Safari Was Walked

 We actually did it and surprising enough, the toughest part for Jon was just walking up the hill from where we parked. We did take a few bench breaks here and there but spent 4 and a half hours at the park, it was a bit confusing but also fun. So photos in no particular order:

I got a picture of the entrance pavilion on our way out. I don't have a lot of memories of the last time I was there but I do love those banners. We decided to go left instead of right, the right side was through the large aviary which I seem to recall being the only way you could go last time. So we ended up going through a gorgeous yellow bamboo forest. 

 

 

Jon said that hat was about his style and even dared to look at the price. Let's just say it was the cost of having a good pizza at our favorite place. Not worth it and he doesn't really wear hats anyway. The sculptures were impressive as well and life size of course.

 

 

Then there was this gorgeous specimen (not sure if male or female) just chilling with breakfast leftovers. Sumatran tigers are smaller than Bengal almost by half in weight but that paw was still about the size of my open hand. It took two tries to get a picture when it turned to look at me. Seriously, there wasn't many people right next to me and it turned and looked straight at me.

 

Just a shot of one waterfall you can walk behind, it was rather pretty and I took a video as well but have to upload it to computer but it's water, falling....and the stream below. Rhinos were all in a cuddle pile on the hill, I had hoped to take the safari tram but it was an hour wait and I don't even wait that long in line at Disneyland. Used to be a multi car tram but they've changed a lot of things obviously. And of course, lizards, because I think they're still fun to watch.

I don't remember what the name of that animal it was but it looked like a cross between a wild pig and a tapir, and of course, ducks. Then there's the gorgeous shot of the Nairobi Fishing Village that is absolutely stunning. When we walked over to it, the back side was drained which kind of ruined the illusion of water coming from the river.

Black Crowned Cranes and a species of Hornbill that was very active. Couldn't have been so different, cranes were just chillin', scratching for grit and the hornbills were flying back and forth, they're huge birds and due to other people standing there I couldn't get a good shot of them.

Backside of a Dwarf Mongoose, they were moving around a lot and then one of the gates. Why? I couldn't get a shot of the entrance gates that were also done in metal, that is all metal work and even more impressive in person. We were on our way up the hill to the Australia outback when I saw that.

Obligatory plant pictures now, two Australian acacias that I had never seen before. The one on the left had the tiny puff ball flowers right on the flat zig zag stems and the other one is just a single trunk that was leaning over but had large yellow flowers and big grey leaves. 

Another fascinating flower and tree, if there were more name tags on the plants I would have the names so I'm not sure which this was, but loved it. Then there's.... a Lego Bonsai in the Bonsai pavilion. I do remember the one time I went through that section it was a very, very roughed out semi shaded section but nothing really cohesive. It is much better now with a cement path and more specimens.

And that's it! We split a sandwich and soda which was still excellent when we got to the African area past the tram. I saw the same sling bag with a bottle pouch that I bought years ago and it was about $15 more now than it was originally. I still have mine I think in storage. The only carrying thing we have handy is a backpack and didn't really need that much room. Fanny pack of that sling purse thing would have been perfect. 

The weather was perfect. Partly cloudy, breezy not too hot and just enough trees to get some shade when we needed it. The one bummer was we wanted soft serve ice cream. First place we stopped, was closed, the lunch place we had (Mombasa Cooker I think?) had it but we got a refill on the soda instead. The only food stand that was open and said it served it, the machine was broken. Go figure! We stopped at our favorite Mexican place near the HD we worked at then stopped at Target for ice cream sandwiches. It was a fun and delicious day overall and we're both feeling the fatigue today. My knee wasn't too badly tweaked and of course our feet and legs were very much tired. We may have spent a bit too much for food but it was worth it really.

Yay!