White Lions, South Africa

The white lion is occasionally found in wildlife reserves in South Africa. These white lions live at Sanbona, three hours drive from Cape Town.

The White Lion has always been rare but its unusual beauty has captured the imaginations of people across the globe. Its whiteness is not due to albinism, but due to a recessive gene - similar to that found in the rare white tigers of Asia. However, it is not a separate species of lion from the typical tawny African lion. The cubs are born almost pure white, but darken to a rich cream color over the course of their first two years.

The privately owned, 130,000-acre wildlife reserve, one of South Africa's largest, is at the center of an extraordinary conservation project which, for once, shows a positive outcome to mankind's interference with the natural world, and not just for these lions.

African elders recognized the beauty and took the presence of a White Lion as a spiritual symbol and an ancient prophecy fulfilled.

For centuries rumors of mysterious white lions had been circulating in South Africa. Legend said the white pelage represented the good to be found in all creatures. Strong claims of sightings started to surface in 1928.

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