http://rumbum.com/1208-lions-and-tigers-and-bears-oh-my

I walk past this at the entry…

And go straight to the Tigers!

Tigers!

Is this cool or WHAT!

I was in with the elephants all of about 1 minute when they broke out (see the tine electric wide holding them in place?) and the  guy shouted for me to get out of the elephant area. I wasn’t too concerned for my welfare, as the poor beasts really just wanted some fresh grass an trotted away. Pretty cool, but being underfoot would not have been.

Next I visited the camels. I declined a ride on one, instead I opted for petting and feeding them. Thanks, Carolyn, for the introduction to them in Texas. I wasn’t scared when they sniffed me real up close and personal.

No too much excitement here…so I didn’t go in.

Ducks bathing in the buffalo water…

This gal cracked me up…a little disheveled are we?

The on to the BIG tigers!

These are the two year olds…6 tigers with 1 lioness thrown into the mix.

Seems innocent enough in the picture…

But then the female lioness started growling and rubbing on me like a house cat. Now unlike a house cat, this lioness rubbed on my HIPS and not my ankles…further, I did not understand the grumbling noises she was making…Further, the handler kept telling her to knock it off.

OKAY, ENOUGH FOR ME! I asked to be let out of the cage before some instinct of mine, or worse, theirs, took over and things got ugly.

But dang! Talk about a once in a lifetime experience!

OK, so on to the bears:

I took a whole bunch of pictures of them, but mostly had fun feeding them raisins.

What a day!

If you ever get to Buenos Aires, make it a point to go to the Lujan Zoo. It’s an hour and a half out of town, but there’s a bus, and  it is so worthwhile. Try to hit it on a weekday, too. I was able to spend an hour in with the 6 month old tigers, whereas marty went on a weekend and spent 5 minutes in with them.

http://www.zoolujan.com/