Safari Land

We've heard about this place but it was way more than we expected. However, I'll begin my tale with the spirit of adventure we had as we decided on the spur of the moment to head south. I printed off the directions from information and referrals, we gased up and began our 2.5-3 hour trip to Safari Land. We did great navigating until we got really close. Luckily we found our destination entering from the opposite direction. (We had zero issues departing though.) Here, you see the entrance.

The way this works is you can drive your own car through or ride a tour bus. We drove on. Nothing like seeing signs like this as you approach. This was all we were expecting, so you'll see later on why we had such a blast. There was much more to it!

The elephants were among the first animals we saw. All of the pictures at this point are taken through the glass of the windsheild/windows so sorry for the glares and spots in advance.

See the zebra painted Pajermos (like a jeep, we drive a pajermo mini)...they were everywhere and zipping around constantly. You'll also notice later on a picture of a watch tower. They were all over the place too. These animals just go where they want in this area, except for the rhino, he was sort of penned in where he was at.

This was the next gate we had to drive through. Can you see the watch towers in the distance?

Just in case you are a complete idiot, here is the official warning. Also, I love how the English translation usually is off by a word or two.

These are bear cubs. They were roped off with their mama. She kept pacing back and forth.

Ok, we had a rather interesting experience at this point. We pulled up and were going on and on about how awesome it was to see a tiger so close. And then Charlie leaned his arm against the door, causing the window to start going down. He quickly got it going in the up direction though and we had our chuckle...and were grateful the tiger was so chill.

This was right before we pulled so close to the rock for the shot above.

After we left the tigers, we got out and enjoyed a petting zoo plus little amusement park.

Luckily, I was armed with a nice sized bottle of hand sanitizer, and off we went.

We've seen a lot of kangaroos, but have never been inside and allowed to pet them!

Next, we were able to enter an area with squirrel monkeys. I think monkeys are basically nasty creatures, but this was really neat.

This couple was feeding the monkey.

This monkey was on the guy's shoulder. I tried to get the shot, but the monkey jumped up as I snapped the picture.

This guy was in a pen...no petting him. He doesn't look very friendly does he?

Also enclosed...

These white tigers looked HUGE in person!

This guy was funny! He knew what he wanted and wasn't afraid to ask!

I gave Charlie a little bit of grief wearing Zach's backpack. I didn't expect we'd be out walking around so just made sure I had his backpack stocked with wipes, diapers, etc.

This area was awesome and really nice. There were lots of places for the kids to run, play and learn. We only did a few of them. If we had left earlier in the day we would have lingered in this area a bit longer.

These lion cubs were so frisky and cute!

This elephant was cool. The kids pumped the lever and water shot out of the trunk. Clara Grace paused to run up to it and then kids swarmed so we moved on. She wasn't particularly happy she didn't get to do it.

Ice cream is always a hit!

This had to be the lamest ride ever, but Clara Grace really wanted to ride it. It went in circles (with a little elevation) with lots of annoying barking.

This concluded our experience at the park and we went back to the car. We had such a blast and will likely return before we leave Japan for good. The kids thought it was really neat. It was out in the country and the scenery was beautiful. We had to drive through a nature preserve to get there. Unfortunately, since this was a spur of the moment trip the camera wasn't fully charged so it died as I tried to get shots of the countryside.