Lions and Tigers and Cheetahs, oh my!

Today we went to the San Diego Safari Park. Catherine and I did the "Ultimate Safari" which was a 5 hour tour customized to what we wanted to see. We had a ton of hands on experience along with a super up close meet and greet with my favorite animal, a cheetah!

Before we even got into the park I found a deer on the side of the road and fed it.
...but then I got in trouble with security.  

Us with our tour guide, Andy.

Our first stop was inside the lions' den!

Next, we went to feed the giraffes!

such a cute little guy!

After feeding the giraffes we went over to the other side of "africa" to feed the rhinos!

Then we went to where they keep their animal ambassadors when they aren't at a show. Here we met a beautiful cheetah, Manjani and his dog companion, Clifford.

Clifford

Manjani

After meeting Manjani and Clifford, we met a minature ant eater named luna.

After we left we went to meet some of the cutest little deer-like animals I've ever seen. They loved their biscuits and one even tried to eat my hair.

Then we went to tiger trail to meet the tiger CUBS! They were the cutest things in the world. Mama tiger wasn't too happy to see us though. She showed her teeth and gave us quite the stare. I was glad we were separated by a fence..

Sadly, the tiger cubs were the end of our ultimate safari. It was one of the coolest things I had ever experienced and I hope one day I can again! Luckily for us the day wasn't over with the safari. We got to see the cheetah run.

The cheetah run is where you get to see the cheetah run at top speed (75mph) on a track the length of a football field. It took the cheetah that ran today 5.5 seconds.

Our view of the track