Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/07/19/zoos-worldwide-are-improvising.html
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Thinking back to the days when the Great Adventure Safari was popular in NJ, all I can say is, “What could possibly go wrong?”
Total let-down. I tried to order a rhesus monkey and a shake at the intercom but apparently it’s window-shopping only.
Cleveland Zoo is doing this. You sign up for a time, cost is $40 per car, The main drive through the zoo is a circle so it’s easy to figure out, and there’s 15 audio clips on Soundcloud.
Sounds great, but they reserve the right to search your car.
When I was a kid in Southern Ontario, we’d pile in the car and go to the African Lion Safari. You’d drive along the dirt path and see elephants, tigers, lions …, and monkeys. The monkeys were notorious for ripping stuff off of cars. Antennas, fake roof covering, anything their little incarcerated simian fingers could get a grip on.
I remember this place from childhood.
My parents owned a large wood-paneled Ford Town & Country station wagon (with rear-facing pop-up bench seating in the back). Hovering over our driveway were several inedibly productive wild cherry trees which would drop and accumulate on the car (inedible for humans at least; you can probably see where this is going).
The last stop on the safari was the baboons. a massive number of them descended upon our vehicle when they detected the fruit. There were so many that we could barely see out windows. My mother was screaming in terror while my brother and I were laughing so hard at he absurdity we could hardly breathe.
The park attendants had to push them off the car with poles before we could exit. The baboons were so excited on our car, that the first place we went afterwards was a car wash.
I vaguely remember that removal of wild animal procedure being performed on my uncle’s car. He lost the antenna, and something did not want let go of the side mirror. He almost opened the window, but the terrified screams of my aunt, my cousins, and me caused him to think better of it. So we waited for the attendants to help us before we could leave. Never went back.
Nice video, very calming.
After having seen The Omen as a kid, I never really felt like doing a drive-through safari park.
Search your car? When you arrive or leave?
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