Pilanesberg safari

During my 8 days of working, I had a day to take in a safari while I stayed with the crew in Johannesburg. It was myself and two flight attendants (one guy one girl) and the tour guides 9 year old daughter (school summer holidays).
First we visited a lion cub zoo and had a chance to pet and try to play with the cubs. I tried to play with the cub like Lexi, but its paws were the size of my hand and got a few scratches! Saw lions, hyenas, giraffes, leopard, cheetahs, and jackals: all were in enclosures kind of like the game farm in Cloverdale.

Went to the safari in Pilanesberg (near Sun City), a massive area where the animals are free and roam in their natural environment. We drove for two hours to get to the park, and we were not guaranteed to see any animals, but I was hoping for something. Before getting into the park, we heard an elephant tearing down trees just on the other side. Could hear it and see the tops of trees getting thrashed around but couldn't see the elephant. Kind of like Jurassic Park, with big fence and noises of something big on the other side!
After driving in the park for five minutes, we saw 5 zebras and one foal (sp?), young zebra about 2 years old. I said that the young one would be a target! Then the guide (David) spotted a lioness behind them! She was stalking the group! The zebras went down into a gully, but one adult and the foal decided to go back up to where they were...bad idea. I saw, through binocs, one lioness swipe the back end of the adult zebra and almost knocked it off balance. Apparently there was another lioness in the grass that caught the young zebra. Three, then four lioness appeared, as well as a male lion, to feast. It was pretty harsh to see the reality of it! The guides daughters' favorite animal is the zebra, so she was crying. The other zebras came up above the kill and just watched, making strange noises, like 'what can we do?'. Also a lone brown hyena showed up and waited for leftovers! The guide had been going to the park for 10 years and hadn't seen a kill! So we were lucky!?
We just entered the park, so it we had to move on. Around the next corner we saw a bunch of baboons, more zebras, and Ibis by the lake. Next corner: white Rhinos (weighing 2 tonnes, 4400lbs), brown snake eagle eating a mouse thingy in a tree, more rhinos, Kudu (Gazelle looking animal with spiral horns). Quickly saw two warthogs run away from the vehicle. 50-100 other zebras cooling under shady trees (lots to go around!), with wildebeests. Bachelor herd of Impalas (only males have horns). Monitor lizard by a river, Water Buck (shaggy deer looking), one giraffe and a few hippos poking their heads just above the water in a reservoir.
Saw tons and we got our moneys worth! It was a long day, 12 hours. I only had my cell phone camera with me, so I don't have too may good pictures. I can't post any till I get my USB cord. I asked the other guys to send me any pics, so hopefully they have some good ones.
Next month we are planning to go to Kruegar National Park to see some more!