Anniversary Trip: The Wilds Safari

Now for all the pretty animals we saw at the Wilds for our anniversary trip. Andrew signed us up for the Sunset tour and all through dinner we could hear people taking about what to expect. Employees were talking to guests and telling them that Sunset was the best tour to take because Animal Management went around before the buses and feed the animals close to the road. That way the animals are up close and personal when we get out to pasture. Needless to say, I was getting pretty excited!



Greater One-Horned Asian Rhino


Bactrian Camel


Giraffe
Sichuan Takin
Dhole

African Wild Dog and Homo sapien : )



Cheetah
Bactrian Deer
One-Horned Asian Rhino. We got to feed this one sweet potato chunks!
This Oryx only had one horn left, some people think these animals spawned the unicorn myth. Their horns are an extension of their skull and do not grow back when broken.

Scimitar-Horned Oryx
Sable Antelope




After the tour they had a special treat and we got to see a Cheetah from the Columbus Zoo up close and personal. It sounds like they do something special after every Sunset tour, but the animals vary. The dog is Carlisle and the Cheetah is Moya(spelling is probably wrong), they are raised together and Moya feels safe and comfortable when Carlisle is around. It was funny to see that the Cheetah was way better behaved than the dog.

Our tour guide was pretty cool, with all those typical cheesy animals jokes. I have to admit, I laughed at all of them, because cheesy animal humor makes me laugh like a 5 year old. The tour was informative and ran almost 3 1/2 hours! The three different safari buses didn't seem to mind slowing down and taking their time.

We are definitely looking into a membership for this place, which also includes discounts for zoos all over the country. Since we love zoos and now this place, I can see us visiting a lot. Staying at The Wilds was a wonderful experience and a great gift from my husband. I asked him how he was ever going to top this first anniversary, and he didn't really know yet.

Anniversary Trip: The Wilds

For our anniversary, Andrew decided to surprise me. What I knew was we were driving 2 1/2 to get to the destination, staying overnight and I definitely wanted my camera charged and ready to go. Saturday morning we woke up bright and early due to excitement, sat around and waited for an appropriate time to leave. We didn't want to be too early because check in time was 3pm.

Before we got in the car to head out, I made Andrew take a "before we leave" photo, because I'm silly like that. We drove and drove and eventually got off the interstate. After a few miles, we finally saw a sign for The Wilds in Cumberland, Oh and I mostly didn't believe we were actually going to stay there. But, my amazing husband booked us a night and safari at The Wilds. Which is a huge acreage of animal park, where they focus on research, conservation and education about wild animals.
Not only were we staying here, but we were staying in these amazing Mongolian style Yurts. We arrived almost 40 minutes early, but they checked us in and we were able to unpack and relax before dinner.




Yurts are super cute and functional round structures with minimal "stuff". The bathroom and shower are behind the curtains to the left and right of the bed. Which was, ohmygoodness, the best bed I've ever slept on.
It was difficult to get over the excitement of actually being there and then getting out my camera and taking blog worthy pictures. I even remember asking, probably with a stupid grin on my face, "do I get to see the animals??!!?!??!?!" Once I got my camera out I took so many pictures I have to split our stay into two posts. This first post is our room, the surroundings and the different spaces for visitors. The next will be of all the awesome animals we saw.

We were staying at Nomad Ridge, Yurt #9 which gave us a reserved table at the Overlook Cafe and access to the dinner menu or the buffet they were serving for Sunset Safari. Since we were going on Sunset Safari we decided to eat from the buffet and it was so delicious. All the employees were super nice. Within minutes of sitting down we were asked if we wanted water or lemonade or a number of other drinks. I thought they were doing this because we were at the reserved table, but they were doing it for everyone. Everyone seemed genuinely pleased to be there and were helpful and informative.

On the safari we stopped at the midsize Carnivore Center and saw these funny signs (not so funny if you don't take the warning).

The Carnivore Center had a huge viewing platform that overlooked a section of the enclosure. The spaces are huge, but a raised boardwalk gave a good vantage point no matter where the animals were.
It's a huge place, I think they said it was over 10,000 acres. Most of which is just rolling hills and grass, very few structures interefere with the landscape or wildlife.

This is the community deck by the Nomad Ridge. They have fires out weather permitting and we did sit outside for a little while after our safari finished. But, we were exausted and went to bed shortly after.



And just because it would be mean not to show a picture of an animal. Here's a SNEAK PEAK of what we saw on our safari trip.

Columbus Zoo, Part Two

In January, Andrew and I decided to check out the Columbus Zoo. Barely dressed for the 20 degree weather, we were popsicles by the end of it and missed a lot of exhibits due to the cold and our quick pace through the zoo. So we decided to try again over Memorial day weekend. We went Friday hoping we would avoid some of the weekend crowds since the school kiddos would still be in school. We failed to remember about field trips, oops...

So, we didn't avoid the uber crowds of children, but it wasn't horrible.

The zoo is split into continents, with native animals in their "home" areas. I only took a picture of the North America sign. The others were more exciting.

These Mexican wolves were posing for my camera and it blew my mind that my dog is at least 3 inches taller than these guys at the shoulder.

Still in North America, for you non-geography savvy people. This was our favorite section last time, the two polar bears were swimming, jumping on their barrels and putting on a great show. We were hoping for an encore.

And they were sleeping. They must still have been tired from last time : ) Or it could have been the ridiculous humidity that day. They went into stay cool mode. We instead, watched the Brown bears who were now awake.
And tigers.
Real and bronze statue alike.

As I said, we missed a lot of sections last time we were at the zoo. Asia and Australia included. Australia is my new favorite continent, due to being able to walk in and around the kangaroo! Kangaroos? Awesome!
And the opportunity to feed some birds. Lorikeets to be exact. Imagine me, excited and squeeling at the idea of feeding birds, Andrew scrounged up the $2 for a cup of nectar for these pretty birdies.
There are a few pictures with my face in them, but due to the overall squeeling and humidity doing numbers on my hair, I'm choosing not to show them. By the way, Andrew is responsible for these pictures.




Can't forget the Okapi. We finished the zoo with the reptile house, which was packed with kids and we practically ran through it. It was almost noon and the afternoon crowd of moms and their broods were showing up and the field trip kids were getting hungrier and ruder by the minute. We decided to head out.

Next zoo trip will either be the Cincinnati or Toledo Zoo.