Is this Africa or Australia?

Now when you think of the Northern Territory, you tend to think lots of lizards, snakes, crocodiles, and birds. However, it seems there are many other animals living wild in the Northern Territory.  Remember this State has only 220,000 people in total living here so there are huge areas of wilderness and untouched land.

My friend and I laugh at the fact there was a feral lioness spotted loose in Darwin. Not only because this isn't Africa, but because the radio news reports said, they were checking with all the registered owners of lions in the Territory and the Army confirmed it wasn't their lion on the loose. Then they said, if you have lost a lion to contact them!!  Yes, can you believe it?  The Army has a lion, and it seems some people also have them as pets. What does the Army need a lion for? The mind boggles!! And what do you do when your cute lion cub becomes a large lion and wants to eat you?  Hmmmmmm!!

It seems any pet is the go in the Northern Territory.  Apparently, Tipperary Station - which is about 200km from Darwin was turned into an exotic wildlife sanctuary by its owner, millionaire Warren Anderson.  But in 2003 when he got sick of his sanctuary he sold his interest in the station and tried to sell the animals including rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, giraffes, zebras and deer. People seem to suspect many of the animals he couldn't sell, he just released. Who knows?  But it does make you wonder especially when in 2009, a person shot a Pygmy Hippopotamus by mistake. The poor guy was pig hunting and thought he shot a pig so when he realised what it was he high tailed it out of there thinking it's parents can't be far behind. Then lets not forget the monkey seen by a bus load of people in 2010 in Darwin.

Hippos in the swamps, Lions & Monkeys in the desert (or City, in this case). Yet the Territorians don't seem to think it's all that weird. Could you imagine pig hunting in NZ and shooting a hippo, or driving up the Desert Road and having to stop for a lion crossing the road? Or stopping at the lights in town to see a monkey walk pass?  Unbelieveable stuff........but not for here it seems!!

So yeah, who knows what you might find over and above your snakes, lizards and crocodiles here.  I mean really, who needs to go do an African safari, just come to the Northern Territory.