A Safari in Florida?

 

A Safari in Florida? You betcha this is!

One of Rick’s jobs during our adventure of firsts is to seek out RV Parks along our route, and he found this unique KOA located in Loxahatchee, Florida. This one is actually part of a 245 acre wildlife preserve called Lion Country Safari. It is home to over 800 animals from all over the world, and they roam free; albeit with the exception of a very large fence that separates them from us of course!

For those of you that have ever been to the African Lion Safari in Ontario Canada, it is exactly the same concept; that being you drive through the park in your car.

The animals have the right of way of course as they frequently cross the roadway stopping your vehicle. You are provided with a CD that narrates your journey as you drive along, and is very educational to say the least.

Staying here was definitely a unique experience to say the least. It was as if we were camping in Africa at times. For example as you settle down for the evening or wake in the early morning you can literally hear the sounds of Africa at your doorstep. Lions roaring, cranes calling and gibbons whooping most certainly provided a surreal experience. Even Toby’s ears were tuned into these very foreign sounds.

If you stay here you are also provided free and/or discounted tickets into the reserve itself. It was our luck that at this time of the year we were given free entrance.

 

 

Taking in some rays at our site 

 

 

Loxahatchee is about 35 miles from Delray Beach. While we were here we had the opportunity to visit with some of Rick’s friends.

Chris New, a lifelong friend of Rick’s and her fiancé Sean just so happened to be vacationing at an amazing oceanfront condo. So we stopped in for lunch and major gab session one day. It was a very warm and extremely windy day as you can tell by this picture above.  Too much for a beach day so we all took shelter on the not so windy side of their 800 square foot wrap around balcony enjoyed a pizza, and proceeded to enjoy this awesome view for most of the day!

The next day we visited with another one of Rick’s friends, one who he hasn’t seen for 22 years.

Marco Knoop and his family actually live in Delray Beach, and we had the opportunity to spend time with him and his great family at their beautiful home. We had a wonderful day full of reminiscing, good wine and good food.

Below are some pictures of their beautiful home.

 

Rick being creative with the lens…

 

Real turtles???

Thank you for making our adventure more meaningful everyone!

 

On our third day in Loxahatchee we took advantage of our free admission to the Lion Country Safari. Below are a few photos taken during our visit …

 

 

Putting faces to the voice so to speak…

We will be heading toward Sarasota tomorrow making another pit-stop near Sorrento. Rick has us booked into Wekiva Falls RV Resort. We will be spending 5 days there, which will pretty much have you caught up to our exact location.

While we here we will have the opportunity to enjoy our first American Thanksgiving.   

We hope you’re enjoying our adventure as much as we are, so stay tuned for more to come.

Vicariously Yours,

Rick, Sandra, Toby and Wee Shaemus