Out of Africa Wildlife Park

Aileen had read many reviews on the Out of Africa Wildlife park where people raved it was a must see while in Sedona.  So on Thursday we took the 30 min drive west to have a look.  We knew we should spend about 5 hours there in order to see all the shows and exhibits so we arrived there around 10:00am.  The great thing about the day is the park was not busy so we had easy access to everything and great seats on the tour shuttles.  Since seats were empty, we could easily switch from one side of the shuttle to the other to get better views and pictures of the animals.

We took a lot of up close pictures of reptiles and animals but I'll just show a few.  I think this park is quite popular since you can get up close to the animals.  I know when we visited the San Diego zoo many years ago, it was difficult to see or experience very much.  T

When we entered the line up area to get on the Safari Tour shuttle, they handed us each a stick of celery to feed the giraffe or camel we will meet.  As Aileen and I were waiting for other passengers to get on the shuttle, we noticed a women walk on chewing on the celery!  I guess she was hungry.  When the tour guide explained during her introduction that the celery was to feed the animals, the women was incredibly embarrassed.  It was a good laugh.

Aileen saved her celery for the giraffe!

Gerome the giraffe sticking his head in

Nice picture Aileen took of the giraffe against the sky

They will only let us feed the giraffes and camels as their technique in receiving the celery never involves teeth.  Unless you are familiar with feeding animals, your fingers could be mistaken for celery and be bitten off.  In the case of the giraffe, their tongues are long and work like our fingers.   So they actually wrap their tongue around the celery and pull it into their mouths.

The park would like to get a female mate for their giraffe but a female giraffe is worth more than $100,000.  To expensive for the park as it is privately owned.  A male is worth $35,000.  Why?  It is because females are the producers of baby giraffes.  The male part of the process can be Fed Ex'd from anywhere in the world...

You probably already know that the cheetah is the fastest land animal.  Cheetahs can reach a speed of 70 mph but can only sustain it for 10 or 12 seconds.  The Ostrich can run 55 mph for an incredible 30 minutes!  Apparently their brain is only about half the size of their eye ball so when they are getting chased by a Cheetah, after a few minutes they forget what they were running away from!

However, if you look at an ostrich's feet, they remind you of a raptor dinosaur's claws.  An ostrich can jump several feet high, kick out, and disembowel a large cat!

Ostriches also have no teeth.  So, they have an organ called a gizzard where they pick up and store 15lbs of rocks in.  The digestion process uses the rocks to grind the food.  The rocks are later passed.  I guess that's what chickens do as well since they have gizzards.

Ostrich

Ostrich's raptor-like feet.  Very dangerous!

Here is an African crested porcupine.  They are a little different than North American porcupines in that the African crested porcupines quills are solid and bladed where as the North American porcupine quills are hollow and barbed.  The African porcupines quills can pierce bone!  The porcupine runs backwards and sideways to attack their victim.  The quills themselves do not kill their victim but instead the quills oily nature attracts bacteria, dissolves in the skin, which infects and kills the victim.

African crested porcupine,  This porcupine is 17 years old.

Here are some watusi cattle.  They carry the heaviest horns in the animal kingdom and their width can get as wide as a telephone pole.  They can be up to 8 feet in length.

This is an addax, a type of antelope.  These were hunted not for their meat but for their spiral horns.  Due to over hunting, they are extremely rare in the wild.

Addax

Below is an Asian water buffalo.  An interesting thing about this creature is if you eat pizza in the US, you have probably eaten this animal's milk.  Since an Asian water buffalo's milk has higher fat content and is creamier, many producers use it to make Mozzarella cheese.

Asian water buffalo

Close up encounter with a Bengal tiger.

We had a lot of alone time with the tigers as their were few people around.  This one for some reason leaped at the fence at us.  Freaked Aileen out...

Another close up.  

We had a great day at the park.  I am quickly writing this blog this morning as it is our last day in Sedona.  We took a many, many, photos but I only included ones I remembered tid bits of information about.  We are going to head back to Phoenix and have lunch with Liam.  Then head back home.