Subtitle: Getting up close and personal with the wildlife.

sub subtitle: Seriously. We were all up in their business.

We took a class field trip to the Timbavati Wildlife Park in the Dells on Monday. We’ve never been before, so we didn’t really know what to expect. It’s kind of like a zoo. There are animals and a small train – and some of the animals you can feed! But this is not like any “petting zoo” I’ve ever been to. This was the most up close and personal kind of animal experience I’ve ever had.

When is the last time you fed a giraffe? I can now say, “quite recently” but I’m not sure I ever want to again.

That would be the giraffe’s long black tongue, curling around a carrot stick which he would then stick in his mouth.

Basically: To feed a giraffe, you are going to get licked. And possibly disgusted for life. The kids were all equally “ewwwwwwww” about it. Can you blame them?

Seriously.

Once its tongue was back in its mouth, it was pretty cute again and we were all like “Melman! You’re so cute!”

And then this happened:

And there was much squealing and giggling and “ewwwww”-ing once more. We also saw:

Kangaroos!

A few of them had little joeys in their pouches which was nothing like what it looks like in Winnie the Pooh. I don’t know why, but my brain really has always assumed there was a pocket involved but I didn’t see one on any of these kangaroos so I feel like Kanga owes me an explanation or two.

I did see what I’m hoping was a baby kangaroo wiggling around inside a “pouch” on the momma kangaroo. Otherwise, she should get that looked at because you never know, I guess. Kids are always sticking weird things in weird places.

Other adorable things seen:

These bear cubs looked and behaved so much like the bear cubs from the movie Brave that it was borderline uncanny.

They were possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Like I’ll take two. The tour guide was incredibly brave around all these animals, which I guess comes with the territory but seriously he was petting lions and tigers and bears – oh my! No joke.

If you could take any wild animal home as a pet (reality not included), which one would you pick? I’ll take a couple of those bears and a baby bobcat for good measure.