Our Guided Steps: A Wild ride

Greetings,

After leaving Atlanta, Kadence and I met Grammie and Poppie for a wild ride.

The 500-acre Pine Mountain Wild Animal Safari in South Georgia, offers a unique, hands-on safari experience. Visitors can see, touch and feed hundreds of exotic animals from every continent—a true worldwide safari.

The experience is probably different from any you have encountered at other parks and zoos. It is not hard to imagine yourself in Africa or South America while driving through the vehicle touring section, because it is most of the animals who roam freely, not the humans. You can see any number of wildebeests, camels, giraffes, rhinos, water buffaloes, antelopes, and zebras grazing nearby.

While you can tour the park in your own vehicle... it is highly recommended you take a guided tour on one of the Zebra Buses or Vans where you will no doubt be joined by black Hawaiian sheep, who hop on board to greet visitors. Those who choose to drive their own vehicle... well have lost windshield wipers, been rammed by a water buffalo, and oh the slobber.

Here is the zebra mobile we choose. Notice in the back we have no windows.... only bars.

Once in the safari this was our first encounter... a Texas long horned steer. A very large Texas longhorn.

And he was hungry.

And then came the zebras. The zebras were gorgeous and friendly and surprisingly not smelly.

We were following the big Zebra bus.... and were afraid the animals would not need anymore food.... we were wrong.

Kadence called any birdlike creature a Pecker. And she feared the Peckers. She would say, "Oh no Poppie.. here come the Peckers... drive Poppie drive."

This view is from my mother's side of the zebra van... please notice her window is only cracked. She refused to lower it any further keeping a safe barrier between her and the animals.

When we arrived we were instructed on the rules of the park... one of them:

Anyone caught abusing, mistreating,or injuring an animal will be prosecuted.

My question is... does closing the window on an animal's head count? If so... Grammie is in trouble.

Or was it self defense from the slobber!

And then came the giraffes.

As tall as they were... I was skeptical as to whether we were going to hand feed them...

And I was wrong.

Giraffes have a seriously long slimy tongue. Yet, surprisingly they do not smell.

This guy..... smells.

And slobbers.

Fortunately, the camels did not spit on us.

Here's Kadence enjoying the view... that is until an animal came within 10 feet of the zebra van. Then she yelled and ran to the center console, where she would throw the food directly at them.

And the horse.

A rhino.

Another Pecker. And no one... wanted to stick their hand out to feed these guys. Collectively we tossed the feed out for them to collect off the ground.

Another rule states:

Please be aware of the Ostriches, Emus, and Rheas as they have been known to nip and peak. Extra caution should be exercised around these animals.

And that's all the warning we needed.

When we entered the safari there was a guy selling "I've been slobbered on at Wild Animal Safari" clean up towels. It was the best $3.15 I spent all weekend.