For several years now we have said we wanted to visit the Zoo on Thanksgiving. Less people and not as hot. This year we really wanted to take advantage of our time off and stay around the house instead of heading to the beach. I was determined we were actually going to make it to the zoo this time. The last time we went, KFC was a baby! After checking out the Zoo's website I found that several exhibits were not open anymore due to death of animals or renovating or had just closed down for the winter! I personally don't think our Zoo is really worth it - animals are always far away or you can't find the animals, and its a lot of walking to not see very much. Then I remembered I had been wanting to check out a local drive thru animal park! SOOO glad we went! You were up close and personal with all the animals! Complete opposite of the experience you would get at the regular zoo! We decided to take the horse drawn wagon ride since there was NO way Hubby would let our car go through the park and get all dirty from the animals sticking their heads in your car! The wagon ride made the experience much more enjoyable! Easier access to the animals and we had our own tour guide! We were all given a bucket of feed and instructed to let the big birds feed out of the bucket, smaller of the big animals will eat out of your hand, and the larger animals will open their mouths and you drop the food in. I let Hubby feed the animals while I took the pictures. Less messy :) Little P seemed indifferent of the animals. She never was scared but not over eager about them. KFC seemed to enjoy it! Here are some of the pictures I got...
Waiting to go!
There were 2 Zebras. I love zebras but these 2 were bullies! They stayed at the beginning and blocked cars! This one in the picture below probably stood there 5 minutes before moving out of the way and was totally backing up traffic. We were instructed not to feed them so I don't know if they were ornery about that or not. But we did see a bucket of food that was accidentally dropped near the zebra and he went to it and started bucking. Maybe thats why we don't feed them??
We were also instructed not to feed these long horned animals too. Guy said they will get angry because they want more food than whats in our little buckets and they have charged and tipped over a wagon and chased after the people on it!!!
Hubby liked him the best! Called him "CowDog" because he looked like a cross between a cow and a hound dog! We got a kick out of the weird hump on his back and the large amount of excess skin under his chest and belly area!
There was a section just for this Rhino. Guy said in the wild the males live in solitude and usually stays in a small area. He said they could live up to 40 years old and I think this one was around 15-20 years old. He weighed 5,000 lbs!!!
Feeding the animals!
I Loved the Giraffes! So awesome that we were so close and able to feed them!
There was also a large area called the "petting zoo". I don't get it cause you really couldn't pet any of the animals in there unless you reached through the fence. The camel was so funny! KFC kept chucking handfulls of food in its mouth!
This little goat had tiny horns so he was the only that was able to get his head thru a hole in the fence and eat some of the food pellets that didn't make it in.
We can never get everyone looking :(
I am SO ready to go back again! Maybe in the spring when its not as cold!
