Moving Pictures: Lion Country Safari

The year was 1976. Dad drove Mom, myself, and my 3 sisters from Philly, PA to South Florida in the old Galaxy 500 station wagon, middle of August - NO A/C. Today that would be considered child abuse I think. Back then it was windows open and the back of the hand if we got out of line. Our only break from the oppressive heat was
Lion County Safari.

You can't very well roll through the park with the windows down so Dad was forced to rent a car with air conditioning at a nominal fee. Even though we stopped off at Disney, this was the most vivid memory of that trip. I always assumed the other memories simply boiled away in my skull.

We moved to Florida in 1978 and took several trips to the park to entertain visiting relatives. My last trip was before my daughter was born so it's been over 25 years.

Except for a few select animals who might be especially dangerous, the rest are roaming free. I was having little trouble driving and shooting photos of them. Some were quite interested in stopping traffic and inspecting vehicles. The Ostriches in particular on this trip seemed particularly interested in blocking the road. Many years ago it was a Rhino that I saw bump into a car. In cases like that - the Rhino wins.

For my latest trip I chose a particularity hot day. I know from my experience at the zoo, this is usually a poor choice if you want to see animals up and about. Not so at Lion Country Safari. Pretty much every critter was roaming on the way to somewhere. I can't count the number that crossed the road. Some of the lions were napping and the ones who were active were drawing a small traffic jam. As I was waiting to proceed, a lioness just strolled down the fence line and posed for photos.