On Safari

Today a llama blew in my face.

Cloud Man came home for Shavuot, and managed to budget in enough meeting-free time for us to go the Ramat Gan Safari with the kids. We decided to go there because it’s been forever since the kids have been to the zoo (we did sort of race through the zoo in Seoul in Children’s Grand Park but it was freezing cold, we were already exhausted by the time we got to that part of the park, and as lovely as it is, it does fall short of the zoos we have here). The Ramat Gan zoo is the largest in this region, with over 250 species, not counting the zoo keepers. And this species:

known for its low hanging fruit.

We saw giant tortoises and bearded dragons and lots of birds and Indian elephants and African elephants and giraffes and camels and bears and tigers and rhinoceroses and an overly aggressive ostrich. But my kids’ favorite part of the zoo is the goat enclosure. Because there you can go in and bond with the locals.

we got there at lunch time. Ours and theirs.

Which is how I found myself literally blown off by a llama.

This one. Apparently, I had violated llama introduction protocols. Who knew?

And then a goat tried to eat my bag.

I can't fault its taste.

The kids had a great time, though, especially the baby. Up until now, Sagitta’s zoological experience has been limited to dogs, cats, and pigeons, so she was really wowed by the sheer variety of creatures she saw. I think the elephants concerned her deeply. She is used to animals being the same size or smaller than her. The elephant can be very intimidating.

It takes a lot to intimidate Sagitta. She runs the house.

We could only see about half the safari in the time that we had (we don’t rush through exhibits, so half the zoo took us over 3 hours with a short break for lunch). By the end of the trip, I found myself relating more than usual to my orangutan friends.

Zonked. Totally and completely zonked.