Tuesday, January 28th: Busch Gardens, continued
When our safari truck pulled up to a stop near a small group of giraffes (which is referred to as a "tower", if anyone wants to learn a random useless fact for the day!) it was very much like an ice cream truck pulling up to a neighborhood park in the middle of summer. Those giant, beautiful creatures came a runnin' (well, not exactly "running"....but those incredible long legs can cross a reasonably short distance in the blink of an eye).
Our guide gave us very clear and direct instructions that we were NOT to touch the animals during the feeding session: lettuce would be provided to each guest and we were to hold it in the air for the giraffes to eat, but there should be no petting or intentional touch. That was pretty hard for some guests (the urge to reach out and stroke those long faces was pretty strong) and those that chose to disregard the rules were swiftly corrected by our guide. We hung back a bit and let some of the other guests have the first turns.....there were a few kids with the other families that were SUPER excited for this experience, and being adults, we could happily wait while they had first crack at the lettuce.....but that giraffe was HUNGRY and wasted no time in strutting from guest to guest to suck back those lettuce leaves like they were nothing at all.
Everyone knows giraffes are tall, but feeding them those lettuce leaves REALLY drove home just how MASSIVELY tall they really are. The feeding instructions were to hold that piece of lettuce in the air as high as you can, but even with my arm fully extended the giraffe had to bend down noticeably to pluck the leaf from my grasp. Not only are you looking up to them (even standing in the back of the safari truck), you're looking WAYYYYYY up!
More toward the end of the feeding experience, one of the young adolescent giraffes also chose to come over to the truck to make our acquaintance (and partake in a yummy lettuce snack). Even a "little" giraffe is crazy tall!
As with most amazing experiences, this one was over too soon.....I could have happily stood in that safari truck and feed those stunning creatures boxes of lettuce for hours on end. But another tour group would be waiting at the Outpost for their turn on the serengeti, so we bid our graceful friends adieu and started our bumpy ride back to base.
On our way back, we caught a few more glimpses of some of the Serengeti animals.....even as we came down from our giraffe euphoria, there was still lots to see.
Once back at the loading dock, our guide ushered us all back to the Outpost so we could wash and sanitize our hands as well as collect our personal items that we had stowed in our locker on arrival.
We really, really enjoyed this experience.....it was a good length (around a half hour or so), we saw TONS of animals, it provided us with a really unique (and new) opportunity, and it was both informative AND entertaining.
Out of pocket, the price would have been $39.99 per person. As Platinum Passholders, it was a free inclusion with our passes (our other choice was the Dolphin Encounter at SeaWorld). It would definitely be something I would pay to do and feel it was good value for the cost.
*Backing up just a bit to the short wait prior for the tour beginning, we had actually gotten to chatting with some of the tour staff and they excitedly had shared with us some of the details about the park's newest tour: the Cheetah Encounter. This tour provided guests with the opportunity to PET A CHEETAH!!!!!.....and it had only been offered since December 24th. They gushed about how cool it was, and how hard it was to get a spot as they only took a maximum of 8 participants once per day....so of course, we had to ask..."You don't happen to have any spaces available for today still, do you?".
They did. We were SO torn. At $89.99 each (less our passmember discount of 10%) it seemed a HUGE splurge. But as cat lovers, we were SO tempted. We discussed it a bit, and ultimately had a YOLO moment and booked our spots while we waited to leave on the Serengeti Safari. It's only money and you make more everyday, right? ;-)
By the time we arrived back at the Outpost at the conclusion of our safari tour, there were signs up showing that the Cheetah Encounter was now sold out. 'Twas a good thing we didn't opt to think on it while we cruised the Serengeti.
We had a couple of hours to enjoy before we had to be back for our Cheetah Encounter, and we had gobs of the park yet to discover. No time to waste!!
More Busch Gardens is next.