Woburn Safari Park

A few weeks back, Lyana said, “Let’s go on a safari!”  Sounds good to me.  Where would you like to go? 

Woburn Safari Park in Milton Keynes, right here in the UK of course. ( www.woburn.co.uk/safari/ )

So we all jumped into our safari jeep (blue 2007 Vauxhall Zafira) and off we went. 

Now I’ve been driving for many years (got my license at 15) and I’ve had my share  of creature watching from the car window, but I admit I was unprepared for what I was about to encounter. 

Quick, look out the window, it’s a . . . gnu?

Who gnu?

Don’t  blink just yet, there’s a rhinoceros crossing up ahead.

You don’t want to make these guys angry – look at the size of that one’s horn!

Just before this picture was taken Katya exclaimed, “He’s white with black stripes!”  The age-old mystery has been solved.

Now in case you are wondering, the animals really are just outside the car.  There is nothing save some tempered glass and fiberglass separating us from the WILD!!  On that same note, the carnivores were in a separate enclosure, so don’t think the zebras were in any danger.

Had to zoom in just a little to get these lionesses in their resting spot.

Did NOT have to zoom in at all to get this hungry girl.  She was only 10 feet from the car.

As if it wasn’t clear enough already to keep your windows closed, just before we drove into monkey land, there was another reminder.  And soft-top convertibles, by the way, are not allowed where the monkeys dwell.

.

Because they like to hitch rides.  This girl here scared the daylights out of everyone in our car (except me).  I was stopped when she jumped on, but soon drove again and for a few minutes she stayed there.  I thought we were monkey-less at that point, until one of the kids screamed – they saw a monkey leg brush past their window. 

Turns out there were a couple more hitchhikers on the roof.

About 15 minutes later they got bored of our Zafira and jumped off (or maybe because I hit the brakes too hard).  And we continued our journey through the park.  We drove alongside all sorts of animals, and enjoyed every part of it.  The best part was the kids didn’t complain about tired feet!  Best zoo ever.

At the end of the safari drive, there is another part of the zoo with more traditional enclosures for small animals, like this small aviary.  We bought a bit of bird food and split it up between me and the kids, because the keeper promised that the birds would land on us to eat the food and who doesn’t want a bird to land on them?  Lyana, that’s who.  The keep also promised that the birds won’t land on you if you don’t have food. 

Lyana did NOT have any food in her hand.

The rest of us did. 

Alex inspects his hand just after the birds landed on him and ate all his food.  Mark is just trying to make sense of all this.

I’m just hoping I escape without any bird droppings down my neck.

No droppings for me (or anyone else, thankfully).  After a thorough hand-washing, we were on our way for more fun.  At one point we jumped on one of these things.  (included with the price of admission). 

We went on a train ride (also included in the admission price).  It wasn’t much of  a ride – only went by the camels and the donkeys.

As the train went by, we reached out the window (no glass) and stroked their fur.

I don’t know what a conker is, but beware, they’re falling.

The Lemurs were wild and playful in their enclosure. 

It’s recommended you touch only the black and white ones (forgot their real names).  The other guys are not so friendly, though cute.

Just look at those beady, mischievous eyes.

Oh and remember, these animals might take a nasty piece out of your hand if you’re not careful.

So that’s it.  All done.  Posts like this are always difficult to write because there was so much more that we did and saw, but no pictures to show for it.  And if there aren’t any pictures, who cares, right?  No, not really, but it’s just so much easier to tell a story with pictures.  I mean, there was a Noah’s Ark indoor playland with huge slides and jungle gym (I was too busy playing to take any pictures), birds of prey and an elephant show (well, we took photos, but I didn’t want to put them in the post for some reason), other random animals from wild turkeys to sea lions even.  I mean it was one good zoo.  There, I said it and I’m proud of it, too.  I liked it. 

So that’s it.  Think of this penguin as you go to bed tonight.

Rob