Lions and Tigers and Bears...OH MY

We went to the COOLEST zoo today!!!!!! Bright and early at eight this morning, Wil and I, along with my family, headed to Camp Verde to go to the Out of Africa park. I cannot say enough great things about this park. We were all majorly impressed and it is one of the coolest things I've done.

This Arizona attraction is now on the top of our list for a place to take visitors, and unbeknown to them, we are already planning a trip to Out of Africa with Wil's family. His nieces would LOVE it!

If you go...

• Make sure you get there when they open at 9:30 a.m. - you don't want to miss any of the shows.
• Plan to be there the entire day! We were skeptical when they said it would take about five hours - who goes to the zoo for five hours? But, we actually ended up wishing we could have been there even longer.
  
• Take a buy one get one free coupon. The park would have been expensive without our coupons - apparently they come in the mail - but was fine since we all had buy one get one free coupons.
  

And now, drum roll please...on to the pictures!!!

First, we took a safari ride on a bus. This is Wil and I on the bus. It was freezing cold, so I'm cracking up because Wil was trying to warm his hands under his armpits - only after I convinced him sticking his hands down his pants to warm them up was not an option! :)


When we loaded the bus, we each got a carrot or cucumber slice to feed the giraffe. He was the coolest giraffe and came right up to the bus - he must have known we would have food for him. He even stuck his head inside the bus a few times to get to his food. A few people put the carrot stick in their mouths to feed him, but no one in my family was quite brave enough.

My Grandma feeding the giraffe.

My Aunt feeding the giraffe.

Lynda feeding the giraffe - and winner for one of my favorite photos of the day.

The next animal we saw on the safari bus was the ostrich. You all know how I feel about birds, and this was one LARGE bird. I would have been ok, except he kept moving his head further into the bus with a curious glint in his eye that said, "I wonder what you taste like?"


Then came the zebras...very cool!


After the safari, we rode a tram to the top of the park. We went to a snake show and were even brave enough to go in and pet the very, very large snakes.

Andy with a python.

I had Wil get down by the snake's head to pose for this picture. I was trying to figure out how to position the camera to get the snake and all of Wil, when he started yelling at me to hurry...the snake was raising its head and getting a bit to close for comfort. I didn't get his eyes, but I love the smile on Wil's face in this picture!

We also got to pet this cool lizard. His name is Gaucho, but my uncle thought he bore an uncanny resemblance to Oscar.


One of the highlights of our trip was the tigers, and man, did this park have tigers!!!


Out of Africa even had a Tiger Splash show. This was by far one of the BEST parts of the day. The tigers are not trained, but instead are socialized with the tiger zoo keepers. Since the zoo keepers play with the tigers, they are considered friends, and the tigers are careful not to hurt the zoo keepers. This entire show was about playing with the tigers - did you know...play is a basic instinct in all animals that are able to produce their own body heat?

First, a tiger as it's jumping into the water after a shoe. Apparently, shoes are their favorite toys!


Next, this tiger just jumped onto the fence and is about to use it as a springboard toward the toy he wants.


Finally, we have a tiger mid jump as it goes after some balloons. Wil was the amazing photographer for these tiger shots, so please feel free to compliment him on his picture taking abilities. I still can't believe he got such impressive action shots of the tigers!


After Tiger Splash, we had a chance to feed the tigers...how many people can say they've actually fed a piece of meat to a tiger???



We also loved these playful, one-year-old bear cubs. They had a show with the bears, but we were too busy watching them play to get any amazing photos. Here's one of the cubs in her habitat area. She looks like she's posing for the camera.


Here are the cubs mid-run. They saw the zoo keepers coming with food - probably to entice them toward the area for the bear show.


One of the things I loved about this zoo was that all of the animals seemed to have ample room to run and play. They all seemed happy and like they enjoyed their habitats.

Here are a baby lion and a baby white tiger playing together in their cage. They are about seven months old.


And, the last photo of the day...just because I like it, and it's my blog so I can post whatever I want. This is Wil and me in front of one of the lion cages.