My first glimpse of a white lion - a lioness sleeping hard in the bushes after a big meal.Īn hour or so later we came upon these brothers, Matsieng and Zukhara. The camp where we slept is called Camp Unicorn, which makes sense because a white lion is the closest thing I’ve ever seen, and ever will see, to a unicorn. The white lions I saw this weekend are magnificent. Let me start with the easy part of the story: Several days later, my mind is still spinning. I got all of this in just over 36 hours, book-ended by two seven-hour journeys in the back of a van between Johannesburg and Hoedspruit. I got all of those things, and a lot more: Dramatic tales of near-death experiences an outspoken fashion-model-turned-lion-woman scientific discussions mystical stories of spirits and stars horrific accounts of evil lion-hunters, past and present a sunset parade through the wilderness with a giant white lion puppet adorable children singing about the majesty of the Star Lions and half a dozen Shangaan medicine women stomping the dry, brown earth, gasping through perfumed smoke and screaming into the heavens. Sunrise at the Global White Lion Protection Trust, which borders the Timbavati Nature Reserve, which borders Kruger National Park. I’d been expecting a typical fun weekend in the bush - hanging out with my blogger friends, eating good food, and seeing wildlife in a beautiful place far away from the big city. Almost from the moment I arrived, I began to think about how I would write this blog post. Last weekend I visited the Global White Lion Protection Trust, a private reserve devoted to protecting white lions and returning them to the wild in South Africa’s Timbavati region.