The first stop was the Monkey Farm, a primitive little primate tourist attraction that had us up close and personal to the monkeys. While waiting for the show, we got to play with a little one year old monkey. He quite liked my hat and took it away from me to use as a security blanket. I had a hard time asking for it back as he looked so cute sucking his thumb and cuddling my hat!
We could also feed the other monkeys who were tied up to the trees (not very nice to see). Steve and the kids had a good time chunkin’ pieces of fruit to the monkeys. Then the show started and we were able to have our picture taken with the monkey on our laps. Out of all the people there, only Steve, Grammie, London and I wanted to have our photo taken!
The monkeys had been trained to help harvest coconuts and demonstrated their skills, as well as a few other skills that did not involve coconuts. Like riding a bike, diving for Stevie’s watch in a pond, untying London who had been bound with rope, and outsmarting Cannon at guessing where a number was.
After the monkey farm we headed down the road to the Tiger Kingdom. Before I write my story, please note that I am writing this after the fact so there were no maulings of the family and all parties involved are still safe. Having said that, I’ll continue my story. The main attraction at the Tiger Kingdom is that you get to pet the tigers, well lay on them too if you’re really daring (which we were!)
The kids, Stevie and I got to go in with the baby tigers (7weeks old) to pet and play with them. Two of them were sleeping, but it was a great way for the kids to pet a live tiger and not be too afraid about them losing a hand. It was amazing! And, no, the kids weren’t the slightest bit afraid. In case you were wondering, tiger fur is wiry, not really soft. But the markings are beautiful. And did you know that they have white dots on the backs of their ears? And did you know that every tiger’s markings are different?
Stevie, Grammie and I then went on to the big guys – although technically only 18 months old – tigers grow a lot faster than humans and I thought they were BIG! We also saw right away why they did not allow kids in with the big cats, one kept charging the fence where Emmy was standing. I guess she looked like a good snack! With a slight increase in adrenaline (come on, I’m trying to be brave), we marched into the cage and right up to one of the big boys. Ok, he too was asleep, but they did wake him up for us. He was beautiful, and big, and yes we did lay our heads on him as well as petted him, scratched his belly and lifted his tail (very heavy). Actually, I was surprisingly not nervous in the cage even though there were 3 big tigers roaming about. And I can tell you the tiger was not nervous either – I know this because I could hear his heart beating when I laid my head on his chest.
After exiting the tiger cage unscathed, basking in our adrenaline rush, we had lunch at the restaurant overlooking the enclosures. I have to say that it was most likely a once in a lifetime thing to do – eating lunch while watching the tigers swim in their pool 20 feet away.
Back at the hotel for a rest now and a chance to write our story…
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