Out of Africa

We went to Out of Africa Wildlife Park Labor Day weekend to see the tigers and other wild animals. It's about an hour north of Phoenix, so it wasn't too bad of a drive. It was supposed to be close to 100 degrees and 60% chance of rain, but we took a chance anyway. Turned out it was a good bet!

It wasn't hot because of the impending storm. We had an overcast day most of the day, and cool breezes all day long. It was great! Very close to the end of our day we decided to walk down the trail to see the bears and other animals, but, the rain came in and we just about got soaked! We made a quick U-turn and headed back for the tram stop and waited the storm out with about 50 other people, huddled just out of reach of the rain.



ALL the trams showed up at once, but they were FULL of people! It was feeding time for all the animals, and people were on that tour. There were no trams to be had for QUITE a while. The rain finally let up a little, so we made a break for it and started heading down the hill.

In the course of the day, Abby got to pet 3 HUGE snakes and a tortoise.





She also got to feed a real live tiger!!! (And Abby will tell you she did it two times: "one time up high, and one time down low.")





Admission was a little high ($32.00 each), but they do have a lot of meat eaters to feed, so I can see why they have to charge a high price to get in. (We had a 2-for-1 coupon, though, and Abby was still free!) Feeding the tiger was only $3.00, so we will definitely do that again!

While in line for the tiger feeding, I overheard the woman behind me saying something about having eaten her breakfast and normally she has something in her purse. I picked up on it right away, and asked her if she had low blood sugar. (How many times have I felt that same woozie feeling even though I ate earlier? How awful it must have felt for her to try to make the choice to stand in line for the kids to feed the tiger, knowing she could eventually pass out and ruin the entire day! How bad would she have felt knowing she forgot to pack herself a snack that day?) I couldn't help but butt in and ask her to confirm what I thought. Of course, I was right, so I offered her a pack of Abby's fruit snacks and some almonds. She was a happy camper! (Rack up some karma points for Lisa!)

Also, at the last second before leaving, I had packed some garbage bags in case we got stranded in the rain in the park so we could rig some ponchos. Turned out we didn't need them. However, there was a woman with a new cast trying to cover it with a tiny grocery bag. It was not even coming close to what she needed. Lisa to the rescue again!

It felt good to be able to help some people out, to enjoy the weather we did get, and even when were were stuck under the little ramada at the tram stop, there was a huge tiger pacing just across the road (waiting for his supper, just a few yards down the road) for us to enjoy while we waited.



I had memories of feeding a bear when I was Abby's age, and hoped to get pictures of Abby feeding a giraffe from her own mouth, as I did with the bear as a tot. Alas, the giraffe was not hungry that day, so we'll have to try again another time. (They give everyone a long carrot stick and said you can even stick your head out of the bus with the carrot in your mouth and get a giraffe kiss [blech! but how cool!] if you wanted to.)




All in all, it was a great day! Marti really did make this weekend great by coming up with that idea! A good time was had by all. I'll post the link to some you tube video of the tigers jumping HIGH in the air as soon as I get a chance in the next week or so. Right now I have to get to my projects that have been hanging over my head for a while. I love long weekend! I get to relax one day, go have tons of fun another day, and still have another day to do my projects. I am complete on long weekends! :)