Thursday 4 July 2013

Playing Doolittle.

As mentioned in my previous post, we travelled up to the seaside town of Bridlington in Yorkshire on Monday to visit Park Rose Animal Park. Adam found a meerkat and owl experience on Groupon so seeing as it was our week off, we decided to branch out.

The park itself is not anywhere near the coast, in fact, it is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It's extremely small, family owned and you get a real sense that they are purely doing it for the animals and the fact that people can visit is just a bonus. I'd much rather give my money to a place like that than one of these huge safari parks.


We watched a bird of prey show and then they took us into the meerkat enclosure where we got to play and feed them mealworms. If I learned anything that day, it's that meerkats may look cute but my god are they vicious. I was the only person wearing shorts and every time they scurried behind me, I had visions of my shins being ripped apart. 


   

We were then allowed to hold what seemed like 100 different owls. I've never been much of an owl fan (that's my Dad's department) but I have to admit, seeing them up close has brought a new sense of adoration. They're so beautiful.
Despite the meerkats and owls, I'm embarrassed to say that the highlight of my day was when the guy showed us his ferret enclosure. They were white albinos just like Moomin and extremely docile as the mother had just given birth. I was surprised by how everyone in our guide party seemed genuinely interested by them - there's usually always one that screams in repulsion. Poor little things, they have such a bad rap.

All in all it was a great day and the weather held out long enough. We've literally had no summer so far this year at all. If I'm honest, I can't say it has bothered me too much, it'd just be nice to know what to wear when you wake up each day. Such is life.

I hope all of my American buddies are having a wonderful July 4th! Have a drink for me (or two) and enjoy those amazing fireworks I see pop up on the blogosphere at this time of year. We have to wait until November 5th for fireworks; in the depths of winter wrapped up to within an inch of our lives, all to celebrate some idiot that failed to blow up a building. Not that I'm bitter....

Not at all.

3 comments:

Ms. Moon said...

Cracked me up about the meerkats. I'm glad you escaped with shins intact.

Steve Reed said...

The meerkats do have sharp-looking little claws. Those mealworms look pretty disgusting, too. But still, it sounds like a great outing!

Reya Mellicker said...

LOVE the owl pics. I'm afraid of them but also love them.

And the meerkats! Duck and cover!