Adventures at Safari West

After a quick check-in we were directed to our truck, introduced to our driver, Matt and our safari adventure began.  Matt went over the rules and advised us that you had to be a certain height in order to ride on top of the safari trucks.  As you can see, Yaya was doing all she could to stretch and make the height requirements.  No such luck! 

She didn't get too upset and was ultimately happy to be along for the ride.  Here is one of several groups we came across while on our safari.  Their truck was similar to ours but we had fewer people.

After passing through the first set of fences we met this duo.  The male is behind the female attempting to "court" her if you will.  He followed her around like a puppy nudging her bottom or hip every minute or so with his nose.  Wouldn't it be fun to watch a giraffe be born?

We also met this sweet shy giraffe named Suzie.  She played peek-a-boo with us for quite a while.

One of our next stops was to see a heard of Watussi Cattle.  OH MY GOODNESS are these things HUGE!  Our driver Matt didn't let their size intimidate him though.  When they refused to move he just squirted them with a water bottle and they stood up and walked away.  AMAZING! 

Here Matt introduces us to Fred.  As you can see Fred is dead.  He has been gone for awhile now but his skull is used as a teaching tool to show what the insides of their horns are made of and look like.  When Fred was alive the outside of his horns had a smooth shiny coating much like our fingernails. 

After passing through another set of fences we came across a heard of zebra and eland. There were several baby zebra in the bunch but this adorable little fella was full of energy.  I shared a photo with the eland in my collage yesterday.  There is something amazingly regal about the zebra don't you think?  I may have a new favorite in the animal kingdom.

I should preface this next story with some history.  Since I received my new camera for Christmas I have dreamed of taking the ultimate photo of a giraffe on this trip.  I couldn't wait to get UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL.  Bird and I were in luck too.  We were on top of the truck when our guide noticed these two male giraffe's NECKING.  Yes, I said "Necking."  If I recall correctly they wrap their necks around eachother and hit eachother as a way of determining who's the alpha.  Anyway, as we watched this beautiful yet rough display our driver asked if we'd like to get closer.  We all excitedly agreed. 

You can see how high we were on the truck but this giraffe still towered above us. Matt pulled up close to him but kept a safe distance. The next thing we knew he turned, looked at us and began walking closer and closer to us.  Before I knew it he was at my side, only a few feet away from my face.  THIS WAS MY CHANCE! The moment I had been dreaming about

AND

 I

 FROZE!

 I mean FROZE in my tracks.  Nothing on earth could have convinced me to stick a camera in his face.  My dreams of the perfect giraffe shot were a faint memory in that moment.  All I could think about was his long neck wrapped around my own. LOL I'm ashamed to admit this beautiful creature's face was only 4 feet from mine and I couldn't move a muscle... I COULDN'T EVEN BREATHE!   Thankfully, Bird understood my statue like pose and we had a good chuckle about it after the moment passed.

So much for my career with National Geographic!  This sweet giraffe decided to take pitty on me and came out to pose.  It's not quite the shot I hoped for but it'll do.  Somehow this face doesn't seem quite so threatening or HUGE!

After a quick pit stop Matt took us on the walking part of the tour.  He showed us the cheetahs, monkeys, and a few other critters I couldn't begin to recall the names of.

  However, I have two stories yet to tell.  Upon walking through the double gates of the bird aviary we were introduced to this friendly little bird. I believe he's a Victoria Crowned Pigeon. Anyway, he decided Scott AKA Bird's shoelace was the cat's meow.

He followed Bird and Yaya through the entire tour and actually looked like he might come home with us too.  Can you see the sad and rejected look on his face as we say good-bye?

I think it's safe to say Yaya's highlight and favorite encounter of the day came towards the very end.  A little Blue Duiker just like the one below ran right up to Yaya and touched her hand with his tiny nose.  Needless to say, she was smitten and each time she came across another one she would say, "Come on.  It's ok.  I won't hurt you."  

The photos below of the Ringtailed Lemur are a few of my favorite from the day.  If you are an animal lover like we are I would highly recommend setting aside a day or two to stay at or visit Safari West's Wildlife Preserve.  They have over 400 exotic mammals and birds to learn about and see.  The preserve is situated on 400 acres of private owned land.  The Lang family own and live on the property.  Their hope is to raise awareness about these animals and raise numbers of many endangered species.  If you want to learn more about Safari West and their mission click on the link HERE.  One day soon we plan on going back and spending the night in one of their authentic African safari tents among these amazing animals.