The Full Safari Experience – Animals, Nature and a New Outlook
On Tuesday 23rd June, my boyfriend and I reached the 6 months mark in our relationship – yes, someone has actually wanted to be with me for half a year! As a surprise, my boyfriend took me to the safari park. I love animals. I really do. So you can imagine how big my love-struck grin was.
Yes, that big. Although my boyfriend can be as crazy as an animal himself, he was so lovely all day too…
So after the long journey there – full of us singing at the top of our lungs to his music – we finally arrived at the park, grinning like big kids. Because he’s such a darling, my boyfriend bought the animal food so that I could feed them. And feed them I did! First there was the zebras, which I aptly called Marty (from Madagascar, duh), and he was my favourite.
Then I fed the ________ and the giraffes – their tongues were not pleasant as they slobbered on my hand, but I set that aside to enjoy the experience.
Sadly, we were turned away from going through the part with the lions and wild dogs because we were in a soft-roof/canvas-roof car. My boyfriend was so apologetic, worried that it would ruin our day but it didn’t at all! It only got better from there. After finishing off with the camels, white tigers, elephants and various other animals – the ones that look like deer but aren’t… – we parked up and went inside the resort.
As soon as we got there, we saw the energetic penguins splashing about and darting here and there for our attention, and damn did they get it. We took the odd selfie (sorry for saying selfie, but this is the world we live in now) with the penguins, my boyfriend getting a better shot than I did (we are very competitive people).
Afterwards, we saw a sea lion show, where a 9 year old sea lion called Callum performed tricks for us and he was so entertaining that I felt like a big kid. It was as though a dormant part of me had fully awoken. I was clapping louder than the children, and answering the woman’s questions like I was 2 not 20.
Oh my poor boyfriend! Later, we saw the reptiles which freaked me out; the birds which deafened us; the bats that frightened us as they whizzed past our heads; the goats that I forced my boyfriend to pet against his will; the lemurs which hid from us far up in the trees, creating a melody of whooshing leaves; and lastly the huge hippos bathing in the lake, moaning at one another across the gate whilst flashing their very charming teeth (not so much). Throughout the day I had a childlike sense of wonder surging through me in a warm sensation.
It truly was reminiscent of the innocent days when we were young and nothing could go wrong. When nothing could be bad. When you were tired, and dirty, and hungry but you didn’t care because you were having fun with your best friend.
And you know what the day showed me in the end? It didn’t just show me great animals, a lovely time and a caring partner; it was much more than that. It showed me life. It showed me that there’s things out there that are so great that they steal you from your thoughts. I was grinning the whole day. In this life, in the area I live and the people I see, it’s hard to say that – unfortunately, that is the case. But the whole day I smiled. I looked at everything with awe and admiration – my boyfriend particularly. It was easy too. It’s a shame, isn’t it, that things aren’t always easy. But I didn’t have to wear a mask; I didn’t have to think or strive. We just enjoyed ourselves. And we didn’t have to change country for that. Or spend a shedload of money. It was just us, being us, having a good time with ease and it made me realise life can’t be so bad, can it? How can it be when there’s these animals living amongst us? When the sun shines as you walk hand in hand with someone special? There’s ups and there’s downs but there’s sun at the end of the day. It’ll rain. Oh god will it rain, but I believe now that the sun will always come back.
~ Damsel
