The lions were perhaps the saddest part of the Dakar zoo. The elan du cap and the buffalo at least had habitats with grass and dirt. The lions, though, were packed into a tile-floored pen. I hope they get some sort of break from this environment…but I doubt it. At least we weren’t there during feeding time. I’ll pass on seeing the lions get fed stinking, fly-specked raw meat.
I have to point out I didn’t have a big lens on my Nikon when I took this photo (0r any of the zoo shots). My camera was outfitted with a standard 50mm lens – that’s how close we were able to get to these animals.
I caught this lady lion mid-yawn, but she still looks pretty fierce.
I’m still having a bit of a moral dilemma between thinking it was amazing to see these animals at such a close distance and feeling horrible about them being in a zoo like this.
Rachael Cullins is a twentysomething American girl living in Dakar, Senegal, with her husband and two dogs. She blogs about her adventures in Senegal and travels elsewhere in West Africa. She will reside in Dakar until summer 2013, when she and her family will move to another foreign post as part of her husband’s career with the U.S. government. In addition to West Africa, she has traveled to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy and Costa Rica and plans to continually add to that list.
