Mokwalo and the White Lions
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Mokwalo is also a private lodge which is known for taking in and raising orphaned and injured animals, which are reared and returned to the wild. But the part of Makwalo that we particularly wanted to see was their white lion breeding program. Mokwalo is near Hoedspruit between Kapama and Thornybush.
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This is "Whitey", the main breeding lion in the program.
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He is eleven years old, which is very old for a lion, and looks his age. Many lions carry the gene for white, but Whitey has fathered most of the white lions in the world. There are supposedly only seventeen white lions worldwide and eleven of them came from Mokwalo. The lioness must also carry the gene for white to get white cubs.
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Here's Whitey again. Unfortunately there were always shadows on him so you can't get the really lovely effect of the ivory color of his coat. His mane reminded us of Tina Turner. I think my photo shop didn't realize these were white lions and tried to make them look the right color.
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The lions each have an area of about ten acres. They are given food, so do not hunt, but can get away from the public eye. Whitey had two "wives" in his area. They appeared to have rather different personalities.
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There are other lions who look normal, but carry the white gene and sometimes throw white cubs. They and their females were lying around like any group you'd see in the wild, but the fences were there and hard to leave out of a picture.
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There were several baby lions of various ages that didn't turn out white and were going to be returned to the wild or sold to zoos. Their area was the only one that bothered me in all the captive situations that we saw on this trip. They were pacing, dirty, and generally unthrifty looking (as we say in the show dog world)
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This the young white lion who will eventually take Whitey's place. They expect him, like Whitey, to have all white cubs, with the right female. At the moment, he and two white lionesses live in the large fenced in back yard of the Mostert family who own Mokwalo--it gives new meaning to sending the children out to play when they get underfoot.
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We didn't learn the name of the heir apparent, but admired him from outside the fence. This property has a hunting concession and also another large area for game viewing. We did the game drive and didn't see much till we were nearly back and then saw several animals including red hartebeest, which was a new mammal for me--too much in the trees to photograph--so you'll have to take my word for it.
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Click on the leopard to go to page seventeen.
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