Day trip #1: African Lion Safari

For someone who enjoys frequent visits to the zoo, even in the dead of winter, it seems odd that I haven't been to African Lion Safari since I was a kid. For those of you who have never been, African Lion Safari is like the zoo in that it has lions and various other exotic animals, but instead of walking around and looking at them in cages, you drive through their cages and hope you don't get eaten (or have your car torn appart by baboons).

My darling husband and his fancy camera I'm sure have many pics to rival National Geographic's greatest hits. But he only brought his super-zoom penis lense, which wouldn't focus close enough to take shots of baboons leaping on the hood of our car. I knew there was a reason I brought my focus-impaired camera with senior-citizen shutter speed (the above is like my eighteenth try of capuring the speedy primates in focus).

Here's another:

If one is worried that the monkies might leave presents and/or take souvenirs, there is a route that bypasses the baboons, but that's for fuddy duddys. The baboons are the best part. (An inspection of our '99 Forester reveals that it is now all dented and rusty, I might think about suing the park).

Here's a good shot of the zebras coming to check out Adam's fancy camera.

After the drive-through safari there's lots of fun stuff, especially if (like us) you have a toddler. There's a small ballpit for kids under five, and a water park, and a some animal shows. William loved the goats at the petting zoo. He even kissed a baby goat (cute) and patted another goat right on the anus (gross). It was a challenge to keep his from playing in the goat-dropping-rich gravel. Kids have no sense of disgusting.

We saw an elephant show (anyone else want to sing Skinnamarink e-dink e-dink?) and a bird of prey show then decided we were too hot and went to the splash area. They have two sections of the waterparkishness, one for big kids (though not as big as me), and one for little kids, with a water slide so tame that William can go up and down it himself (it was actually too slow for him and he had to push himself down it).

Anyway I have to put William to bed now. Also my husband informs me that he has some good pictures "for my blog" so perhaps I shall edit this entry later with some National-Geographic-style pics.

*Update*: Adam has so many super great pics that I can't post them all here. But check out this link to his best (there are some good shots of William in the waterpark. Also I believe #16 is of him kissing a goat):

http://www.filipowicz.ca/galleries/lionsafari.html