The Vine and the FigTree: The Ramat Gan Safari Park

We have visited two zoos in the same week! Yesterday we went with friends to a Safari Park and zoo which was quite different from the one on Monday in Jerusalem. Our main desire was to spend quality time with a family who run a ministry here for post IDF soldiers. They have three small boys who are full of life and Elijah loved playing with them. Alon is from Germany but has lived here for many years and married Rajai whom he met here in Israel and she is from an Arab background. I just love the diversity here! They love the Lord and desire to serve Him and we really enjoy spending time with them! We had planned to go to this Safari a couple of weeks ago but Isaac was ill with a high fever. So instead, they made dinner for us and brought it to the apartment because we were unable to go out! Even yesterday, they brought all the food to the safari; burgers, salad and even cake!

The Safari part of the park was so wonderful because all the animals are right there when you drive around and some come up to the car window for food. There are a couple of rules which are completely ignored by the people here such as 'no feeding the animals' and 'keep the windows closed' and to be honest, I did put my window down a few times to get a better picture! I have learned that Israeli's do not follow any rules at all especially where driving is concerned! Again, it was so busy with the holidays and there was quite a lot of traffic going through the safari but interestingly, the Orthodox Jews stayed at home because of the Sabbath. We had a few highlights at the Safari; a couple of baby elephants, a baby zebra, a lion and lioness playing tug of war with a rope which was comical, face painting, The Jungle Book show and a beautiful playground where the adults could sit, relax and chat. However, I do think it shall be some time until we visit the animals again!