Saturday,
February 6, 2010
SAFARI PARK
AND
PACKING TO GO HOME!
Since we had an extra day and the thought of spending another
day in our hotel room or shopping on the island made our eyes
glaze over we decided to go on an adventure. Consider it our
last hurrah in China.
Our guide wrote Safari Park in Chinese and we hopped into a taxi
for about a 45 minute ride. I still find how the Chinese drive
fascinating. I’m convinced an average Chinese taxi driver could
come to the US and dominate NASCAR, no doubt scoffing at silly
seatbelts, helmets, or roll bars.
Once we got to the park we boarded a train that took us closer
than we’ve ever been to the animals. The thing that I found
remarkable was the sheer number there was of each animal. If the
sign said lions sure enough soon you’d be looking at 15 of them.
White tigers, which I thought would be rare, next thing we’d see
a dozen at once. I remember standing in line for 45 minutes at
an Oklahoma zoo to see one single koala on loan from Australia.
What a let down that was! It could have been a stuffed animal
glued to a fake tree for all I knew. At this park we saw about
15 koalas including the world’s only twin babies.
The proximity to the animals fascinated Mike and I think this
might have awakened a deep-seeded dream of being a nature
photographer. He went hog-wild taking hundreds of photographs.
Does he really think I am going to print out 100 pictures of
giraffes? Occasionally I had to remind him, “Hey where are the
couple of kids we brought?” or “How ‘bout some pictures of the
kids?”
He was in heaven before we even saw the pandas but once we got
to them his eyes got that far away look in them and the camera
shutter started smoking.
I have to admit the pandas were incredible. They were about 4
feet from us chomping down on bamboo. It wasn’t just 1 or 2
pandas, it was probably closer to 15 or 20. Our guide later told
us that many were relocated to Guangzhou due to the earthquake.
If you really want to see pandas in China go to the Safari Park.
Mike would have stayed there all day but the rest of us thought
that 30 minutes of panda watching was plenty.
This was a real up-close and personal time with the animals. We
took pictures with white tiger cubs, fed branches to giraffes
and even apples to a tapir. We could have even rode an elephant
around but decided to skip that.
The park also had an area with rides. Cody and Sarah got to
experience kid-sized amusement park rides, which turned out to
be the perfect end to the day. As we left the sky opened up and
rain poured down, but luckily we were met at the exit by a man
asking if we needed a “taxi”. Taxi is in quotes because it was
really just a guy with a car trying to make a buck. It all
worked out okay but the paranoid mama bear in me was sitting in
the back seat planning all kinds of judo chops on him if he had
nefarious plans for my family. If he only knew the imaginary
martial arts I was going to let loose…
The park was a memorable experience. Much more excited than
shopping on the island could ever be. Now we are all packed up
and excited to get HOME!!!
With love from China,
Leanne, Mike, Cody and Sarah |
Pandas taking it easy at the Safari Park.
Cody feeding a giraffe lunch.
Sarah and Cody on a ride. She never stopped smiling.
Sarah and Mike on the merry-go-round.
Leanne and Sarah holding the white tiger cub. She wouldn't touch
it. |
