My Safari Drive

MY SAFARI DRIVE

I never contemplated on having a safari drive when I landed in New Castle! But my grand daughter had already planned the trip and made all arrangements for the momentous journey. The safari park is near Birmingham, a four hour drive from Newcastle and we left on 31st May at 9.30 am by a very comfortable seven seater car. My grand daughter took charge of steering. All along it was beautiful greenery and all roads fenced with tall green trees offering a feast for the eyes in contrast to what we see in the concrete jungles of cities! On either side were woodlands carpeted with green rapeseed crop. As Indian food is scarce here, we took lunch prepared at home--rava idli, bisibalebath, curd rice, and a variety of snacks. The journey was as comfortable as it was memorable with the expert driving of my grand daughter and the assistance of her husband.

We reached Bewdley, a picturesque town on river Severn and Kidderminster, home to museum of carpets! There is another riverside town, Stourport nearby, with historic canal basins. West Midland Safari Park is situated near Kidderminster in Bewdley, Worcestershire. Opened in 1973, it has 165 species of exoticanimals. The drive through 4 miles (6.4 km)has 600 animals from 40 different species from Europe, Africa, North America, and Asia. It has a large adventure theme park, enclave for reptiles,fish, bats, penguins and sea lions. The greatest attraction at the Safari Park is the Dinosaurs park where models of their different varieties are exhibited with sound and light arrangements. The animals produce terrible cries  reminiscent of the real Dinosaurs! Small kids may be frightened at these sounds!

By the time we finished our lunch in the car and reached the Safari Park it was 2 pm. We had only three hours at our disposal as the park would close by 5 pm. We hurried and started our safari from inside the car! The gorgeous baby white rhino caught our attention first. Safari drive through the park brings to our presence the fastest, tallest, and cutest animals around. As we motored through the park we saw the elegant giraffe the zebra with its well known stripes, Ankle cattle, water buck, the Congo Buffalo, the ostrich with its long curved neck and Eland, the largest of all antelope species. We proceeded on and accosted the sambar deer and the Philippine spotted deer.They were fleet footed and running here and there.Then we entered the wild life area in the drive, to see the magnificent powerful tigers, a couple of them feeling shy of posing for a photograph!  A few more were huddling themselves to sleep! Then we came to the fastest land mammal, the cheetah and the  African Lion. Looking at the lions from close quarters we were struck at their majesty and dignified walk. A white lion which suddenly crossed the others in the enclosure startled all of us!

The tall camels came running round the car thrusting their noses into the front and back door windows of cars for food! One camel came to our car window and we were taken aback a little. But we had a packet of animal feed ready and gave the camel it's share! The reindeer too came to us for its share of feed! A long necked giraffe was the next to seek some feed. it was a sight to see it bend it's neck and eat the animal feed from our palm! From there we had to return as it was closing time and we retired to our farm house far away from the madding crowd in an entirely secluded forest area centered in the dense Wyre forest. It's gentle rolling mills, meandering rivers, steep wooded vallie's, orchards, including the market towns of Bewdley, Kidderminster, Stourport on Severn and the surrounding woodlands are fantastic places to enjoy the fresh air and have fun out doors! This rented farmhouse gave us the badly needed warmth and rest. We had dinner with the food we brought and slept well. Getting up early the next morning we prepared the food - pulihora and curd rice and left for safari drive for the second time!  The tickets booked allowed for a second visit.  We walked up to the enclosure ot the Dinosaurs and were amazed at the sight of so many animals in their terrible form giving out frightening sounds!

Then we walked to the enclosures where reptiles were housed and saw the Python and the crocodile.we saw the bats hurtling in the darkness of their enclosure! The most interesting experience was in a section where small parrot like birds crowded on every part of our bodies to drink from a cup of sweet juice in our hand! They are totally fearless and quite competitive in driving out the other weak birds! We had these birds on our heads, shoulders and hands and even on our noses! It was scaring but yet an interesting and funny experience! We saw the aquarium  and the theme park and finally  came out of the Safari Park. There was some more time at our disposal and we made our way to the famous Balaji Temple  in Dudley town near Birmingham and had a great darshan! We worshipped the Lord and other deities Shiva, Subramanya and Shiridi Sai before we returned to our farm house for the second night for the well deserved rest.! The Safari drive was a thrilling, indescribable and an unforgettable experience!