and bears!

Kilo.
Tiger
That wee little pup in the background is Tao’s disciplinarian.

It was an amazing day, I’ll never forget it.