The Drakenstein Lion Park is situated in Paarl, South Africa. It is a wonderful place to get up close to the lions. It is quite a large park with many lion enclosures. There are lots of picnic spots around which is quite nice. On the down side there is no shade except under the picnic spots. Be prepared to do lots of walking as the lions sleep for most hours of the day, so you need to walk a lot to find a lion that is awake.
My advice is to go early in the morning as you are more likely to see some lions awake. Luckily when we went we were the first to enter and got to see about 4 lions awake. There is just something majestic about these big cats and we can truly witness the Greatness of Allah through the lions.
There are also a few white lions which are amazing to look at. The lions in this park are rescued and are unable to go back to the wild.
Just under 100m from the lion park is a chimp haven. You actually pass the chimp haven on your way to the lion park. There are 5 chimps here as well as a small kids play area. The chimps enjoy playing with kids and love it when you copy what they do. The kids had lots of fun here.
We covered both the lion park and the chimp haven in about 2-3 hours. Other places to visit in the area include Babylonstoren Farm, Alpaca Loom, Butterfly World, Le Bonheur Reptiles and Adventures and Berg River Resort.
Have you been to any of these places and what was your experience?
Are there any other places in Paarl that you have been to and recommend we visit?