On our sixth day, we hit the Out of Africa Safari Park in Cottonwood. It’s a fairly large park and minute-to-minute it changes as far as your opportunity to view animals, so in one visit you’re unlikely to see all that is there. From afar, we’d see animals roaming about their areas and by the time we’d reach them they would have tired of being out in the sun and retired. You’re not even sure to get a glimpse of more than a few animals on the safari ride that takes you through the interior of the park as they have plenty of brush to hide behind, but you’ll see enough. Participating in just a couple of activities will eat up your time, so it’s not a bad idea to plan for over four hours (at least) at the park.
We were told that the park had had far more than its usual number of visitors due to the spring break and so the animals were getting a bit tired of all the people and seeking privacy. Who could blame them.
Out of Africa Safari Park, Serengeti Safari Tour, Giraffe, 2008
We took both the Wildlife Preserve Tram Tour and the 45 minute Serengeti Safari Tour. At least one of the vehicles for the safari ride had a roof that was partially uncovered. Because we rode in that vehicle and were seated in the uncovered area, we’d the privilege of a great encounter with a giraffe whom we’d given carrot sticks to feed.
The giraffe was big.
You know a giraffe is big but you don’t realize just how big it is until it is standing right over you bending its head down for your carrot.
H.o.p. was delighted and did his best to hold his carrot for the animal just as had been directed by the guide. Some other children were more adventurous, less concerned with instructions, and let the giraffes instead take the carrots from their mouths. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a shot of the giraffe taking the carrot from H.o.p.’s hand.
Out of Africa Safari Tram, 2008
There are several shows. We saw the Giant Snake Show (11:30 am) and the Tiger Splash (1:15 pm).
We had thought the Tiger Splash would be tigers frolicking in a pool. But as we sat and waited I saw in an adjacent compound four individuals limbering up, playing ball, and wondered what that was about.
Tiger Splash at the Out of Africa Safari Park, 2008
What it was about was the Tiger Splash turned out to be two huge tigers playing with people in a pool, and those people running around with shoes and inflatables at the ends of sticks, exciting the tigers to chase and catch the inflatables as they leaped into the pool. Some of these inflatables were pants and shirts and it was somewhat disconcerting to see the tigers chomping into those shirts and pants and popping them and wondering if they shouldn’t instead just be popping balloons. But the whole presentation, from a tiger giving a hug to a woman in the pool, to the tigers playing chase, was rather disconcerting for those of us in our party as we all kind of felt that even a trustworthy tiger is still a wild animal that can become a national media event with just one mild-mannered swat and that the best insurance for all is distance.
Just two days later, on March 29th, a woman named Judy Berens, throwing a party for her Panther Ridge Conversation Center in Florida, standing in an enclosure with two cheetahs in order to show what gentle giants they are, ended up their play toy when the cheetahs were excited by a child playing ball. She suffered multiple puncture wounds and massive blood loss but she pleads it was just because they couldn’t get to the ball that she became their toy and that she can’t wait to get back to her cats.
Again, Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy, wasn’t “attacked” per se. When I got home I looked him up to see how he was doing and what had actually happened and read the tiger had become interested in a woman in the audience with a large hairdo, he had stepped between her and the tiger hoping to distract it, had hit its nose with his mic, had accidentally fallen on the tiger, some assistants had come running, and in the commotion the tiger is said to have become confused and protectively carried him off as it would have its cub. He doesn’t blame the tiger.
I understand the love these people have for their cats, and their confidence them in as much as understanding their natures and how they are likely to behave, and as these incidents are rare one could say it might be silly of us to avoid a tiger and human show because of our worry over an accident occurring and not wanting to promote those interactions by sitting in the audience. Still, had we known that humans would be playing with tigers I don’t think any of us in our party would have gone to the show.
What I kept thinking, out in the audience, is that these people may feel confident in their knowledge of their animals, but what about the audience? And in both instances cited above, it was an unpredictable factor concerning an audience member that had led to an incident.
Toward the end of the show, the really big tiger (big big) became too possessive of a shoe and was left on its own while every one went to play with the other tiger on the far side of the pool. It was pointed out to us how the tiger’s expression made it clear that now was not a time to approach it. Throughout the show, the humans had been deftly taking punctured toys from the tigers via meat exchanges or enticing with other toys, but this tiger was neither interested in meat or another toy. It wanted its shoe. The humans kept distracting it with cuts of meat or other toys and the tiger would advance toward the toy or meat but as soon as the humans attempted to move in to take the shoe the tiger would pounce back on it and the humans would retreat. I don’t know why it was considered so important to exchange one toy out with another but I suppose there was a reason. As the show ended, the tiger finally relinquished the shoe.
The Animals Hidden Away in that Enclosure, H.o.p. Goes to Look for Others, Out of Africa Safari Park, 2008
After the tiger show, we roamed a bit but almost all the animals were tucked away. At about 3:30 they would be having the Predator Feed, which would assure good views, but we had other things to do, had already been there for hours and were beginning to feel kind of worn and hungry ourselves. We visited the aviary cage where H.o.p. had fun talking with the delightful Mango, then we left.
It was fun. We had seen lions and tigers and bears. We had fed carrots to a giraffe. H.o.p. had conversed with an Australian bare-eyed cockatoo and after we left the Tiger Splash certainly gave us something to talk about.
Later in the day, as the sun began to lower we explored Old Town Cottonwood where I purchased a few more rocks. Because I like rocks.
