11.20.2013

Safari Park

The next day we went to San Diego Zoo Safari Park. We learned from our city zoo experience the day before to give ourselves a little more time. So we arrived shortly after the safari park opened ready for a day of fun!

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Garytt was fascinated by the giant map as we walked in.
 
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The boys really wanted to see the elephants first, so off we went.

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Along the way we found a zoo keeper that was holding a small animal called a tenric (similar to a hedgehog but smaller).  

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Then we found a goat pen where the boys could go in and pet and brush them. I had to stay outside the fence with all of our stuff though because there were lots of warning about how goats will literally eat anything...ha!

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Next, we found the bat house. Garytt wasn't too sure about the bats but we convinced him to go in.

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We found the elephants!

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Garytt did his elephant impression.


Although we found the elephants, they were off in the distance. So, we walked around to get a closer look...good thing the boys had maps.

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We found a better place to view the elephants. The boys loved watching them.

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After viewing the elephants, we headed over to the African Safari Tram area, which wasn't far. We also found a eatery and decided to feed the boys before getting on the tram.

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Their meals came with animal cookies, of course. Garytt saw this one and said it looked like a a cat in a shoe.
 
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After we took a picture of Garytt and his cookie, Westyn wanted us to take a picture of him with his cookie.


After enjoying a nice lunch, we headed over to the tram.

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The line for the trams wasn't very long. Right at the beginning we saw some flamingos and a cheetah (obviously in separate areas).

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Then the tram headed out farther into "Africa" where we were able to see lots of animals in a more natural feeling habitat.

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As we circled back around to the tram stop, we got to see the cheetah again. Justin caught her just at the right moment.

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Justin and I found the safari tram interesting. The boys seemed to lose interest a little bit as the animals were so far away. After the tram ride, we were walking back by the elephants and noticed they were having a demonstration.

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We headed toward the other side of the park and came upon the Lorikeet Landing. We headed inside to checkout the lorikeets.

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I decided to go out and get some of the lorikeet nectar so Garytt could try to feed one. The lady selling the nectar had this big speach about the lorikeets weren't hungry and she couldn't guarantee they would eat the nectar. So, I just got one little cup instead of two and headed back in. Justin started with the nectar to show Garytt how to do it and it didn't take long before he had a bird.

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Then we let Garytt hold the cup.

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Suddenly a bird landed on my head. Westyn was ready to try to grab it, so I had to hold his hands down.

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We ended up having to have a zoo employee help us remove the bird from my head before we left. I definitely think the lorikeets were one of the highlights of the park for the boys. We left the lorikeets and headed out for the next exhibit when we came upon some tables and a snack shop where we could get refills on our drinks and let the boys have a snack. Ok, they were hilarious! They were making silly faces and just cracking us up!

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We finished our snacks and Garytt led the way to the gorillas.

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Then we found an area with birds. There was an egg shell that the boys could climb in for a picture...yeah it didn't work out as planned.

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We were pretty much done with our day when we saw that there was a craft station where kids could make their own safari hats...we couldn't miss that!

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The boys loved their hats, especially Garytt.
 
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Garytt loved his hat so much that he started dancing and making silly faces...and, yes, the girl passing by is pretty sure he's totally crazy.

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Finally, it was time to move on but we found a rhino statue to sit on...hard to tell it's a rhino in the picture though.

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We thought we were heading out of the park as we came upon a turtle demonstration.
 
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After the turtle demonstration, it was definitely time to head out. We had a full, fun day at the safari park!

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