I think my favorite thing that we did while Mom was here was a trip to the wild animal park. The best part about this place is it’s nothing like a zoo in America because you can get up close to the animals. I learned a trick from the Bahraini families last time we were here: bring bread to feed the animals. Seriously. That’s a thing here. The animals hear the plastic bag rustling and come running up to the fence.
We wandered around the park feeding all the animals.
And at the bird sanctuary they have steps that lead out to the center island in the habitat — I can’t imagine they are intended for the general public . . .
but no one was around to care
The ostrich was a wild pecking thing with a really strong neck and beak. He was hanging way over the fence, super curious about us and bobbing his head to try and get a taste. He didn’t care whether he was getting bread or skin. One of the employees came over and encouraged us to hold up the palms of our hands so the bird could bite it. Nope, we’re not in America.
Also, we learned all about ostrich reproduction. I guess it was springtime in their pen because the male was doing a wild dance of sweeping figure-8 motions with his huge wings and bobbing his neck and then plopped right on top of one of the females and did you know ostriches are completely naked on their undersides? The males have bright red skin which makes it even more disturbing to see the meaty birds getting it on. We were horrified and paralyzed . . . and I’ll spare you from the rest of the nasty details. It was an animal porno. :shudder: Last time we got turtle action. This time, the birds. Sex education, one species at a time.
We spent the most time with the camels. They are big and beautiful and awkwardly gentle.
More food please!
The baby camel kept nibbling on Calvin like he was a teething toy.
Getting up close and personal . . .
Camel slobber
Camille finally got up the nerve to feed the camel. Being eye level made it less intimidating.
The camels are eating green succulents that the park employees cut down and brought over for the kids to feed to them. It was like our own personal petting zoo.
Great times on our island.