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Field Trip: Saihati Camel Farm

Posted in Homeschooling

We enjoy getting to know a new area by going exploring. When we read that we would be able to go to a working camel farm, Munchkin was pretty excited. The only problem was that we had to wait until October as they are closed to the public during the summer months. This weekend, the wait was finally over as the camel farm was open.

The Saihati Camel Farm specializes in the breeding of Arabian (or one humped) camels. They also have many other exotic animals that they care for on the farm. We decided to just go on a self-guided tour instead of trying to set up a group tour of the farm. You can buy cups of animal food, if desired, but Munchkin found plenty of spilled food on the ground to allow her to feed the animals.

We were greeted by the Coati. The Coati is a member of the raccoon family. Unlike the raccoon, the Coati is active during the daytime. One piece of information that we found really interesting is that they are able to reverse their ankles so they can descend trees face first.  These guys were just way too cute.  I couldn’t resist taking this close-up of his face.

The next area was one of the main camel enclosures.  The camels were extremely friendly and really wanted to get close to us in order to try to score some food.  Munchkin got a kick out of how far they would stretch their necks to try to get as close to us as possible.

Our next interaction was with many different types of birds including these feather footed chickens and what Michelle referred to as the “crazy hair day” chicken.  Now, the feather footed chickens were rather camera shy, so it took a little while for them to allow me to take their picture.  The “crazy hair day” chicken loved having its picture taken.  In fact, it would squawk as I walked away.  When I turned back, it would strike a pose for the camera.  It was rather amusing to watch the behavior.

We were greeted by the tortoise as he tried to figure out a way to escape his cage and ignored by the bull who appeared not to care if anyone was around.  The tortoise was making all kinds of noises as we watched him.  For a slow moving animal, he was sure all over his cage.  The bull on the other hand was content to just lay there and watch all that was going on around him.  At once point, he did get up for some water, but then he just flopped back down into the same resting spot.  Granted, it was over 100 degrees that day, so we’ll cut him a little slack.

One of our other favorite animals was the mischievous Patagonian Cavy.  The Patagonian Cavy is the largest member of the guinea pig family.  These guys wanted to escape.  The had dug holes under their enclosure, so they had to put fences underneath the enclosures.  Well, while we were there, they had made it through that defense as well.  The one guy was on the other side of the underground fence.  Now, he just had to dig his was back out on the other side of the fence.

We also met…

An extremely friendly Zedonk
Skittish Co-bex
Very shy Jacob Four Horned Sheep
(this guys broke off one of his horns)
A crazy Emu and many more animals
The camel farm isn’t huge, so it isn’t an all day event.  We had fun and Munchkin enjoyed seeing all of the animals.  I’m sure we’ll be making several trips over there as Munchkin never tires of seeing animals.

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