s07e19 - Xmas ... But Not as we Know it Jim.

Xmas started out like most other Christmas Days ... well, maybe a little different, because it's not too often back in Broken Hill do you wake up to a sheet of snow across the ground.

The plan was to go from where I am staying to a family members house which would serve as a HQ for the entire day.

Breakfast at 10:30am was amazing and was the perfect start to the day. Breakfast was followed by a trip to the Calgary Zoo which had been arranged by Naomi and her uncle Les who works as a handler at the Zoo.

The Zoo was closed for the day and so our tour was an unsanctioned behind the scenes tour of the zoo ...

So we got to the Zoo and Les first leads us off to the Lion enclosure where the lions are inside and ready to be fed. Wow, up close and personal wit h3 lioness' and the male, who we were advised to be wary of as the male tends to "spray" guests. It wasn't the male I was worried about after being in the enclosure for 30 seconds. The lioness at the very end of the enclosue, Teesha seemed to be kinda fond of me ... but not in a good way.

Everytime I made eye contact or even moved, she would growl a little. The lion handler explained that they really dont like the colour red, and that may be the reason she was so pissed at me .... unfortunately after a quick inventory of my clothing it was discovered that I wasn't wearing anything red and that she just plain didn't like me.

I'll admit it too, that despite the metal cage between me and her, i was shitting bricks, and not the small variety either.

From the lion's enclosure we headed back into the African enclosure where we each fed the Giraffe's and then patted the Hippo's. Thankfull the snakes where left in their enclosure as Les was shit scared of leaning over the 5m long Anaconda that was lounging infront of all the other snakes ... thank god for 5m long Anaconda's.

It was into the Gorilla enclosure from here where I got to first feed yogurt to a female gorila and then was able to feed the alpha male, which was crazy. The male is supposedly about as strong a 10 grown men and so was a little intimidating. His hands where huge and made mine look like a little kids, but he was pretty calm and seemed to enjoy the strawberry yogurt I was offering up.

On to the elephants and again, it was feeding time and so carrots and bananas where being offered up everywhere. They're crafty little buggers the elephants as they where constantly using their trunks to pat you down for food, and it wasn't a subtle prod either, they're shifty buggers who will quite happily pick your pocket for some food.

The tour, about 2 and a half hours in length was amazing. A big thanks to Les and all the other handlers at the Calgary Zoo that made this Christmas Day one to remember.

The rest of the day followed the usual Xmas day trappings ... a few presents here and there, way too much food and plenty of liquid refreshment.