Natural Bridges Wildlife Ranch - Texas

Ethan requested that our next vacation be to Africa, so we decided that a visit to an African Safari "Texas Style" would be the next best thing.

When we arrived it was beginning to sprinkle, but that didn't stop us from having fun.  Every vehicle gets a free bag of food with admission and we decided to purchase another one just in case the animals were really hungry.  At first things didn't look to promising, but as we got further in, the animals got a lot more friendly... almost too friendly!!

The kids had a GREAT time and Derrick and I even enjoyed the experience!!!  We would do this again if we ever were to come back!

Feeding time brings a lot of the animals to the roadside.

We decided that we weren't interested in getting this Watsui any closer to the van.

Everett was one of the first to feed an animal.  The elk were very friendly.

They started fighting right along the side of the road.  It was neat to see.

There were only a few bison, but they weren't interested in us either.

It took some coaxing with a bag of food,
 but we finally got to feed this guy out of our hands.

 

 

Beautiful markings on this Springbok!

Some of the animals weren't interested in us. 
These Gemsbok were happy where they were.

Feeding time was right before we arrived, so some were resting after their meal.
At first I thought this was a moose, but I believe it is a Fallow.

"No thank you." said the antelope

The vehicle in front of us was getting a lot of action from the zebras!

Soon we had them feeding out of our hands too!

 

The rhinos were asleep.

Mama feeding a llama

Derrick fed the first emu from his hand.

Brave.

Elliot was not sure about the animals coming inside the van.
He kept his distance.

Baby llama



Red Lechwe on the move

The Blackbuck that is crossing the road is so endangered that there are more of
them in Texas than in their native homeland of India and Pakistan.

Everett and Elliot keeping each other company in the front seat. 
They were both slightly timid about feeding the animals, but loved watching them.

Surprise!

Sicilian Donkey

He made us laugh so hard with the silly faces he was making.

Elliot thought he was funny, but didn't have any interest in feeding him.

Ostrich

"Why did the ostrich cross the road?"

 

Still unsure what that big bird is doing.

Black and white lemurs

The boys liked looking at the baby giraffe up close.

Elliot enjoyed looking at all the animals too.