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| Brown Bear |
Jill's Journal: If yesterday’s wildlife encounters were amazing, today’s were extraordinary. In fact, today’s experience just might rank as one the top five most awesome things we’ve done on this trip. We made the hour drive from Grants Pass to Winston, Oregon to visit Wildlife Safari and it was worth every mile. Now, we haven’t been to Disney World’s Animal Kingdom and it’s been 30 years since I’ve been to San Diego’s Wild Animal Park (and Rob has never been), but we can’t imagine anyone doing a better job at getting people up close and personal with wild animals than the folks at Wildlife Safari. It’s not a zoo. It’s 600 acres (six times the size of Animal Kingdom and three times the size of Wild Animal Park) of animals roaming free.
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Spot colors and coat patterns on giraffes
are different depending on what they eat
and where they're from... |
And unlike both Florida’s and California’s attractions, visitors drive their own vehicles through the park at whatever pace they wish (although the speed limit is 10mph). It takes around an hour to 90 minutes to drive through the 600 acres and visitors are welcome to do it a second time, which we did (and got a completely different experience than the first time because the animals are free to move). The major rule is that no one is allowed to exit their vehicles for any reason, because, well, it’s dangerous to do so. Oh, and rhinoceroses are not intimidated by cars, so don’t get in their way.
Here's just a sampling of what we saw...
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| Roosevelt Elk |
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| Tibetan Yaks |
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| This zebra preferred the company of giraffes over the zebra herd. |
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| American Bison...see the two babies? |
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| Bactrian Camels |
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| White Fallow Deer |
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| Flamingo |
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| Watusi Cattle |
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One of many cheetahs; Wildlife Safari has the most
successful cheetah breeding program in the U.S. |
My big question going to Wildlife Safari was how the zebras and other prey for major hunters like lions avoid getting eaten if they’re all running around together. Wildlife Safari keeps the lions, cheetahs, tigers, hippopotamus, and other really carnivorous or extremely dangerous animals in separate enclosures. This, of course, protects not only the other animals, but also the visitors!
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This hippopotamus was so intimidating...the head, jowls, mouth,
and teeth on these guys are gargantuan. We were glad he was
behind a fence. |
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| A capybara, the world's largest rodent at about 100 pounds. |
There’s also a zoo-like area where the smaller creatures (snakes, tortoises, maned wolf, capybaras, porcupines, tamarin monkeys, owls, etc.) are housed which visitors may walk through.
And finally, we also visited a small domesticated animal section where the girls got to practice milking a cow. I think they have a whole new respect for dairymen!
What a day. What a very, very special experience.
3 comments:
Me thinks we will have to take a road trip to OR to experience this up close! My boys also ADORE animals of all kinds, but if they could see wolves and lions and bald eagles AND giraffes on the same trip, they'd be darn near completed on this earth!
So glad you are enjoying all there is to see every place you go. How do you find all these amazing experiences? We hope to do a little hunting for those kinds of things around our neck of the woods this summer--which stars one week from Wednesday!!
When you make it to So Cal, I have passes for the San Diego Wild Animal Park, now called the Safari Park and/or the zoo. Although your recent experience seems fabulous. BTW, how can you tell the difference between the Bactrian and the Domedary camels? The outline of the Bactrian humps makes a B and the hump of the Dromedary makes a D. (o:
Oh Katie, it sounds like your boys would LOVE this place too!! It was amazing. I'll bet you have all kinds of wonderful experiences just waiting to be found in your neck of the woods also. Hope you enjoy finding them this summer -- happy hunting! We'll definitely be asking for your recommendations when we get to your area. :) Have a super summer with those sweet boys.
April, I'll share your camel insight with our girls -- you definitely taught me something! We sure would love to share a day at the Safari Park with you. :)
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