Take a trip...

Field Trip:  Photo Safari

I don't know about you, but I would love to go on a safari in Africa.  See the animals in their real environments and not just hanging out, bored at the zoo.  I have a friend that went to Africa  as part of a missionary group and spent a few days on Safari.  I think it changed her life.  But, my reality is that I have 2 small kids, very limited funds and no prospect of getting to Africa anytime soon.  Plus, my friend had to get like 15 shots and take malaria pills so that kinda turns me off too.  So for our little field trip we went to the Oakland Zoo.  The zoo in SF is a good zoo but pretty generic, the Oakland zoo has an African theme throughout most of it and a replica of an East African hut.  Now I know we are learning about South Africa but I figured the kids wouldn't be able to tell the difference :)  So lets pretend we are visiting Kruger National Park, the oldest wildlife sanctuary in Africa (started in 1898) and one of the largest at 6.2 million acres.  While Kruger has over 500 bird species and 147 different mammals, we found a good variety ourselves (except for the lions who were hiding)!!

Replica of East African Women's Hut
and (below) some interesting taboos

Reticulated Giraffe

Common Eland

Grant's Zebras

Meerkat

African Elephant

 and this bad boy- a fossil of a croc-like dinosaur that used to live in Africa 112 million years ago! The sarchosuchus!!

All those animals and I didn't have to fight off malarial mosquitos and spend $$$$ (well except on snacks!!)