Holland Trip Day 5: Safari

Angie's Journal:
The bad luck continued today, but the day wasn't a complete wash. Our original vacation plan was to go home on this day, but after saving some extra money we decided to extend our vacation. However, the place we were staying at was booked, so we had to change locations. Luckily I found another place to camp not far from where we were staying, and it was closer to Belgium - which reads land of chocolate to us. Since we had an early check out time and a late check in time, we had to fill the gap with something. I had found this wonderful touristy place that I thought would be a good place to get a taste of Holland with its cheese, windmills, wooden clog making demos, ect. Sadly it was closed :( So we continued onto the new campsite in hopes of getting an early check-in. Of course that didn't happen either, but we did manage to get into the attached the Beekse Bergen Safari park.

Misty was a bit irritable at this point, so the bus safari through the first half of the park wasn't that much fun. However, when we got to the other side of the park she cheered up as we sat and ate lunch and played at their huge playground. Lunch was simple but enjoyable with the entertainment of nearby monkeys that Misty found hilarious.

After lunch we had some time to kill before we took the safari boat back to the entrance, so Misty played on the playground for almost an hour. By the time the boat came we had a very happy Misty. It is amazing how the mood of a toddler can really make or break our family fun. It was pretty challenging on this trip because we struggled to find dairy-free foods since all the food packaging was in dutch. By this point in the week, we had managed to figure out what she could eat.

We found out that the boat ride we took was the last of the day, which gave us a special treat. The lady explained to us that they hand feed the animals to make sure they are all healthy. Then she went on to say that the last boat ride gets to watch the lemurs be fed. We all got a kick out of watching the animals wait for their favorite foods.

The timing of our safari adventure worked out wonderfully. We were able to check into our safari tent and enjoy a nice meal.

Outside our Safari Tent

Inside Safari tent

Ray's Journal:

We all woke up early to pack and break camp by the 10 AM check out time. Well..... everyone but Neil woke up early and began packing. Neil woke up and decided to go back to sleep for an hour.

After camp was packed we decide to go to the amusement park to waste time until we can check in at the next camp. Then it starts raining. So we decide to go to an historic recreation type of village. After a hour and half drive we find out that it is not yet open for the season. So we drive for another 2 hours to the next camp and hope we can check in early. But the staff is out “cleaning and preparing for our arrival” (according to their sign). 

So we go to the Safari zoo down the street and take a tour bus ride through half the zoo. Misty was crying the entire time because she was tired. Alexis was volunteered by the driver to help perform show and tell of the deer and antelope antlers and camel fur on display as part of the tour. We get off the tour bus and decide that Misty and all of us could do with some food. Neil gets animated during the course of his eating and spills a litre of chocolate milk on himself. 

Once that is all cleaned up we make for the safari boat. It takes us back to the other end of the zoo. The tour guide on it speaks in rapid fire Dutch to her other customers, then realizes that we are not listening to her so comes over to get us involved only to realize we don’t speak Dutch. So she ends up giving her normal tour in Dutch over the PA system and then turning off her microphone and talking to us in English about everything she can say about the zoo and its animals. It was kinda cool to have our own personal safari guide!

When we get back to camp we decide to have a nice meal. And WOW! what a nice meal! We were all full and VERY content when we find out that their credit card machine is broken and we have no cash. So the Maitre’d kindly allows us to go to the nearest cash point and return with the money. We all go back to the tent full but not happy. This vacation is not working out well....