Since the first time I went to Manila and visited Enchanted Kingdom, I vowed that I would return to the park at least once every year for so long as I am able to (read: not dead). Though there was nothing new at EK for my first 4 visits but during my last visit, which was last Easter, they opened up a new attraction: Zoori’s Adventure (ZA). Together with the Yupangco Group, EK has opened this new attraction featuring white lions. Anyway, when I went there, ZA was still a work in progress. I am not sure whether they will keep the real white lion (I forgot her(?) name. I wanna say Zoori, but I’m not so sure) in the park. I will not describe the attraction in detail as it should have changed by now and I don’t want to spoil your fun. Just visit EK and take a look at this new attraction (well, relatively new. I heard there was a new water thing but I haven’t the oppurtunity to visit it yet).
Anyway, as for the lion and the photo. I so wanted to touch the lion and bite it’s ear. Weird I know, but I sort of have this thing with wanting to bite the ears of animals. But I have not done so in my life. I want to. But haven’t. Anyhoo, the handlers were a bit strict and I could not find the right time where(when?) the lion was not agitated with the people and had the kind of temperment (both with the handlers and the lion) that would allow me to hug the lion. She(?) was beautiful. Well, I’m partial as anything mammal, less humans, to me are beautiful. I wish I had a pet lion. White, black, green, pink, I don’t care so long as it’s a lion. A lion would be a nice pet.
The photo was obviously post processed as composing with cage bars, little children, couldn’t care less lion, harsh noon lighting left me with very little to work with. That and I’m a lousy photographer. Anyway, with the first photo, I made it BW and increased the contrast to make the fur stand out. I only wish I was a good enough editor to remove the chain and collar so the photo would not give off the feeling of “domesticated” so much. For the second photo (below), it breaks a lot of conventions and rules but I like it. I would have wanted to get more of her head/face into the photo but the rest were blurred shots and this was the only sharp one. Again, I increased the contrast to make the fur more prominent but retained some of the color and still could not edit it good enough to remove the collar. I will update this article later when I find the raw images since I was not able to extract the EXIF data.
Nice peaceful shot of the fierce and ferocious lioness!