T.I.G.E.R.S. or The Coolest Thing I Have Done In A While

I am finally getting around to telling you all what we did on day #4 of our trip. In Myrtle Beach, SC there is an attraction at Barefoot Landing called T.I.G.E.R.S (The Institute of Great and Endangered Rare Species (I think that is it)). You can have a pic taken with a couple animals OR you can do a VIP tour of the reserve. The tour is $199 and you can purchase a video and/or photo collection DVD of your experience. In all it cost around $450 for Manga Dork and I (we split the cost of the CDs with Lil Sis. Spending this much money on one activity made me really nervous...would it be worth it?

We arrived at the reserve and were welcomed by a woman with a black eye and about 5 stitches across her cheek...what had we gotten ourselves into?


The first picture set up was with a LIGER (part lion/part tiger)...Napoleon Dynamite would be SO jealous. Standing on his hind legs he is 11ft. tall.

Then they bring out a Benturong (sp?)...he was a little creepy. We sat on a bench side by side and he walked on our laps while we petted his back...eek! He smelled like caramel popcorn...weird! Ok by the time I had survived these 2 I was feeling a little more confident...

After watching 2 Linx cats jump into the air after lures they took us to this petting area and put a 3 month old tiger in our laps.


This little cub is only 1 month old. It smelled like baby formula.


They had us all sit with our legs out in the pen and turned all kinds of furbabies loose on us. This little softie is a baby puma.


This was AMAZING! By this point I think I would have paid DOUBLE!


The baby Linx panted just like a dog. Did you know only 2 wild cats purr? The puma and the cheetah.


After the petting area we met Bubbles the Elephant. A guy came in riding her and when she bent down to let him off she passed gas VERY loudly. I can now say based on experience that downwind of an elephant is a BAD place to be. Bubbles showed us how she could eat a whole watermelon and we each fed her a carrot...eek...this made me a little nervous...I need that hand to type! LOL!


We got even more up close and personal...elephants feel so weird.


Someone asked me a while back to post a pic of my hair...here it is...I can't believe there wasn't leaves or grass or a small animal or two stuck in it by that time.


Next a lemur came to visit...we gave it a bottle and then it basically used us like trees and jumped all over.

Oh I loved this little gibbon monkey...so cute...and those are some LONG arms. Thank goodness he/she was wearing underpants.

Oh yeah...this was as cool as it looks...I LOVED it!

The last thing we did was go to a pool area and watch tigers swim. Then the orangatans came out in life vests and went in the pool. Not a normal activity for them in nature.

I would highly suggest this to any animal lover! Coming next...meet the new furry member of our family. She is a little less wild then these babies!