BLAIR DRUMMOND SAFARI PARK
August 2009 Bairdstravel spent a very enjoyable day out at Scotland`s only safari park. Below are the photographs from the park.
Blair Drummond Safari Park is Scotland's only African Safari Park. Located near Stirling the park is one of the major attractions of the area. The safari park is overlooked by Blair Drummond House, built in 1868-1872 by J C Walker and is spread over 120 acres. There are a range of wild and exotic animal species to visit at the park, including; African elephants, African lions, tigers, chimpanzees, rhinos, giraffes, lemurs penguins, sea lions, otters and a number of birds of prey. The park is open to the public from late March until early November.
Blair Drummond Safari Park is one of the original three safari parks to open in the UK along with Woburn and Longleat. Animals were originally brought over from Africa to stay in the park, which opened to visitors in 1970. The park opened on the grounds of Blair Drummond house, which was purchased by Sir John Kay, a Glasgow tea merchant in 1916. Having no sons he passed it to his nephew Sir John Muir; father of the present owner, Jamie Muir. The house remained a family home until 1977 when it was sold to the Camphill Trust, a charity that cares for people with special needs. Blair Drummond house which you see today was built in 1715 to replace the old family home which was actually sited in what is now the giraffe enclosure. The park today is 120 acres in area, houses a wide number of exotic wild and endangered animals species, and is involved in several captive breeding and research programs for endangered species.
Ankole-Watusi are a breed of cattle originally native to Africa. They have very large, distinctive horns as do the Texas Longhorn though the horns of the Watusi are more distinctive because of their great circumference instead of for their length. They are sometimes known as Ankole or Watusi.
The Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus) is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of north eastern Asia. It is one of the two surviving species of camel. The Bactrian Camel has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped Dromedary Camel.
Ostrich
Meerkat is a small mammal and a member of the mongoose family. It inhabits all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana and South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan". A meerkat clan often contains about 20 meerkats at a time, but some superfamilies have had 50 or more. Meerkats have an average life span of 12–14 years.
llama is the one on the left
Bairdstravel asks Larry the Liama what it is like it to stay in Blair Drummond .
The average mass for an adult male giraffe is 1,191 kilograms (2,630 lb) while the average mass for an adult female is 828 kilograms (1,830 lb). It is approximately 4.3 metres (14 ft) to 5.2 metres (17 ft) tall, although the tallest male recorded stood almost 6 metres (20 ft).
The park is home to three female African elephants. These spend their day foraging around their enclosure and using the various pieces of enrichment provided for them by their keepers.
On some days, if the elephants are willing, the keepers will engage the elephants in a demonstration of some of the ways in which they care for the elephants at the park. Here the visitors can get up close as the elephants present their feet, mouth, ears and tail to the keepers for inspection and cleaning.
LIONS
Lions live for around 10–14 years in the wild, while in captivity they can live over 20 years. In the wild, males seldom live longer than ten years as fights with rivals occasionally cause injuries. They typically inhabit savanna and grassland, although they may take to bush and forest. Lions are unusually social compared to other cats.
A pride of lions consists of related females and offspring and a small number of adult males. Groups of female lions typically hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates.
MANEATERS ?
The lion is an apex and keystone predator, although they will scavenge if the opportunity arises. While lions do not typically hunt humans selectively, some have been known to become man-eaters and seek human prey.
AMERICIAN BISON
The American Bison (Bison bison) is a North American species of bison, also commonly known as the American Buffalo. "Buffalo" is somewhat of a misnomer for this animal, as it is only distantly related to either of the two "true buffaloes", the Asian Buffalo (or "Water Buffalo") and the African Buffalo. However, "bison" is a Greek word meaning ox-like animal, while "buffalo" originated with the French fur trappers who called these massive beasts boeufs, meaning ox or bullock.
A short boat trip along-side Lemur Land and round the bend takes visitors to view Chimp Island - an island home to three chimpanzees. Here the visitors are taken round the island on a boat by an experienced guide, who gives information on the chimps as they survey the boatloads of people.
The mesh you see is to protect the humans from items thrown by the monkeys.
Mr and mrs Bairdstravel were brave enough to flyover the water to the other side on the flying fox.
As well as contributing towards EAZA campaigns and fund-raising events, Blair Drummond annually donates money towards other conservation campaigns. One of these is Friends of the Mau Watershed (FOMAWA) in Kenya, to which Blair Drummond donates £5,000 annually. The project aims to protect the forests of Kenya, the wildlife found there, the surrounding environment and the people, through in situ conservation. In 2008, the park hosted their own conservation campaign, SOS: Save Our Squirrels; raising awareness of the plight of the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in Britain and using the funds raised to help their own red squirrel population living in the grounds of the park.
ALL PHOTO`S AND FILMS TAKEN AND OWNED BY BAIRDSTRAVEL