Tuesday, September 05, 2006

African Lion Safari

Finally we managed to go for the African Lion Safari in Cambridge, Ontario. All summer we had been meaning to go, but various last minute changes entailed delaying the trip continuously.

For a safari that calls itself the Lion safari, the lions were pretty tame. In fact, most of them were sleeping when we started our drive through the reserve.


Sleeping Beasts

I was hesitant to take my car into the reserves, preferring to take the trip by the Safari bus, but was glad I did. Everyone warned me about the baboons causing damage to your car, but once you are in your car, you can stop to look, take pictures and so on (just don't get out!).


Tarzan's Best Friends


Adnan Sami Of The Baboon World

Thankfully the monkeys didn't get on our car. This next guy however scared me. The tinted glasses were causing pictures to come out dark, and he was a distance away ...


Dear Deer

... so I decided to lower the window slightly, and forgot I had 'auto-down' feature. One touch of the button and window started to slide down fast, and the deer got interested ...


Oh Deer

Thankfully I got my senses back in time to roll the window up and he went away.

There were lots of other stuff to see at the Safari, including the Birds of Prey show, the Elephant show where one big guy apparently did the bhangra ...


Hati Singh

... a parrot that sang O Canada and ofcourse a small petting zoo. The full slideshow is on Flickr.

A few thoughts:
  • Someone did tell me if you urinate on your car's hood the monkeys won't bother you. I did not try this. If you do, please let me know if it worked.
  • Tinted glasses have drawbacks for photography, as well as dirty windows. Clear your windows and windshields prior to trip for excellent pictures.
  • The park's popular amongst desis. You should have seen the Indian crowds cheer at the elephant show.

    Tags:
  • 14 comments:

    Ek Umeed said...

    Like you said, "Oh, deer!" (Laughs). That was classic! And dare I say Mezbaesque? (I have turned your name into an adjective.)

    It has been such a long time since I have been to the zoo. I want to go, but I am honestly not fond of animals. But since I will live only once, I want once to be enough. So, soon into the future, I shall be off to the zoo!

    The Bengali Fob said...

    I would definitely stay in teh car the whole time too! Those baboons look bigger than me!

    'liya said...

    I LOVE African Lion Safari! I've taken my grade 2 summer school class there twice (2 years), and we always have such a great time. Did you go on the train and boat as well? - (not as nice as the air conditioned bus, but still interesting).

    You took some great pictures! I like the first one.

    Unknown said...

    Wow nice pictures. And Adnan sami looked very fit. :D

    Anonymous said...

    Hello,

    Well Its Simply Wow....quite interesting ..Perfect place for having full of thrills and scary times...:) You took really exclusive pictures and thanks for sharing...:)

    Take care...BYe BYe :)

    wishes,

    Samiha Esha :)

    mezba said...

    EU: I always love going to the zoo. This was my first taste of a safari. Now I want to go to Kenya.

    Bfob: Some of those baboons were pretty big, but surprisingly nimble! Some were like Spiderman, jumping from car to car.

    Liya: The kids in our group enjoyed it tremendously, particularly the shows. I went on the boat and train as well. More animals to see on the boat trip, IMHO.

    Rajputro: Oh they certainly feed those animals well. I saw Adnan Sami finish off what looked like four bananas within seconds.

    SE: It certainly was a fun and enjoyable trip. If only the lions weren't that lazy it would have been a perfect day's outing.

    Thanks for the comments on the pics everyone. They were taken with a Kodak Easyshare, in my mind the best digital cam for outdoor pics for the occassional photographer.

    BTW I was driving when I took the pics ;-)

    Anonymous said...

    Nice! I was just wondering, how come the pictures aren't blurry if you were driving and shooting at the same time?
    -
    Audity

    mezba said...

    Hi Audity:

    The cars move really slowly, you can actually stop and take the picture and then move on - which is what I did. It's only a short drive or so , like 10 km, yet takes 90 min as you are taking in all the scenary and the animals. Most of the time I paused, took the pictures and move on.

    Athena said...

    The park/safari officials don't really encourage the lions to move around. It sucks actually. I've been there twice and the second time I was there, the lions tried to walk around but the safari ppl in their zebracrossed pickups chased them back into sitting/sleeping on those rocks :(.

    However, the first time we went to the safari, one of the lionesses lazily crossed the road blocking the road. It was amazing (and also rather scary) to watch a lion walk by so close :D....then the officials drove her back to her spot :(

    -SH

    p.s. - having the baboons hop around on the cars (including yours) is actually fun =D

    nalumoni said...

    how far is cambridge from toronto? oh btw, you had mentioned you had met SOME guys who knew me...who else was there other than najeeb?

    mezba said...

    Athena: That's so sad to hear. I wish the lions were allowed to move freely but I guess there's the safety issue. Then again, open the window at your own risk ;-)

    Anonymous said...

    "Adnan Sami of the baboon world"
    LOL man, i like your sense of humor :D

    mezba said...

    Shovon: Welcome to the blog.

    Anonymous said...

    You should go to kenya(am from there!). Well, a friend (kenyan) went to the *real* african safari there and said that they didn't spot any lions coz all the lions were in canada(african lion safari). Alhamdullilah, I have managed to see most of the animals while travelling to nairobi from mombasa(my hometown). It is so amazing! sf