African Lion Safari

Yesterday, my family packed up and went over to Cambridge, Ontario to venture through the African Lion Safari. Haven't heard of it? Well, it's kind of like the zoo, except there's really no cages... Here's the commercial just 'cause I have the ability to put it in~

 

My dad's been addicted to his new GPS and took the liberty of using it to find the place. It was a good thing he did, because, honestly, I do not think Google would've helped much with finding this place. It's virtually in the middle of a million small roads and rural heaven, which is probably a smart idea since all these lions and cheetahs and such are running around free there...

After we headed out, our first stop was for gas 'cause Costco is awesome, has cheaper gas than everywhere else, and the Woodbridge one (which has the Costco gas station) is conveniently located beside a highway 401 entrance.

We also got our tickets from there, which was good 'cause it's like Asian heaven in there: everything is cheaper there at regular price than anywhere else~ (I'm like a walking talking Costco advertisement, though it's not like they're lacking customers...)

Once we were on the road, I tried taking a nap. Key word: tried. I have this inability to sleep in cars. Maybe I've watched one too many movies, or read one too many books, but in like half of them there are car accidents. One that stuck out to me was the beginning of If I Stay by Gayle Forman, where the MC falls asleep in the car ride and then next thing she knew, the car was flipped over, her parents were dead, and she was basically gone too. Yeah... I know that's a little weird, but that's how I function...

Anyways, instead of taking a nap, I stared out my window and watched trees pass. When we had handed over our tickets and parked, we lined up to get tickets for the guided tour bus. Everyone has the option to drive their cars through the animal areas, but you risk damaging your car. Also, the baboons were notorious for stealing souvenirs from tourist cars (wind shield wipers, antennae, etc) and leaving their own souvenirs (poop, scratches, etc). Already up to our limit in car expenses for the year (people like rear ending us at red lights (half the time they're using their cellphones or REALLY old)) we opted for the bus.

Map of African Lion Safari

After we got our ticket, set for the 3:30 ride, we went over to the Kenya Gate to get pizza for lunch.

At pretty much every tourist attraction, you'll find pizza somewhere. Pizza Pizza was the venue there - not our favourite company (they put A LOT of tomato sauce), but it was pretty good. Once we were crammed full of pizza (I ate four pieces 'cause my parents didn't want it to go to waste, but no one else wanted to eat it), we headed over to the 12:30 Elephant Swim event, where you basically watch four elephants swim. Sounds boring, but they were fun to watch and the little baby elephant was adorable.

After that, we went to go watch the Parrot Paradise Show, which featured a number of flying creatures, including fox bats, parrots, emus, and chickens, haha.

Clever parrot getting her food

Yeah, that's right, the parrot is biking on a tightrope

Other parrot sliding down the pole to get his food

There was anther bird, can't remember it's name, but he was a real talker, not a parrot. His name was Wasabi, and he said 'hello', 'happy birthday', etc, and sang 'O Canada'. It was funny, and very cute~

After that show, we went to see Birds of Prey, which is where the meat eating birds come in, like vultures, eagles, and owls. We saw a snowy owl and barn owl! Being the book worm I am, I loved that part thanks to Harry Potter, haha. We didn't get a good picture of it, unfortunately... /sad.

As we sat there watching, the sun scorched us. I'm now tanned, and my brother's neck got burned. It was harsh sun.

Setting out to the last show of the day, we were blessed with lovely clouds to keep us sane. It was called "Elephant Round-Up". It was quite fun, and the speakers were friendly and happy. They also joked around which was fun/cute. The elephants were adorable too. They were very talented elephants. We watched them paint, move logs, play soccer, lie down, and do some tricks.

It was a lot of fun~ I think that was my favourite show.

After, we raced back to go on the guided tour around the place. It was cool~ There were baboons hitching rides on some of the cars, which was funny, and then an ostrich was staring at a car, which had reflective windows, and our guide was like 'that ostrich, right now, is seeing another ostrich and is trying to get to it, which displays their utter lack of intelligence.'

We saw cheetahs, elephants, rhinos, ostriches, zebras, giraffes, etc. Our camera died by then though, which totally sucks... so, yeah, no pics from that. But it was a lot of fun.

Then we went back and rode a little train that goes around on a 10 minute ride, and we saw swans and storks. Later, we got funnel cakes. I think it's safe to say that it was freaking amazingly delicious~ I haven't had one in years ! Yumm~~

After, we went to the gift shop and got a bunch of goodies~

Along with this, I got a bracelet, but this little tiger was absolutely adorable!

Hmm, not a bad pic for my cell phone.. (was testing it out, haha).

African Lion Safari is definitely a place worth going sometime. When we go there, I was a little wary of how the day would pan out, but I had a blast, surprisingly, haha~

-fishandchips