Out of Africa Wildlife Park

Project 365 – #224

One of our fun adventures while our family was visiting was going to the Out of Africa Wildlife Park.  It’s a privately owned and operated wildlife area that offers safari tours, animal exhibits, and wildlife shows.  As you can probably tell by the name, most of the animals are native to Africa, so our natural desert environment suits them nicely.  We were pleased to learn that they offer military discounts for general admission.  In addition to the safari, they have premium shows, but we decided not to do those – well, except for the tiger feeding.

As part of the safari, each guest is given a carrot to feed to either a giraffe or a camel.  The girls thought it was fun feeding the animals.  Munchkin got to feed both the giraffes and the camel thanks to Mommy and Daddy giving up their carrots.

This pour giraffe had an injury to his eye, so we had to be very careful around his face.  He still loves being around people, but he was a bit more skittish than normal.  One of the giraffes kept trying to lick my Dad; it was so funny.  They have such long tongues which are fascinating to watch while they reach out for food or to give someone a big, sloppy kiss.

If you think the zebra looks like he’s posing, you’d be right.  This guy loves to smile for the camera.  While I was only able to get a partial smile in this picture, my sister got an excellent picture of this guy in all of his cheesy grin goodness.  It was hilarious!

It was warm out that day – not nearly as hot as we’re use to here – but it was warm enough.  This guy had the right idea – relaxing in the shade.  Afternoon siesta anyone?

One of the fun shows at the park is the tiger show.  What makes this unique from many other wildlife shows at different parks is that they do not script/choreograph the show.  They just get out there and play with the two tigers in the show.  This makes for an organic, fun, somewhat crazy, entertaining show.  They never know what the tigers may or may not decide to do for that particular show.  The tigers definitely had minds of their own.

After the show, the girls each got a turn to feed the tigers.  The first people in line were able to feed the tigers while they were standing up on their hind legs.  By the time our girls got to feed the tigers, the tigers had decided that they no longer wanted to stand up.  They were just going to relax and be fed.  In fact, one tiger wasn’t even interested in being fed.  Like I said, they have a mind of their own.  **grin**

The girls had the opportunity for some hands-on time with different snakes.  While petting an anaconda or python isn’t that out of the ordinary, I’d say that getting to touch a cobra is a bit more unique.  Earlier in the day, we attended a snake presentation where you could touch cobras.  The snake handlers were wonderful, knowledgeable men whose passion for snakes shined through as they talked.  I can’t say that I would want to be handling cobras (like they were) knowing that anti-venom is too far away to do any good if they get bitten, but I appreciated that they wanted to share their love of snakes with others.

Our day concluded with a walk around to see the final animals as we headed back to the beginning of the park.  We were all pretty hot, and some members of the group were starting to get tired.  A quick look into the gift shop, and we were on our way.  Of course, a stop by Sonic on the way back to our vacation spot seemed to revive people a bit.