"It is a perversely human perception that animals in their native habitat are running wild."
-- Robert Brault
One of the wonderful things about living someplace new, is discovering all the favorite local sites. One of my co-workers told me about the Virginia Safari Park and we were interrupted by a resident who has a membership and brings his kids there all the time. Decided we were going to have to check this place out.
Located in Natural Bridge, VA, it took us about an hour to get there. We went during the week (school holiday), so the wagon rides weren't available that day. No matter. We bought our buckets of feed ($3.50 per bucket) and proceeded through the gates.
Now, these animals are not stupid. They know what is in the cars driving through. And I'm not talking about the people. They know we are suckers and that if we're willing to shell out money to drive through, we're also willing to shell out a few more bucks to have feed available. The llamas know this, the ostriches know this. They ALL know this, but the llamas are the masteres. They will stop in front of your car so that you have to stop and then come right up to your windows. (Word to the wise - if you have young kids who you think may be frightened of having animals coming right up to the car, this might be a place to not visit.)
We ended up not feeding the llamas and ostriches because there were too many and it was honestly a bit overwhelming. We drove farther through the park (which is quite a long drive by the way) and found some less intimidating animals part-way through. Toward the end again, the road was blocked by the llamas and ostriches again.
After our drive through, we walked through the Safari village part of the park. There we encountered a budgie aviary, a reptile house, kangaroos, and a giraffe feeding area.
All in all, a very fun, but tiring day. I'm sure we will be back. This one is definitely worth a trip with your kids!
From my board "Virginia is for lovers."
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