Zoobic Safari

Friday, Dec. 27:
This morning we checked out of our hotel and drove to a place called Zoobic Safari.  I don't know if the area around Subic Bay qualifies as an official rain forest, but it sure looked like it.  The trees were very dense, & there were green plants everywhere, with lots of layers growing up.  We even saw this guy on the side of the road as we were driving.

This sign sort of cracked me up: how do they know its dengue free?
Do they scan all of the mosquitoes that fly into the park? 

Zoobic Safari was a cross between a zoo, a safari, with a couple of cultural presentations thrown in too.  There were a lot of opportunities for the kids to interact with the animals, all pretty different than our zoo experiences here in the States.  A little more risky than our litigation-crazed nation would have, and possibly less ethical too???

The only other time I've seen a tree like this was in
Ecuador & also Cambodia, both rainforest areas

For extra fees, we were able to do a lot of things!  Like feed exotic birds out of our hands.  

Our little girl was super excited (& a little nervous too!) to do this.

Another thing that made me chuckle is how the kids just started feeding things to the animals through the pen & no one was around to mind, or if they saw anything, no one mentioned it.  And, of course, we parents were just a little amused by the whole thing, so we didn't stop it either.

Feeding random grass & plants to the water buffalo

Getting up close and personal with the camel.
This one almost got some of my hair, when I was sitting too close to the enclosure.

Another hands-on opportunity was giving the goats milk from a bottle.  Apparently the goats were so eager, they rushed my son, knocking him backwards off of his feet!  Our daughter is such a little nurturer, she loved the chance to give them a bottle.

I was personally intrigued by all of the creative ways that the landscaping went vertical.  Using empty plastic bottles, etc. they started plants to grow upwards, filling in pillars, etc.  I had to take a few photos to inspire me when I go back home.

I'm not sure why these wooden placards were so popular?!?!?  They were all over the place, and the kids felt compelled to pose in each and every one, getting more creative with their faces as we went...

The most memorable "extra" at Zoobic was the Tiger Safari.  This involved us all getting into a jeep-like vehicle with a guide and driving into a large enclosure with tigers.  The guide had a supply of raw chicken which he proceeded to put out the barred windows to feed a tiger.  The tiger would then jump up onto the side of the jeep where we could all get a good look at him.  After we had lots of photo opportunities, the guide threw the meat on top of jeep so we could see the tiger through the window in the roof.  The kids all got a big kick out of it.  I didn't particularly care for the experience, especially the smell of all that raw meat.  But since it isn't an opportunity we're likely to have anywhere else, I won't begrudge it too much.  

Then, our last interactive experience at Zoobic was feeding crocodiles!  (Yes, more raw chicken was involved!)  The chicken was tied to the end of a makeshift "fishing pole" which was to be dangled over the edge of the caging for a crocodile to snap off.  Again not my favorite thing to see my sweet little children feeding crocodiles…but they seemed to enjoy it!

After Croco Loco, we loaded up and drove back to Manila.  

Our opinion of our vacation in Subic???

A BIG thumbs-up!!!