Out of Africa Wildlife Preserve and Tuzigoot!

Our big adventure for Spring Break was our trip to Camp Verde and their Wildlife Preserve. It was a blast! We went with a few friends and made it a two day trip. We had two mommies and 6 kids with Dallin (age 8) the oldest one. We had several people ask if we were a daycare?!? No, we replied, just a circus!

We spent the first day at Out of Africa, then slept overnight in a Hotel (the kids thought it was the best thing ever) then visited Tuzigoot and Montezuma's Castle (ruins of the Sinagua tribe) the next day. The kids had so much fun and were well behaved. The only bad part of the trip was my camera wasn't charged all the way and I only got a few pictures! DANGIT!

When we arrived to Out of Africa we did a 'safari' first. We loaded into a bus without windows and we got treats to feed the animals.

We were warned to only feed the giraffe and camel because the ostrich would peck at our fingers and the zebras would bite them off!


All the animals came right up to the bus, stuck their heads in the windows and begged for food. I think all the kids had a chance to feed them and Maura was beside herself! It was the most fun she has ever had I think.


Any time an animal would get close she would squeal and flap her arms and reach out to grab it. She loved it!

We also fed some cute little deer.

I'm sure glad there was a fence around these cute little deer. I would fear for their lives if Maura were in with them. She was so excited she would have mauled them to death!



We used a bunch of quarters getting food for the deer and when we ran out we picked up the kernels of corn off the ground that spilled and fed it to them too.


We saw the "Tiger Splash" presentation. The animal keepers went into the same area as the tigers and used themselves as bait to demonstrate hunting techniques. It was really fun to watch! They stressed that these were not trained tigers, but that because they spent a great deal of time with them the tigers held themselves back and did not hurt the caretakers. Then they pulled out some toys for them to chase. It was amazing to see how a sturdy basketball and soccer ball went *POP* so easily with one little chomp.

After the demonstration we walked around and saw the rest of the animals at the preserve. Many lions, tigers, bears (oh, my), rhino, peccary, reptiles,

(Check out the boys looking into the reptile habitat!)

hyena, and others. I was amazed at the "small town" feel of the preserve. All the caretakers were very accommodating and helpful and nice and informative any time we asked questions or wanted to see something. It was obvious that these people cared for the animals and wanted us to enjoy them as much as they did.

We had just about as much fun as we could handle!


Dallin was the photographer of the many animals we saw. He did a really good job of it! I only chose a couple (of the many). Tigers.


A friendly Coatie. We got really close to them. They didn't seem afraid. They came right up to us and just looked at us while we looked at them about 2 feet away. There wasn't a big fence, just a wait-high wall that bent inwards so the coatie couldn't get out. If I would have leaned over and stretched out my arm I could have touched him (or he could have bitten me). It was a really neat habitat. I had to restrain Maura, she was going bananas!

A lemur.


A young grizzly. He and his brother (or sister, I didn't get close enough to check) played and wrestled and chased each other for an hour! They were very entertaining. The second time we walked by one of them was sitting on an old picnic bench tearing it to pieces. They were amazing to watch.

A black bear.


and then the camera ran out of batteries....bummer.

Luckily I have an awesome friend! Angie just gave me a disc full of more pics from our adventures! You may have to check out previous blog entries as I will add them where I can!


On our second day we went got up, got dressed and beat the crowds to the ruins. We were there right as it opened at 8am (well, a little after 8, we kinda' got lost).

First a picture of me and the kids at the top of Tuzigoot ruin!



Tuzigoot!


They didn't want to pose 'cuz the sun was so bright!


Even with all the great rocks to pick up and other things to look at, this is what the little ones wanted to check out...garbage cans!


After Tuzigoot we went to see Montezuma's castle. I was a little disappointed that we could only look at it and not walk through it or anything, but it was still fun to see. I think the kids agreed.



We found some picnic tables near and ate a yummy lunch and had some much needed exploring time.

They wanted to bring home their 'guns' but we told them they weren't allowed in the car.


Thanks for the pictures and the super fun adventure!