On our first night in our super fabulous yurt the Pere David deer managed to keep me awake most of it with their loud bellowing down at the watering hole right below us. I woke up feeling crummy and wishing for a 12-gauge shotgun, but as it turns out there is sort of an interesting story behind the deer. This species is native to China, where a French missionary (we can assume his name was David) was stationed. He loved the species so much (honestly, I have no idea why. He must not have had to camp out next to the herd.) that he ended up sending 12 animals back home to France, where they and their offspring were put in zoos around Europe. Some time later there was an uprising in China, and the group that had taken over occupation of the Pere David deer's natural habitat ended up dining on them to the point of extinction. Therefore, all of the known remaining Pere David deer on Earth are descendants of the 12 lucky animals that got shipped off to France. So they really are Father David's deer!
We milled around our yurt patios in the morning, looking out at the grazing pastures. Here is a herd of Persian onagers.
More loud deer.
A bactrian camel and some wild horses.
A view of the grounds from our patio.
You can see the zip line towers in this picture. We are going to have some good times on those later!
The path leading up from our yurts to breakfast!
Deer! Apparently no one had ever seen them swimming before they came to The Wilds.
Loading on to our safari bus!!
Did I mention this was an anniversary trip for the Trohas??
Dad and Mom on safari!
A close up of the Pere David buck and a doe. That stuff hanging off his antlers is mud and grass from the pond. He thinks it's pretty.
This is a greater one-horned rhino. Even though you can't see the horns from this angle, you can tell it's not a white rhino because it's in the water. These rhinos have necks that allow their heads to tilt up and back, allowing them to partially submerge themselves in the water. The other rhinos can't lift their heads up, so if they walked into the water they would drown. You're welcome for the trivia.
Trumpeter swan.
The Wilds' herd of American bison.
Our little yurt village from the grazing pastures.
Here come some rhinos!
Thanks again for the awesome telephoto lens, Grammy & Pappy!!
Have I ever mentioned my dream to be a National Geographic photographer???
We can see you.
A Sichuan takin.
Louie getting personal with a camel.
Want some more trivia? Of course you do!! There are two types of camels, those with one hump and those with two. Two humped camels are Bactrian camels. Bactrian starts with B, and a B has two humps. One humped camels are called Dromedary camels. Dromedary starts with D, and a D has one hump. That's how you can remember which is which. You're welcome again.
Cheese!
Daddy taking a close-up look at the camel.
A close-up view of the Persian onagers.
Feeding time!
Delicious.
Here is a Przewalski's wild horse mama and her one-week old baby!! What a cutie! Trivia time! Przewalkski's wild horses are native to Mongolia and have never been domesticated. They must be some pretty crazy-wild horses!
A pretty little piece of pasture.
Down at the man-eating catfish pond.
Just kidding. They don't really eat people. But they did get pretty excited to see us! I wouldn't stick my hand in that water!
The carnivores aren't allowed to roam the pastures for obvious reasons. So the carnivore enclosures are kept separate. Here is a cool looking African wild dog.
We got off the bus and walked around the enclosures for a while. Our tour guide said sometimes the wild dogs stalk little kids and old people from the other side of the fence. Creepy!
But they are really beautiful animals. You know, as long as there is a fence between you and them.
A cheetah mama and her babies. The cheetahs have also been known to stalk people from their side of the fence. Our tour guide told us the story about an elderly lady using a walker in front of their enclosure, and a cheetah running full speed and taking a lunge at the fence to try to get to her! Wow.
(I kinda wish there had been an old person on our bus now.)
This is not a fox, it's an Asian wild dog called a dhole.
Look at all those lazy cheetahs!
When we got back around to the African wild dogs, they put on a bit of a show for us.
Next we got to go see some giraffes.
Check out that tongue!
The lake from a different perspective.
Here is a Bactrian deer buck surrounded by his wimmins.
An old Sichuan takin. He looks kinda mopey, don't you think? Our tour guide said when Disney came out with the animated movie Beauty and the Beast, they used the takin as a reference for creating the Beast's look.
A male ostrich. He takes his fence patrolling very seriously.
Here we have some white rhinos and some scimitar-horned orynxes.
Check out the stance of this common eland! National Geographic, I tell ya.
A very relaxed sable antelope. Also? National Geographic!
These safari buses were so cool. We were able to get so close, and the animals just walked right up!
A cluster of Grevy's zebras. We weren't able to get too close to these guys. They pretty much just stayed off to themselves.
After our bus tour I took a walk around the butterfly habitat. I didn't see many butterflies, but the scenery was pretty!
National Geographic, anyone?
There were lots of wild blackberries. And yes, I ate them.
A swallowtail butterfly coming in for a landing. They are fast and hard to photograph!
Some pretty Queen Anne's lace on the hillside.
Look close! A butterfly!
Back at the yurt, I paparazzi'd this photo of a horseback tour going by.
And of course, some rhino butts.
Then it was time for some zip-lining!!
Here is Valerie learning the ropes.
Look at Daddy go!
Practicing his self-rescuing technique.
And he's off!
Go Valerie!
Valerie.
Look at Daddy!
Wow!
Here comes Louie!
And it's Mama!
Check out that cannonball technique.
When we remembered, we checked out the landscape for critters wandering by. Look! A giraffe!
And...back to the fun. Here I come!
Go Mama!
Valerie.
Louie.
Daddy coming in for a landing.
At the end of our zipline tour, we had to repel down the last tower. I won't lie, this made me like 100 times more nervous than the ziplining for some reason.
But Daddy looks like a real pro, doesn't he?
Louie's turn.
And now Valerie.
Our awesome tour leaders. We had tons of fun with these guys!
At the dinner table.
And back to the yurt for some more animal watching!
Our yurt stay included a safari tour each day, so the next day we were at it again. We saw most of our old friends from the day before....
Check out those sugar lips!
One more look at Junior.
What a sweetie.
The happy anniversary couple!
I think these are Eld's deer.
We never got a close-up of the white rhino baby, but here she is: Firefly!
Even though I'm from Missouri and have seen a lot of cows in my lifetime, I have to say this Bangteng cow is pretty good lookin! These cows are native to Indonesia, where they are hunted by huge packs of those Asian wild dogs, the dholes. Interesting, eh?
What an awesome stay! We will have to take you kids there some day!
Love,
Mama
