#78 – NIGHT AT THE ZOO

The Adventure: Night at the Zoo

I loved the movie Jurassic Park. I loved the idea that these people were isolated and locked in with these wild beasts.

I loved the idea that I was locked in the zoo. And anytime we’d stray near the outer walls, a proximity alarm would go off.

We got locked in a 7 pm on a Friday night. We would be released at 9 am the following morning.

That gave us 14 hours of unfettered access to the monkeys, lions, panthers, wolves, grizzleys, hippopotamus’s, and all sorts of crazy animals.

It’s one thing to tour a zoo in the middle of the day…it’s something entirely different when your camp is in the middle of the zoo, and all you hear is the sounds of wildlife everywhere. It’s wild and wonderful.

Yes, yes, I know zoos suck and they have caged all these wild and beautiful beasts and they should be out in the wild and whatnot…but from what I understand, most of these creatures have something not quite right with them and that if they were to be released into the wild, they would likely not survive a week. So I’m okay with this…sort of. We all live in cages of our own making for the most part.
We did a preliminary tour of the zoo prior to the sun setting for the day….but it was the later tour we took at around midnight until close to 3 am that really hit the spot.

My friend Fuad is an interesting sort of character. He has a Westfalia that we use to go off on adventures or take out touring. He adores champagne and is a lover of all things female. And the females love his charming nature. But let me tell you this, his ‘stealth mode’ is unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed. There we are in the darkness, attempting to sneak up on all the wild animals, but Fuad’s flip-flops are brutally loud. Flop, flop, FLOP!!!! We finally stop and convince him that we are in stealth mode, so his shoes just simply have to go. No problem. But the second he removes his shoes, his mouth opens up. It’s like he just can’t shut up. Blah, blah, blah….!!!! I don’t know what’s louder…the sound of his flip-flops or his stealth mode.

Eventually we head back to the Westie, or Punjabi Thunder, according to Fuad and manage to get a few hours of sleep before morning breaks.