Saturday, May 15, 2010

Where the Wild Things Are


Riff and I packed our bags, grabbed our funny hats and binoculars and went on Safari a couple of weeks ago. Bumping across the African wilderness in our open jeep, we spotted tigers, giraffe's, zebra's and lions. Then into the jungle we went to communicate with the gorilla's, monkeys and parrots who live there.


We wrestled and tamed a spotted leopard.  Had him almost eating out of our hands before we moved on.





Back in North America, we ran across a black bear, (I was a little worried and hid behind a tree!), some Rocky Mountain Elk and lots and lots of goats.



Well, okay, so we didn't really have on the funny hats, we left the binoculars in the car and our open-jeep was really only our feet.  We weren't in the wilds of Africa, only Oregon and the spotted leopard we tamed was a 4 month old cub named Diego who was born to a spotted daddy leopard and a sleek black mama leopard at the Wildlife Safari in Bandon, Oregon.  But still - it was adventurous and very very cool.
These guys are called Capybara, are from South America and are the largest rodent in the world.  Not sure if my cats could handle mice this size or not.  I'm thinking the Capy's would win that fight.
Don't they kind of look like big Guinnea Pigs? 


The Llama's were not real impressed with me trying to pet them.  Kept frowning at me.  I think they could detect the knitter in me and knew that I was eyeballing their wool coats and dreaming of new sweaters...
Ah, he's just so sweet when he's sleeping. 

Can you help me determine which one's the old goat in this picture? heeheehee

"Ya'all come back now, ya hear!", says Mrs. Wallabee. 

7 comments:

luci said...

I am sure Mrs. Wallabee speaks knowlegably and you will indeed, go back!

Adrienne said...

You had me going there! We have something like that (sorta) nearby. Henry's class just took a field trip there - I don't know who acted more like animals ... the ones on the outside of the fence or the ones in - ha ha!

Oh my gosh - the word verificaiton is "foxess" - how did blogger know ;-)

Tipper said...

What fun! How can those large rodents be so cute-when the little tiny ones that sometimes get in my basement seem soooo scary : ) Glad you guys had a good time!

Unknown said...

Wow, you guys where very brave to pet that leopard. He looks kind of mean.

~ The Jolly Bee ~ said...

Hilarious post -- I love that the llamas could tell there was a knitter in their midst. So cute. And that lion -- he looks adorable, but man I wouldn't want to get him angry.

PS. I just got the "The House at Riverton" by Kate Morton. Have you read that one yet?

Twisted Fencepost said...

Sounds like my kinda place!
That wallaby is adorable!!!

Sarah said...

Great pictures of the animals. I love the sleeping lion and the wallaby particularly!