Virginia Safari Park

Next up from our trip to Virginia is the Safari Park. My family had been a number of times before when we lived in Virginia, but somehow I had missed every trip? I had never been to any kind of Safari Park and had heard stories about the huge animals in your face, the smell, the drool, the mess... but it didn't mean anything to me until I experienced it for myself. :) It was amazing and disgusting all at the same time. I'm not the biggest animal lover and if you know me at all and my perfectionism then you know why. It was really cool to be able to see and sort of interact with these animals up close though!

I was amazed that we were able to drive right up next to them, and that's with the window rolled up...

Antelope


White-bearded Wildebeest


Rylan had a few moments of laughter while we were passing all of the animals (safely outside of the car).


...But the fact that we were also able to roll our windows down...


... and feed them was insane to me!!






And this is where Rylan became very mellow... he stayed put in the middle of the car and anytime I'd ask him a question, he'd just point to the animals with a solid face- no reaction.


We drove along the path and had made it through feeding a couple of different animals. I soon discovered though that when you pull up next to them with the window down and you don't have any food... that's when the real craziness begins. They'd stick there heads into the vehicle, some as far as their necks would allow them in search of food...

Okay a cow...not too bad, very slobbery though.


Then my mom decided to feed these psycho ostriches that would not go away. They have super long necks as I'm sure you already know and when she took away the bucket of food, they ducked their heads even further into the car looking for more. She didn't know what to do but to roll the window up and then she ended up rolling it too high so that when they finally pulled their neck back out, it's head was stuck in the car! Later we read in the guidebook they gave us that we were not to roll windows up while an animal was feeding, instead to slowly drive away and then they'd move out. It was the freakiest yet funniest experience. It was amazing to see them so close!


I didn't notice until looking at the pictures afterward that this little guy was trying to get a little taste of Addilyn. Check out that tongue! I'm sure her hand was resting there on the window sill to hold herself up. Addilyn wasn't spooked at all by the way. Every now and then she'd push away from the window, but for the most part she was fascinated by these creatures and wanted the window spot. She'd stare and scream with excitement like she does to everything!


It was a long ride and Rylan eventually fell asleep.


Just in time for us to drive by a Bison (Buffalo) who wanted to say hello. Poor kid woke up at the perfect time! I've never see Rylan move so fast!


He too was looking for something more... His head was bigger then our window, what a sight to see in real life!


I love this expression on Rylan's face... perfect to explain the entire experience.


After the drive, they had a Safari Village that we walked through. Rylan did a lot better here with all of the animals safely behind wired fences. He even fed some of the goats all by himself!


Addilyn- So happy!!


She was pointing away at all the different animals throughout the entire walk! I love how excited and vocal she gets about things that she sees now.


Rylan and Sevvy (Sevvy is one of my cousins- he came along on the adventure with us.)


Zebra Addilyn


Camel Rylan


Super cool experience! Well worth it!! :)