I have been researching fun places for families / children, and discovered a place not far from us called Tiger World. It is a sanctuary of sorts for lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, etc. tucked away on roughly four acres about one hour's drive from our house.
We headed up there after breakfast Saturday morning and had a wonderful time!
Mike and I were both excited to see how Ella and Aidan would react to the animals. I have been chomping at the bit to take them to the zoo, but we have been tentative to do so, wondering if they would get anything out of it just yet.
Let's just say that they are ready! Both Ella and Aidan were immediately captivated by the first tigers we saw as we entered the park. This was not a fancy place by any means - it is clearly more about the animals than about human comfort. It was nice to see a place in which the employees were walking around and telling you each animal's personal story.
At any rate, we were greeted by two "toddler" tigers right away. Ella and Aidan were amazed and kept shouting "Tiger, Raa"!
Mike bought a bag of feed and we were instantly surrounded by ducks and peacocks, who joined us as our private escorts for most of the remainder of our time there.
They had a blast feeding them, and neither Aidan nor Ella showed one ounce of fear or hesitation - they ran right up to the animals, with Ella typically shouting "Hello!" to each one. Both Ella and Aidan can now also distinguish between a duck and goose.
We were witness to some sort of goose argument out on the lake as two geese got into a fight, grabbing each other's necks and holding their heads under water. All the while, all of the other geese gathered around them in a circle, honking loudly, as if rooting on in support of their favorite to win. In the end, one sad goose flew away and was banished to the lake shore. It sure was a sight to see!
We moved on from our flocked friends to see a few small monkeys, and then we saw the lions!
At one point, one of the male lions stood up and let out a huge roar, which was returned by the three male lions in the neighboring pens. It was simply amazing!
From the lions, we headed to the bears. The bears were Ella and Aidan's favorite animals in the whole place. Aidan even got up in a bench and sat watching them in awe for several minutes.
After the bears we came along more monkeys, and Mike made a new friend! One of the monkeys clearly knew the typical routine, because he jumped right up onto the fence and as Mike tossed him a peanut he would catch it in mid air!
All in all it was a fantastic experience and Ella has talked about it ever since, telling us all about what she saw - bear, fruit (the bear was eating fruit - this made a big impression on her!), goose, lion, and fence (yep, she loves to talk about the fence!).
We are definitely ready for the zoo!
No comments:
Post a Comment