Safari West

On Sunday, we joined the Wings' for an open house at Safari West. A couple times a year, they open it up to Sonoma County residence to do a mini-tour at a MUCH discounted price. It was really amazing to see all the animals up close and personal, I wish they would have done a longer ride instead of a longer walking tour because Grey and Andrew were just about done towards the end of it and we actually slipped out a little early because the boys just wanted to splash in the mud puddles and Grey wanted to throw sticks for the cheetahs (the tour guide was not too happy about that one!)

All aboard!!

The giraffe decided to come check out our ride

This is the closest I have ever been to a giraffe!

The rhinos were amazing-Grey thought they were pretty cool splashing through the mud

The driver took a moment to take pictures of anyone who had a camera :)

Check out those horns!

 

The walking tour started with a look at the flamingos..Grey was trying to figure out how to climb over the fence and play in the water

 

We then headed to the aviary where we got to meet an African Diker...the cutest little animal ever. This one was named Ruby and really liked people. I tried to convince Zippy to put her under his shirt and walk out with her, I think she would have made a perfect pet!

 

But he said no...

Now doesn't this crane look so sweet and innocent?

Michelle told us horror stories before we even got into the aviary about they used to swarm her and peck at her when she volunteered here. I thought she was exaggerating.  Seriously, look at how nice he was posing for a picture with Zippy and Grey.

That was until I watched it chases another little boy and start pecking at him...and then he later bit Andrew's hand-had two whole fingers in his mouth.  Michelle played it off as kisses so Andrew didn't get upset but we get the heck out of there after that! 

It was right around the cheetahs that we decided we better end our tour here, we looked at a couple of monkeys but then headed out before the boys had a total full blown melt down. The walking tour wasn't really geared towards 2 year olds!

We had lots of fun and I would love to do the longer tour in the jeeps when Grey is a little older. It was amazing to see all the animals so close and right here in our own backyard!