Safari Park

Some people go on vacation to have an adventure, but our main goal on vacation was to relax. We went on two outings during our vacation, though. The first place we went was a Safari Park that was just down the road from where we were staying.

Check out this beautiful peacock.


Ellie got to see an elephant for the first time. She wasn't too thrilled about turning her back to the elephant to have a photo taken.


We saw a bunch of bears that had just been fed pumpkins. One advantage to learning the language here is that we were able to understand our guide telling us that one of the bears had climbed in a tree. He fell off the tree, broke his arm, and later had to have it amputated.


The glorious Bengal tiger. We were staying at a hospital compound. When we got back we were chatting with some of the doctors, and they told us a story about these tigers. Apparently, they spend a few hours a day in the cage so they can be seen by tourists, and then they are let out to run in their larger space for the rest of the time. They are kept on a schedule. One time the zoo changed the schedule, but the locals weren't informed. Unfortunately, a poor lady and her son had snuck into the tigers' land and were trying to steal wood for cooking. The lady and her son were mauled by the tigers, and then taken to the hospital where we were staying. The lady didn't survive, but the son did. Sad.
While we were there the tigers just laid around.


The highlight of the trip for us was getting to see the hippos.


Just in case you weren't aware, hippos are HUGE.


In the middle of the park, there was a 10 story tower we could climb. Because I learned well from my dad the skill of stair counting, I can tell you even now, over a week later, that there were 182 stairs... just in case you were interested.


Ellie was more interested in me than the view.


And I thought it was fun to see how small the bus looked from the top. Hahaha. You'd think I'd never been in a tall building or an airplane before.


At the entrance of the park there were some statues of animals. We had a slightly pushy, very-eager-for-a-tip guide, so he made sure we got pictures of Ellie on all of the animals, whether we wanted to or not.

So, here she is on a peacock...


on a lion with, yes, a dinosaur in the background...


and on a tiger. Can you see how thrilled she is to be doing these pictures?


Did you see the yellow flower in Ellie's hand? As we were walking through the hospital compound to go on our adventure, I picked it up off the ground for her. She held it the ENTIRE trip!

On our way home, it started to rain. I walked under the umbrella, but Franklin and Ellie enjoyed the cool rain.


The next day we were hoping to go to the beach. As we neared the guesthouse, I asked Franklin if he still thought we should go the next day.... he said as long as his pants dried (he's a light packer). You'll be glad to know that we did go to the beach, and hopefully you'll get to see those photos soon.