A Trip to "Africa"
Well, not quite! On Saturday, I joined my sister and her husband and some of his family to tour the "Out of Africa" Wildlife Park near Camp Verde, AZ. After a bus ride through the "African Bush" where we saw giraffes, antelope, ostrich, and zebra, we toured through the wildlife preserve. Neither my sister or I are terribly fond of caged animals, but these cages are enormous and the animals we saw were relaxed, playful and looked wonderfully happy and healthy! Along our walk I spotted this fascinating bush with clouds of feathery white dotted with perfect little star flowers. It makes me think of stars and nebulas. I'm pretty certain it is a native Arizona shrub and not African, so will have to look it up.
The park had lots of tigers including this regal one enjoying the sun. We thoroughly enjoyed the Tiger Splash event where they brought two tigers in to play with the keepers in a pool. Using the tiger's natural instincts, they played with them much like we do with our house cats, but with more safety precautions in place! What fun though to watch the tigers chasing balls, leaping after balloons and jumping into the pool with complete abandon! It was one of the most enjoyable wild animal shows I've seen and it was easy to see that the tigers enjoyed it every bit as much as the humans involved!
Love these tigers!
This lion was magnificent sunning himself on a hillside. Temperatures were in the mid 60's while we were at "Out of Africa" and the lions were all laying out in the sun while the tigers with rare exception were all laying in the shade!
The park had a number of Ring-tailed Lemurs as well. So pretty! Cunning too! In one enclosure, the young ones had figured a way out, so the park was busy trying to fix the hole they had made to prevent their escape!
After we finished touring the park, we returned to my sister and BIL's new home! How delightful to see their lovely new home and them so happy in it! I only took a few pictures but the best one is of Sophie enjoying her cozy spot on the bed! What you can't see is the "bed monster", her companion Lou, who is hiding under the brown quilt making a soft purring bump on the bed!
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