On the final day, before we started the long journey back up the coast, we had one final stop. This next venture was something we had seen at the information centre, and Mary-Ellen couldn't help but insist on going. Buried deep in the countryside is a lion and trout breeding centre known as Paradise Valley Springs Wildlife Park. We were not sure exactly what to expect, given that most places like this that are far off the beaten path are often either completely dumps, with minimal care taken to presentation, or they are hidden gems. Lucky for us, this turned out to be the later. We ended up moving back and forth between exhibits to see the different shows that were scheduled, so I won't describe the actual journey, but talk a bit about each exhibit.
One thing this wildlife park does is breed lions. In a large pen, there were several lions, two adult males, lots of females, and a nice set up with caves and rocks to jump on. Mostly they just laid around, but as feeding time approached, they began pacing back and forth. People were beginning to get a bit unnerved as the lions stared in one direction, that happened to have several people lying on some grass. Jokes were thrown around, some people moved away, and the theories were more than a tad ridiculous. Finally I had to point out that the gate behind those people was likely where they bring their dinner in. More and more people came in, crowding the fence, so I didn't get any good shots of feeding time, but the fellow who came to tell us about the pride and hurl chunks of meat over the fence was quite comical. To add a bit of biblical irony, the fellows name was Daniel.
There were a number of other animals in the park, from goats and lamas, pigs and kea parrots. They were all very interesting, but one of the best parts of the park was the ducks and the trout that inhabited streams and pools throughout the entire park. At the beginning, they provided us with a bag of fish food, so as we walked around the park, we tossed food into the water. Some pools had so much food in it, we avoided adding to the waste, while others were filled with voracious fish and waterfowl that often competed for tiny pieces of food, as fish swam and ducks dove after each morsel
But the real reason Mary-Ellen was drawn to this attraction was the promise of an opportunity to pet a lion cub. Although I am sure the first thing one imagines is cuddling the thing, the cubs were too old to have roaming around with humans. These things were no longer kittens as far as size goes, but they were definitely still in their youth as one lion pesters the other who was desperately trying to sleep. In a cage within a cage, the lions laid, waiting for the masses within their den to come patiently by, sticking their hands through the cage and softly, but firmly (as there winter coats were coming through and they were ticklish) pet them.
There was a sense of pure wonder as I watched Mary-Ellen pet this over-sized pussycat that would one day be one of the top land predators. His huge paws were a clear sign that this would be a truly enormous cat some day, but for now, he was content to lay and sleep as we stroked its thick, soft coat. It was a great way to end a vacation with many new experiences crossed off our list: watch a geyser erupt, see a completely different form of organisms (archaebacteria), pet one of the most iconic land predators on earth, and of course all the rotten egg smelling geological formations along the way!
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