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| Meredith feeding Baby George his formula. |
This weekend we had the most amazing opportunity. My sister, Yari, has been doing her internship at White Oak Conservation Center, Inc. - it is an amazing place. This weekend we had an opportunity to visit the Conservation Center - not having an inkling of an idea what to expect. The place is huge. Thousands of acres in a very inconspicuous location.
Our tour started with a visit to a huge herd of white rhinos (there were 9). Our first task was to feed George a one year old, 1000 pound baby whose Mommy has never been able to feed him. Because he has no Mommy or Mommy substitute, the staff at White Oak feeds him 4 times per day. This sweet, humongous baby drinks 4 huge baby bottles with a mix of Fat Free and 1% milk. He is very sweet and just like a human baby - completely focused on his meal. The nipples on the bottles are just like the nipples on a baby bottle - just huge. This kicked off an experience that was really once in a lifetime.
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| Wyatt feeding George his baby bottle. |
Our next stop was to visit with 3 Indian Rhinos. They are not as pretty as the white rhinos and a little more intimidating. When we first got to the their habitat we saw the Mommy and baby, PJ, standing toward the back of the enclosure and a huge male named Patrick, standing sentry at the front of the fence, it was obvious that the Mom and PJ would not come to the fence with Patrick standing in the way. So, Ryan started walking around the enclosure - our hero. And wouldn't you know it - Patrick followed him all around the enclosure marking his territory the whole way. As soon as he was far enough The Mommy and PJ came up to us, they ate some leaves and we got to pet the baby. Again a once in a lifetime opportunity.
After we visited the Indian Rhino we went to visit the Black Rhinos. The Black Rhinos are smaller than the white and Indian Rhinos, but we were not allowed to touch them or get to close to them. They are beautiful, but I am thinking not as sweet-natured as the White Rhinos. One of the most amazing things about them was that they can eat a whole pine cone for a snack without batting an eye, just like we might eat a peanut. And of course I was so focused on not letting Meredith get to close to feed those giants a pine cone (which she was dying to do) I forgot to take a picture, so you are going to have to Google them!
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| Meredith, Wyatt and Cian watching the Indian Rhinos getting ready to pet PJ. |
Another one of our stops was the Giraffe enclosure. They are just like the giraffes at the zoo except we were right there next to them and they were looking right at us. The most outgoing giraffe was Lucky. He came right up to us when we got out of the van and started eating right away. And once he started eating he did not stop until we just ran out of food. They are amazingly strong and can yank those things right out of your hand.
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| Meredith laughing up at Lucky the Giraffe when he pulled the branch of Bay Leaves out of her hand to eat, eat, eat! |
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| Wyatt and Ryan feeding Lucky (who is a pig by the way) and pointing at one of the other Giraffes who came near us to eat. |
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| Meredith standing close to an Okapi. |
One of our new family favorite animals is the OKAPI. It is just a super interesting animal. It looks like a rag-doll version of an animal. It has a giraffe snout and a lama neck and a horse body and zebra legs and the more you look at him the more similarities to other animals you can find. They are supposed to be super shy and they look very gentle.
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| Ryan the Okapi Whisperer. They are supposed to be super shy of humans, but here they are standing right next to Ryan. |
All around the Conservation Center there are Cheetah enclosures. And they were very active and very curious, esp. about the kids. I swear a few of them saw the kids in the van and really thought about hunting. They would follow us as far as they could and try to get to us.
I don't remember the name of this very curious looking animal. They are so cute. They have super skinny legs and they look almost unreal.
This bird is the Kasawari. Yari took us through to see many animals and she kept telling us that she would show us the most dangerous animal at the White Oak later. And she finally takes us to see this monster of a bird that is the most dangerous animal at White Oak. Apparently, the staff at White Oak is allowed to to enter the homes of the the Rhinos, the Cheetahs, the Giraffes, the Zebras, the Wolves, and any other animals that I am forgetting, but hey are NOT allowed to enter the enclosure of the Kasawari. If you can see their feet - they have huge claws and beaks and they are not afraid to use them. (The whole time Yari was talking about this bird I kept thinking about Jurassic Park and the Raptors - creepy right?).
This was a wonderful experience and the kind of day that we will remember forever, Thank you Yari!
