Wow, we’ve been on the road thirty days and not only that, I’ve documented all of them on this blog. I impress myself.
This morning we decided that it would a perfect time to tour Lion Country Safari with our discount two-day tickets. Shortly after 10am we drove the quarter mile to the park entrance. We warned by KOA staff that we’d have to remove the bikes from the bed of the truck but the kayaks would be okay.
But when we got to the entrance the lady at the ticket both looked at us askew when we told her we had been informed that it was alright to have our kayaks on top of the truck. She wanted to know who had given us that information, and when we started to tell her it was a staff member at the KOA, the other lady in the ticket both said that it was okay. It turns out it was her husband that was the staff who had gotten her to check our rig out the night before.
We were allowed in and were also given a CD which we played to tell us what we would be seeing as this is a drive through a park. You are continually warned not to roll down your windows much less exit your vehicle.
The park is divided into different areas of Africa separated by fences and cattle guards in the road, which keeps the animals in their proper region. Plus I imagine without these protected areas Lion Country Safari would only have lions and rhinoceroses left after a short while.
It was great seeing the animals so close and personal. Supposedly the animals are more active in the mornings since it’s not only feeding time, but the heat of day hasn’t driven them to seek refuge in shady areas. One also has to drive slowly as to not run over any animals on the road but also looking out for poop on the road. Some of these animals have not only large poops but large quantities as well. Maybe this is why there aren’t any elephants in the park.
All of the animals are free to roam in their own area with other species that they are compatible with.
The only exception is the lions. They’re behind a high electrified fence, as well as a specialize gate that can be electronically closed (hopefully). As we were driving through the area, the lions were chowing down on large parts of animal carcasses. I’m glad they had enough to eat, since I didn’t really want to be part of their diet.
Since I don’t envision myself going to Africa any time soon to go on a safari, I tried to shoot as many different photos of as many different animals as I could. And as always, Marianne and I were playing dueling cameras, but it was kind of unfair since I broke out my “big” camera with its “big” lens, so I could get individual portraits of the different animals. We had to stop the CD a number of times because we were taking our sweet time shooting photos, and then we’d restart it when we caught up.
When we finished the driving tour, we got out of the car to view the walking area complete with a couple of gift shops. When we opened the truck doors we were once again hit with the heat of Africa.
Marianne doesn’t tolerate heat very well. She becomes cranky when she gets a case of the vapors. We only spent about a half an hour in this part of the park, about 10 minutes of it in two gift shops (one of them twice) to get out of the heat. But we were still able to get some great shots of the various plant life here and stuffed animals.
We spent the rest of the afternoon cooling off relaxing in the trailer, I spent time catching up on this blog.
About 4pm we headed over to Stewart and Linda’s home for a barbecue. To find the house, I used my GPS. Because I had used the GPS yesterday to find the restaurant and it tried to take me in a non-direct way, I ignored it’s pleas to turn here, instead driving about 10 miles east of Lion Country Safari to get to I-95. I was determined to avoid the toll roads.
Unfortunately I discovered too late that Steward lives west of I-95, so I ended up driving about 10 miles out of my way. Live, and never learn!
Their very impressive home was in a very secluded area. When we got there it was just like a scene from the Beverly Hillbillies with the Clampetts in front of their mansion. Stewart has his home for sale for two and half million dollars, a deal since he’s reduced the price by $300,000. If you’re interested, contact me, I can use the finder’s fee.
At the home with Stewart and Linda were Linda’s brother, Steven, whom I haven’t seen in about 30 years, her mother, her brother-in-law, Clive, and his son, John.
I’ve always wondered about those homes that have their backyard pools totally screened in. I’ve seen a few from afar here in Florida, but this evening I got to be inside a great one, since Stewart’s pool is really large.
Stewart fired up the barbecue and put on a bunch of hamburgers and hot dogs, and Linda cooked up a bunch of deviled eggs, shrimp cocktail, potato salad, baked beans, corn on the cob, creamed beans, and mixed fruit – a feast to say the least. After all of us ate as much as we could (and we hardly put a dent in the food!), Linda broke out a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. What a super meal!
Driving back to the trailer we drove through yet another rainstorm (you’re still keeping track, right?). As we got out of the truck to the head to the trailer, I noticed that my air-conditioner seemed quieter than all the others in the park. Once I got into the trailer, which was now surrounded by a number of puddles, I realized that the circuit breaker for the air-conditioner had tripped, probably due to the amount of rain that fell. The dogs had been without air-conditioned air for about an hour, but since it was dark it didn’t get warm inside the trailer. But it was yet one more lesson to learn.
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