Wildlife Safari

"You just give nature some space, and it won't try to kill you!" Does anybody know that quote? Anybody?  It's from the play, "Tuna Christmas" and it cracks me up every time I say it! 🤣 Today was a nature forward day for sure.

Mom and I headed out this morning for a two week roadtrip south. But...our first stop was north with a pair of binoculars to scope out the cougar on Haystack Rock. We were there during his elusive 9-9:30 period this morning. There is no mountain lion in this picture, but I put it for reference for anyone who doesn't <gasp> know what Haystack Rock looks like. Sometime before dawn he wandered down to the beach (?) and climbed up on Haystack. And then, as tides do, it came in! As of nightfall he's still out there!

Understanding that the cougar was on beach time, we headed out of town to Winston to the Wildlife Safari. One of my good friends just stopped there on a trip, and her pictures made me want to go too. We LOVE a drive thru safari. In 1980 something we went to Lions of Longleat in England. I remember two things about that trip. One, the debris field in the monkey area. Those little guys tore at just about everything they could get their hands on. Windshield wipers, antennas, mirrors... There were lots of warnings about damage to cars! And the second, more interesting thing I remember, is the lioness near the exit of the lion area. She had a bee in her bonnet about something, and drug a small red sports car out of line, and over to the side of the road. She grabbed the bumper in her teeth, and just walked away with it. I don't remember being scared, but remember being incredibly wowed by the strength. Imagine being in that car! This adventure was slightly less dramatic, but no less amazing. Being up close and personal with large animals is so humbling!

If you've been to Wildlife Safari, you know that it's a follow-the-leader type car train. You drive through Africa, Americas, and Asia, viewing lots of different types of animals as you go.  I mean, there ARE signs and arrows, but there are also some unmarked service roads. We may or may not have had a choose-your-own-adventure afternoon and gone down some of the umarked roads. In that spirit we were much closer to some animals than we might have otherwise been. Oops.   I won't say who was driving. 

We saw lots of awesome animals, more than we captured in photo. There were so many babies out: cute!

We spent A LOT of time with these Watusi cattle. They took their own sweet time crossing the road!

One person TOTALLY overreacted to how close this animal was to us. 😜

My favorite. I always want to see a herd of buffalo. I don't know what it is, possibly the sheer size of them, but I LOVE them! And there were the cutest little calves. 

It was HOT! After this adventure, we headed back to the coast and are overnighting in Bandon. We got glimpse of the beach before dusk, but will explore a little more tomorrow. 

Tomorrow we head to the Redwoods! Yes, we've been there. And, yes, we can't wait to go back! 🌲