Oasis Park

Finally a day of action!
We had to be ready to get the coach at 8.30am. Strange how I usually get up at 5.30am but when on holiday it’s such a massive struggle to even get out of bed to plonk myself on a sun lounger.

Anyway, despite the dubious relationship my brother and sister in law have with timekeeping, we were all there ready and on time.

Oasis Park is quite far south on the island ( our hotel is in the north), so the Park puts on special buses ( with animal pictures on them and everything) that pick up at most of the major hotels. Only drawback is that all the pick ups mean it takes FOREVER. 1hr 40. We were all hoping this park would be bloody worth it.
My nephew tried his best to sit next to me on the coach (he appears to have a bit of an Auntie Ely ‘infatuation’ at the moment, which I am obviously delighted at,but at times can be a bit of a chore because he doesn’t shut up), but in the end he decided it was best I sat next to Rich so I could make sure he didn’t get up to mischief.
The journey was quite nice actually, going further south than we have done yet, and going through some interesting volcanic terrain. And many fields of goats.
We arrived and went to get our tickets. Rich and I were first in the queue and we found out that some of the experiences incurred an extra fee. For example you could pay to go for a camel ride or to go in the lemur enclosure and take lemur selfies. We decided not to bother and communicated this to the others. Unfortunately they ignored us and all bought a camel ride.
So as we entered they had to go straight for the camel slot.
One of the ‘Parrots live’ shows was starting so Rich and I went to see that instead. It was great. There was information given in Spanish and ‘Spanglish’. I.e it was supposed to be an English translation but I came out of the show none the wiser about anything to do with parrots. Nevertheless it was entertaining with the parrots swooping over peoples heads, landing on heads, and generally posing and looking pretty. The keepers did a good job of making sure everyone could see and take photos etc. I tried hard to get some decent photos as had dragged the proper camera out today, but flying birds are a challenge. Did get a few shots that I am looking forward to editing when I get home.

After that show we had a walk round, having a look at the animals as you do. One particular highlight is that they sell bags of food so you can feed some of the animals, the best of these being the giraffes. They are soooo beautiful and really gentle beasts. The viewing platforms are up high so you are at eye level with them. The picture today is of Rich feeding one. They stick their tongues out as if to say ‘yes please, apple here please’.
The others finished their camel ride but we kept missing them so ended up pretty much doing our own thing for most of the day. The park is really quite large, and nothing on the map really gave a sense of scale, and only a vague sense of direction.
Next, we went to see another live show called ‘Fauna live’. Not knowing what to expect, we were very impressed when they brought out all manner of reptiles and brought them right into the crowd. First was baby alligators, then giant salamanders and geckos and then various snakes. The snakes were lovely. At the end a guy came out with an absolute monster of a snake wrapped round him. We have no idea how he was carrying its weight. It is possible the snake was actually carrying HIM. It could certainly have been slowly crushing him to death. I actually gasped when they brought it out, it was that big.
Later after we managed to meet up with the other Frazers, we saw another show, this time birds of prey. Another good show, but again we could barely work out the names of the birds from the English translation. Not that I could describe facts about birds of prey in Spanish, but I just couldn’t really consider it being informative. Was happy with some of the photos I got in this show, especially the American Bald Eagle in flight. Again, looking forward to the photo editing at home, like the saddo I am.
In between we saw many of the ‘usual’ zoo animals, but it was all fairly civilised with a focus on preservation and animal rescue and rehabilitation. Rich’s brother developed quite an affinity with a little monkey which definitely thought he was ‘one of them’, smiling at him and gesturing to him.
Rich caught some great pictures of meerkats asleep in strange positions, and Jasper was content with having had 3 ice creams during the day.
The bus back was equally long and scenic, although this time everyone else was asleep so it was only me viewing the scenery.
We were back in time for dinner, which was Mexican night, and bizarrely the best food they’ve done so far.
All in all we’d had a really good day, and finished it off with another few games of liar dice. Appear to be losing my touch though, after Rich’s Dad’s assertion that everyone was falling for my puppy dog eyes I lost my touch. Still, it was a revelation to me that I was able to hide any expression from my face at all, so maybe that professional poker career is still on the cards after all! If I knew how to actually play poker that is.

Off to bed again, officially half way through our holiday. Which is incredible when I really feel like we haven’t done anything!!