Africam Safari in Puebla

（Text in ENG)
(*About the title: it is not misspelling - the safari park is called AfricaM)

The Puebla pottery we bought

  Last weekend we went to Puebla (again). I personally love Puebla, it`s a little town about two hour car drive from Mexico City. In Puebla pottery is very famous, so the historical center is full with houses decorated with beautifully painted tiles. It is a pleasure to walk around these houses.
  But this time we had another purpose: we went to buy our first full dining set for our new home. We bought two sets of Puebla pottery a few month ago, but we fell in love with it so much, we went back for more. Since it is hand painted, the patterns have slightly changed, but it is still beautiful, so we bought a set of six with big serving plates and coffee/tea cups.



  This was our first task. The other was to check out the safari, I heard was close to Puebla. It is the other side of Puebla (not on the way to Mexico City), but in about 15 minutes we reached it from the center. The entrance fee was considerably high (200 pesos), but the money was worth it! Although I have no much experience in safaris (I have been in Austria by bus when I was in elementary school - I don`t remember much of it), but the safari highly exceeded my expectations. Firstly, it was fun to go by car, as you can stop wherever you want as long as you want. Secondly, the animals were absolutely free to walk around, some of them came to us and let them to pet. Thirdly, the park itself is huge, very organized, good effort is being taken to seem like a real safari (there are tribe tents on the way etc.) and the animals seem to be treated well.

The entrance

  As we entered the safari, the first animals were (of course) giraffes and ostriches and antelopes. Seeing an ostrich so close was quite scary for the first time - although its head is so small compared to its body, I can easily imagine that it would hurt if it bit. Of course there were the "tradicional" animals like elephants, giraffes, lions, monkey, but we saw extremely rare animals as well, like the "Oreophasis derbianus" (sorry, I don`t know the English name), a kind of peacock that lives in a small area in the Guatemala-Mexico borders on the top of volcanoes.

Oreophasis derbianus

  Also, there was a white rhinos, which is said to be at the edge of distinction. Although the rhino was very calm and was hardly moving, it was humiliating and terrifying to see the huge size and the enormous horn it has! The black rhino, that was lying in the grass a few 100 meters further, looked like a baby next to it! The other big animal I liked was the buffalo - it was in the Yellowstone area (the safari is divided into areas like Serengeti, Yellowstone, Oasis etc.) and the surprising thing was its tame eyes! Despite its amazing size (both the body and the head!), the animal itself seems very very calm and tame!
  And of course, there were the carnivores! We saw only a few lions, as it was hot, I guess they hid somewhere below the bushes. (Anyway, it was really hot, and some the animals took funny poses - see the bottom for photos!) But the tigers (my favorites) were amazing! The carnivores are separated with high fences in which the double gates are opened and closed manually by a park staff every time a car comes - it quite felt like in Jurassic Park!

Waiting to get in the carnivore area - who is in the cage now?

White tiger

  The tigers are in a relatively close area, so they are very very close. There were 4 of them and 3 were white tigers. One of them was about 1 meter from our car, cotton up to a tree like a cat and then climbing up a rock to lie down there - so, we had quite a show there! The white tiger had beautiful blue eyes, and although we could see the good 10cm fangs, it was just too cute not to imagine it as a big cat. (Which it is!)
 

Isn`t it cute?

  The animals are divided into nine areas, and around in the middle there is a parking and resting place - there are not only lama rides and buffets and (of course) souvenir shops, but also you can get on a boat to go around the huge lake on the safari property. It takes another 180 pesos, and since we spent all our cash for the dining set in Puebla, unfortunately we had to skip it, but from the distance, I saw many many white spots (birds) on the trees around the lake, so I guess it is an adventure as well!
  At the end of the tour, we got to the "Adventure Zone", a mix of entertainment park and zoo. There are shops and restaurants as well, play houses for kids, and a zoo which is big enough to enjoy even without the safari. There are the insects, birds, smaller animals, there is a nice waterfall with a cave of bats in the back, butterfly house, and the kangaroo-land. The kangaroos are separated as well - I guess not to scatter all over the park -, but the great thing is that you can feed them! There are staff handing out special food. There are kangaroos and wallabies as well - the wallabies are much smaller and their heads look like a rabbit. Their fur felt surprisingly soft! But just until I pet the kangaroo as well!!! Kangaroos always seemed odd to me - with their small "hands", their "old man"-like faces. But the one that came to me, was quite "handsome". I took my hand up, so the kangaroo had to stand up to two legs - apparently it didn`t like it as it tried to lower my hand with its front "hands" - it was amazingly strong! I could barely hold my hand against it! But its face was well seen so, and the other visitors liked it as well: they took photos and tried as well. :) As the kangaroo was eating it let us time to pet it, and its fur was surprisingly thick and soft! Like rabbit fur, but much more dense. I wonder, if kangaroo fur in Australia is popular...?

The kangaroo eating out of my hand

  We finally spent more than 3 hours in the safari, without getting on the boat - and missing some parts as it turned out later.... even tough, we enjoyed it a lot! It is definitely a place I recommend!

The muflons are hot!

Even the camel can`t stand this weather?

This antelope is having a hard time, too

The lions were sleeping in the shades

...but the kangaroos are the kings of lazing around

There are tons of other pics as well! Just click on the title on the top.