Day 14 - Safari Park (Wednesday)

Day 14 - Safari Park (Wednesday)

Since we had the full day free we decided to replace the typical 1/2 trip to the Chen family temple (a cultural tourism site we did in 2014) with a full day trip to the Chimelong Safari Park.  It was a bit over an hour to drive there and once we arrived we got some maps because the place seemed to be the size of Sea World or a Disney park.  

We began with a tram Safari, which ended up being our favorite stop.  The tram speedily drove through a path (that doubled with private cars coming through) into various sections of wildlife...lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  The park is nice for viewing because in some sections the animals come right up to the vehicles with no barriers (antelope type animals, giraffes, & ostriches) at all.  In other sections the predators are clearly visible with no fences and only a moat separating us (I thought bears can swim 😳).  In all sections the animals are numerous and have lots of space for roaming around.

After the tram Safari we wandered onto a path that we thought was short with a few simple dinosaur and animal exhibits.  Instead the path was over an hour long and some of the dinosaurs were so lifesize and realistic that kids were crying.  Everywhere we wandered was full of surprises and the exhibited animals were beautiful to see! I must add that Jurassic World was the only English speaking movie on tv the night before so this area of the park really came to life for Mia and Sophia! 😂 #parentsoftheyear

We kept being overwhelmed by the size and openness of the animals’ living spaces.   You can get so close to almost all of the animals in a really special way.  A few of the animals (elephants and giraffes at least) can be fed by hand for $5, so Sophia had the  opportunity (Mia preferred not to) to feed a giraffe by hand.  These gentle giants swooped in quick and licked the branch right out of Sophia’s hands very speedily!

In contrast to the herbivore giraffes were the carnivorous white tigers of which there were many.  The map showed a “jumping tiger” display that got our attention...and you know what they do? They get tigers jumping with chicken on clothesline much like gator parks do in Florida.  It was crazy to watch tigers leap and climb poles with ease.  They are massive and intimidating predators!

Pandas!!  We chose to speed through the park because of the heat and humidity, but in 4.5 hours we covered a large part of it.  One of our favorite parts was the panda park exhibit.  This safari park is famous for having the only triplet pandas birthed in captivity and altogether they had about 12-15 pandas it seemed.  There were a few pandas paired up but for the most part each one had its own area complete with toys, swings, and two ice patches (think about how an AC unit can freeze over) for them to lay on.  Most of the pandas were pretty lazily resting but a few were fun to watch eat and move around. Pandas are such beautiful creatures and it was a blessing to see so many all at once in their home country.  

We finished off our safari trip with a short aerial gondola trip back to the entry point.  The girls get a kick out of seeing Brittney a bit afraid of the heights but she took it like a champ.  They each picked out some special souvenirs and Mia’s favorite was a stuffed white tiger.

Each day gets better.  Less frowns, more smiles.  Less guarded, more relaxed.  Spontaneous hand-holds, affectionate glances, and more words.  We are thankful for how God is growing us all together with Mia each day.  Her sweet smile and laughs are such a blessing to our hearts.

We had the joy of rush hour traffic on the way home.  This particular driver is a bit intense to say the least.  Chinese driving is a constant game of chicken, Nascar style.  The goal seems to be found in seeing whoever can cut off the most people in line wherever there is a turn or merger of lanes.  Let’s just say they are petty good at it, often coming within inches of each other and using their horn more frequently than a marching band. Their horn usage is an art form.  They have “pedestrian warning” honks, “I’m not slowing down” honks, “I hate you” honks, “I’m honking because everyone else is” honks, and many other less than polite versions of the honk.  Our particular driver seemed on the verge of having a heart attack with the aggressiveness of his driving, but we survived lol! Brittney May have had a heart attack herself had we not arrived back at the hotel just in time to kiss the ground! 

Once we returned back we finished off with some noodles and chillax-ed in our room!  One more full day to go!