When I was a little girl my mom once took me to Lion Country Safari. I believe it was in Irvine. I have fond memories of that day. When I found out there was a LCS in Florida, I was in. It’s a bit of a drive, maybe an hour and half, from the Miami Beach area in a town called Loxahatchee.
After a slow start (return to hotel for forgotten item, emergency bathroom break for G) we finally arrived there just after opening at 10am. Going on a Monday in November was great. We practically had the park to ourselves. We took longer than average driving through the safari part. We had some amusing encounters with an ostrich, saw just how much poo a group of rhinos can make and enjoyed the playful monkeys. The lions were kind of a dud but, hey, what do you expect from an animal that sleeps 20 out of 24 hrs in a day??
They also have a walk thru part that includes giraffe feeding (a total bargain at $2.50 per feed), a petting zoo ($1 for food) and budgie feeding (again, $1) as well as a few small carnival type rides which are included in your entry. We had a fantastic time and almost closed the place down around 4pm. The only drawback of going on a Monday was that a few things were closed like the camel ride but the empty park was a good trade off. We found the whole thing to be a bargain!
G slept hard in the car on the drive back and we picked up dinner at a place called the Flashback Diner. G loved it because she got to have ice cream for dessert after eating hardly any dinner and watch TV at the table on the little flat screen they had mounted there. Hopefully our return to normal life will not be too painful for her.
Another of G's terrific poses
I don't recall now what this animal was but they were super close to the car, like 3 feet
G really liked being so close to the animals. As we went through each group, she began mimicing their actions and/or characteristics. For these she started showing us they had wiggly little tails.
More wildlife
Then G's impression of them eating their food...
and their twisted horns :-)
We had some close and very entertaining encounters with the ostriches. I saw a few people who opened their windows when the ostriches came around. That did not seem like a very good idea to me. I saw them peck at a few cars. I'm pretty sure they would have no problem pecking at someone's face.
G's impression of the rhinos
The actual rhinos. They were fascinating. We pulled the car over and watched them for quite awhile. We all watched with juvenile fascination as we discovered the incredible amount of poop they can make. Really gross, I know! :-)
Q? How does a rhino cross the road? Answer: however he wants!
Again, I love zebras!!!
After we did the drive through safari we checked out the walk thru part of the zoo. They had budgie feeding which is always lots of fun.
G and B and the giraffes. I fed them too!
Then we took a little boat ride. They have these monkeys (I believe they are spider monkeys but I cannot recall for sure) who live on a very small island in the middle of the pond. This one, and the guide there said he is the only one, walks upright!! I couldn't believe it!! I really need to do a bit of research on how common this is. She told me that all the workers at the park were pretty amazed too.
They even have a mini golf course. G did a couple holes.
The mini Crowell gang near the exit after a long day!
Bobby and I agreed that Lion Country Safari was a total winner. A++ day!Tomorrow: Miami day 2, Jungle Island
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