On Safari

On Thursday, James and his class journeyed on a field trip to a wonderful local institution: Safari West. He had a great trip and conked out super early that evening at home, after completing a short homework write-up of the day.

I was bummed to miss this trip, but fortunately, the kids and I had already visited a few months back during one of their Open House days. Below are some pictures from that trip. James saw all these animals with his class as well.

Giraffes are Up Close and Personal. If they are on or too close to the road,
the tram stops until they decide to move, which makes for some great photo ops.

Oh all right ... be off, puny humans!

Rhinos. We learned that they are wide(-mouthed) rhinos, misnamed "white" rhinos.
Very cool to see trotting right in front of you.

African cows. Their huge horns keep them cool during hot spells.

Flamingo Island. Purty.

Meerkatz; yes, we all broke into song.

Whistling ducks. No lie.

James did well with both these tours. It was more of a challenge to keep him close to us and away from wandering birds on the Aviary foot tour portion of the expedition. His aide reports he did fine, although being out in the sun so much did wear him out more quickly than usual.

Safari West had a new addition to their family - an ostrich! I think the aide and I were more excited about this, because of the presentation James had made for his class.

I asked James what his favourite part of the trip was, and he replied "Giraffes!" That made me smile -- I liked them a lot too. They were gentle, yet seemed to have such quirky personalities (that I never suspected during previous zoo visits). I mean, look:

I don't ever remember seeing them stick out their tongues.
This giraffe did nuthin' but!

Giraffe tongues are purple (to me they looked black or blue) so they won't get sunburned.

Safari West is not what I think of when I think of the Wine Country, but I definitely fell in love with it, and want to visit again soon. You definitely feel transported, which makes for a very nice break from the mundane and routine.