On Safari

 

     One of the highlights of my past few weeks was my visit to Africam Safari, a wildlife venue in which guests drive through different parts of the zoo using their own vehicle. I was lucky to get to take the two hour trip to Puebla, Mexico with several of my housemates and the headmaster of NSM. We were surprised to find out after arriving at the zoo that my boss is actually friends with several of the zoo's board members. I was excited to get what I hoped would be a VIP experience, perhaps a chance to feed or touch some of the animals up close.

     Then, our tour guide hopped in the car with us and we started our excursion. We began with grazing animals like gazelles, sheep and ostrich. It was neat to drive around them with our car doors open, both to keep the car a reasonable temperature and to feel closer to the animals. As you might expect, these animals took no particular interest in us, except to just give us a vacant stare. Upon reaching one of the checkpoints, we got out of the car to take a look at the gift shop, where I browsed through a really cool collection of key chains including different animals from the zoo. As we were expecting a special lunch later on, we stocked up on a staple Mexican snack- chips with hot sauce.

    After resuming our car ride, we were quick to come up on the tiger section. I wasn't surprised to see just how seriously they took security, with several sections of separation divided by manually controlled gates; of course, we were even asked to close our car doors. And you know what? After patiently waiting to get through all of this security, the fearsome tigers were just taking a nap!! Next, we got out of the car again to the tiger viewing area, which afforded us a much closer view, albeit through thick glass.

    We got back in the car once again, and took a quick drive to their performance venue, where we watched a bird show in which the trainers demonstrated various tricks that the birds could do. The kids in the audience loved when an adult was chosen and instructed to hold a one hundred peso bill in the air, only to have it snatched by one of the birds! After that, my group was given the special treat of visiting the aviary. We were told about the feeding habits and personalities of the various species of birds, and then the trainers brought several birds which were allowed to perch on our hands.

    

      Following our stay in the incredibly noisy aviary, we were brought to the roof of a building overlooking the grazing animals. I wasn't really sure what we were there for until our guide brought out a bunch of branches and buckets of oats. I had hardly put two and two together when I turned around  and came face to face with a big giraffe! Each of us was permitted to feed the giraffes, which more often than not turned into a little tug of war between two giraffes competing for the same branch or bucket of oats. I couldn't help but laugh when the giraffes would extend their long grey tongues to try to snatch branches from my unsuspecting coworkers. As fun as this was, my stomach was starting to rumble, and giraffe feeding time wasn't helping my cause.

     Finally, we were picked up by a car containing several board members, and brought to the VIP lounge, an enormous tree-house accessible only by a network of rickety rope bridges. I was really impressed by the authenticity of our lunch venue, complete with a fifty-person table that was partially glass so as to see the animals below. There was a variety of tribal decorations, and the nicest bamboo bathroom I've ever seen (actually, the only one). I was fortunate to be sitting next to one of the owners during lunch, and he proceeded to tell me about his family history with the zoo. When it was time to go, we were given gift baskets of various Mexican sweets and well wishes for a safe trip home.

     Thanks for tuning in, all. Expect my next post to be a lot of fun as well, as I will be writing about the NSM Bonfire Night. You're going to get a kick out of the mustache that I grew for the evening contest!

Until next time,

Trevor