Mexi, "Hey what are you guys doing?"
Me, "Getting (our son) ready to go to the Animal Safari (with his cousins and grandparents)."
Mexi, "Ok, have fun and take lots of pictures."
Me, "I'm not going!" (I figured g-parents wanted some alone time with the g-kids)
Mexi, "Why? Don't you think your parents are going to need help with all three of them (3 boys)? You know those are wild animals! (talking about the actual animals, not the boys.) Tara, you've seen those shows.... "When Animals Attack!" You should go with them.
Me, (I'm laughing at this point) Really? "When Animals Attack?" I've been before, the animals do not attack! We'll see, I might go. Call ya later.
After thinking some, I realize 3 boys can be a handful. Maybe I should go as back up.... My parents were pleased to hear I'd be tagging along.
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| Wild Animal Safari Pine Mountain, Georgia |
Let the adventure begin! We piled into g-parents mini van and set off on the highway. About two hours later we arrived at Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain, Georgia.
(click on the link above to learn more about them)
The vans are totally bare on the inside. No cloth interior, no radio, no air, nada.... just a motor, seats, and a steering wheel.
Armed with 8 bags of "animal treats" (which you purchase there) we were set to go! I'm not sure what these "treats" are made of. If memory serves me correctly corn and honey are 2 of the ingredients. At any rate, they are popular! The animals LOVE this food!
As soon as we entered the park we were bombarded by friendly animals wanting some yummy treats. The animals come right up to your window and open their mouth or stick out their tongue hoping you'll give them a tasty treat.
Check out this video of a zebra sticking his head in the window wanting one of the treats! Notice how his lips are quivering! Those treats were like zebra crack rock or something!
Ya know, you never really know how much an animal slobbers until you are up close and personal feeding it. This is why I do not recommend driving your own vehicle!
It was extremely cool seeing all of these animals up close. We saw gazelles, deer, buffalo, and zebras just to name a few!
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| A Giraffe waiting for my son to give him his treat. |
The giraffes were my absolute favorite! They were so beautiful and gentle. They were laid back and graceful. I could have spent the whole day hanging out with the giraffes.
All was going smoothly. My son had just finished up feeding a gentle giraffe. We passed a cute llama. Then we saw an ostrich approaching the van. All of a sudden he stuck his head in and tried to peck one of the kids! I started to freak out and the ostrich moved to the next window (the window where my son was sitting) and did the same thing! By this time I was screaming "HOSTILE ANIMAL" so my father would put the pedal to the metal and we could escape the attacking ostrich!
Here is the video. I realize due to me freaking out and acting a little ridiculous it might not make much sense.
(basically, if you listen closely you can hear me saying, "OMG, we should go, -I let out a scream-, he's hostile, he's hostile, oh my goodness) It's one of those "you'd have to of been there" type moments. In my defense I would like to point out that ostriches have a crazy look in their eyes and can be quite aggressive!
After we recovered from shear shock and made sure none of our fingers were missing, we continued on and saw more animals. Some did not roam freely.
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| The camels would come up to the fence and eat from your hand. |
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| This rhino was a big boy and sleepy! |
After all the excitement we decided it was time for lunch and had a picnic.
Next we walked around and saw some animals that were in more of a zoo like setting. We saw bears, tigers, lions, ligers, kangaroos, snakes, lemurs, alligators, monkeys, wolves, goats, hyenas, peacocks and many more.
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| The peacocks were beautiful! Wish I could have gotten a picture with the feathers spread out! |
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| The Lemurs were precious! Isn't this guy cute? |
One more trip around to feed the animals, but this time we went in the bus. We re-fed all the animals again. We had a nice long encounter with another sweet giraffe who spent minutes eating from my sons hand.
We were busy handing out the food we had left from our previous excursion. Then, out of no-where appears this guy... (insert horror music)
It was a fun, smelly, slobber filled, adventurous day! I highly recommend it. The kids (and adults) had a blast.... just remember to use caution when in close proximity with ostriches....... and enjoy your extra long hot shower when you get home!