African safari?, you ask?
Yes. African safari.
In the 1970s the Philippines took on a collection of animals from the African continent and they've been living on this island ever since. It sounds a little Jurassic Park in a way, these animals uprooted from halfway around the globe and living here in a different world. But there we all were walking among zebras and feeding giraffes and Calamian deer (a species native to the Philippines).
Safari and wildlife expert Don Young was with us for the trip. He was sad to see how the giraffes were suffering from wounds the snare traps local squatters had set on the island and also how no new giraffes had been introduced to the small herd that was relocated here so long ago. If anyone wants to send some excess giraffes they may have to Calauit, they need them there now for the survival of the herd.
Here's Don with Rudolph, the Calamian deer:
Rudolph is very friendly - and loves to eat.
Some of the giraffes in an enclosed area where they are being treated for their snare wounds and other ailments:
Lunch time.
Zebras grazing.
This is an endangered native type of bear cat and now the only one of his kind on the island. His mate was eaten by another endangered species - a reticulated python - on the island. He's kept caged now to avoid being the python's next meal.
It really is an incredibly beautiful place.
After several hours it was back to the dock for our boat ride back to Mangenguey:
1 comment:
Beautiful!!!!!
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