Tiger Safari

My photography class went to Tiger Safari in Tuttle for our end of year field trip.

Grace went with us!
We saw someone in another group feed the tiger.

The tigers were beautiful - but we had hoped to be able to get some good pictures without fences, as Tiger Safari is supposed to be more hands on and interactive. However, we weren't able to. This was shot through a chain link fence. I focused on the tiger, so the fence barely shows, but if you'll notice the grayish white blur in the bottom left corner - that's the fence. It is possible to shoot through the fence without the fence showing. It's just hard to do and probably not possible with the particular lens I was using.

There were turtles. You could even ride the turtles if you wanted to. Grace didn't want to. She was much more interested in playing in the dirt.

We were allowed to feed the deer. Here is Grace giving the deer some animal crackers.

Gracie at the waterfall.

Watching the water and playing with rocks!

Some sort of monkey like thing.

Grace trying to find out if donkeys like to eat sticks!

The camel. His name is Dexter and according to the speech we were given on the camel, camels don't spit.

When my kids were small we lived in the office space of a large warehouse and did what was called "The Bethlehem Experience" in the back barn. It was a walk-through performance of the night Jesus was born with people in costumes, animals, a well, a bakery, a basket shop, the inn and the stable area. It was the entire town with a large cast of over 100 people. Anyway - there was a camel named Solomon who lived at Bethlehem with us for about a month every year while the production was going on and he spat. So, I'm not so sure how factual our little speech was. Camels spit.... and most will take a knee and allow you to climb on their back when you say, "Kush" but the Tiger Safari camel didn't get it. Maybe he's just not yet trained.

Anyway - I thought I would write a little review of our trip to Tiger Safari. If you are considering a trip to either Tiger Safari or the OKC Zoo, I'd highly suggest you go to the Zoo. It's really all in all more interesting and more bang for your buck - as Tiger Safari is a bit pricey for what you really get to see and do.

It's supposed to be interactive, but really, the handlers handle the animals - you don't. You also do not have the freedom to go from exhibit to exhibit as you would at the zoo. You are guided through the Safari by a guide - and you don't really have time to linger at the exhibits you are especially interested in, or want to take pictures of. Since we were there to take pictures - and that was understood when I made our reservations, I was pretty disappointed.

We went to the OKC Zoo not too long ago and I found it to be much more enjoyable. It was more hands on. Grace was able to feed nectar to the birds and pet several animals and they have a little splash pad/spray area that kids are allowed to play in should they need to cool off. She was able to get inside the fences with the animals in the Children's area of the Zoo rather than feed them through the fence as she did at Tiger Safari.

The restroom facilities are also lacking at Tiger Safari. There is ONE Bathroom and the line was so long that we could have driven to town faster than we could have worked our way through it. And - we saw no water fountain or concession stand. So, if you do go, be prepard and take your own water.

That being said, I think Grace had a pretty good time. It was fun - we just could have had a lot MORE fun had we went to the Zoo!