San Antonio- Day 2- Part 2

As promised here are the wildlife safari pictures. We all really enjoyed the safari and feeding all of the animals. Clara got to get out of her carseat and thoroughly enjoyed her newfound freedom. Robert slept through the first half of the safari.

We had a guide with pictures and descriptions of all the animals, but still our answer every time Clara asked "What is that?" was usually "Some kind of deer thing", at least for the first half of the safari. Then we got into the more well-known animals. You know, the ostrich, zebra, donkey, llama, etc. We were experts when we got to the second half.

Close up of a deer thing

Some kind of reindeer looking thing

Another deer thing with pointy horns

Awwww. A baby deer thing

So we're cruising along when we get to the scary part. I couldn't roll my window up fast enough when the ostrich came trotting up to my window. Those things are scary! Look at this face. He'd have pecked our eyes out had we not gotten the window up quick enough.

We threw the food far, far away from the car and high-tailed it out of the ostrich territory and into the zebras. They were very nice. But they wanted in too. You're not supposed to feed them up close or pet them, but who could resist this face? Not many I gather since the car in front of us had about 10 of them trying to squeeze their heads in the windows opening their mouths so that they could pitch the pellets right in.






Robert woke up at this point, so I got him out of his carseat and he watched the animals for awhile before he got hungry. So I just nursed him in the front seat. We're driving along when here comes another ostrich. I'm pushing the button trying to roll my window up, all the while screaming. It gets to my window and starts pecking. Robert unlatches of course to see what all the ruckus is about. I'm half laughing, half screaming leaning over into Chris' seat, exposed because my nursling is not longer nursing.

Chris is laughing and yelling at me to hand him the little camera so he can video it. I'm not even hearing him because I'm in survival mode here. As soon as it walks aways, I pick the camera up from between my legs and hand it to him. Seriously, I couldn't even think as that thing was pecking away at my window. Chris was laughing at me and couldn't believe that I wasn't able to even register what he was asking of me. Hello, I had a baby in my lap, my breast exposed, with a 10 foot bird pecking inches from my face! It's hard to think clearly when you're screaming.

It was Clara's turn to freak out next. I'll start out by saying that emu's are freaky looking. I'd never seen one that close before and they look like dinosaur birds or something. Their heads look prehistoric. I didn't know that Clara had gone to the back of the van and was crouching in the floor for some reason. Well, an emu came around the back of the van and she happened to look up right as he peers inside the car. She came unglued!

I just happened to be filming two gazelle things fighting when the screaming ensued, so I have it on video. Chris says I should post the video but I see the irony of my posting a video of her screaming with me in the background saying "Clara, it's ok. They can't get you." all while laughing. So I'll refrain.

Who could resist this face?

The donkeys were at the end of the safari and those little boogers are smart. There was a team of two of them working for food. One walked right in front of the car and just stood there motionless while his friend came to the window for food. As soon as his friend had his fill, he let us pass.

Once you get through the safari and back to the front, you can park and walk around some. They had lots more animals including giraffes, peacocks, parrots, lemurs and a petting zoo.


After getting pooped on by the goats, we went to see the black and white ruffled lemurs. They were being pretty boring and we walked away not long after. It wasn't busy at all so we were letting Clara have a bit of freedom to run around and she was probably 30-40 feet away from us when the lemurs went CRAZY! They were howling and barking at each other and they were loud. Clara again had an unbelievable freak out. Even I jumped they we so loud. She shrieked, covered her ears and in a panic just started running in circles. Poor girl probably thought something was coming to eat her and we weren't right there. I was more sympathetic this time, but it was still funny.

This was the first time I'd ever seen baby lemurs. So, so cute! Mama sat and nursed her two babies and when they were done, they were holding on to her, climbing over each other on her back.



And here's the baby giraffe. Giraffes are currently Clara's favorite animal.

We had lunch at the restaurant there and were pleasantly surprised. It was very good food. Robert fell asleep and I hoped he would stay asleep and get a good nap as we headed to the caverns, but alas, he woke up as I was putting him in his carseat.