Taking the Kids: Get up-close and personal with animals and coasters at Busch Gardens
Did you know giraffes eat 60 pounds of leaves a day? We learned that when we fed Ruby the giraffe on the Serengeti Safari ($39 per person). We rode out to the "Serengeti Plain," home to hundreds of African animals -- zebras, rhinos, wildebeests, antelopes and ostriches -- that mimics their natural habitat with African grasses, bluffs, creek beds and mud banks.
The highpoint, we all agreed, was feeding Ruby lettuce -- and taking home the pictures to prove it. "That alone was worth the price," said Kim Avant, here with her husband and three sons from South Carolina.
Later, we meet Gloria, a white skunk and Benny, a red-crested African bird. There's Ollie, the three-banded Armadillo, who curls up into a ball, and rainbow macaws. "Spork," the Spoonbill, is being trained to fly between guests. They're all Busch Gardens "animal ambassadors," who travel around the country (they get their own plane seats and stay in hotel rooms) and around the park.
Such interactions with the animals are a great way to show kids that what they do at home can have an impact on protecting animals in the wild, explained Jose Dominguez, an education supervisor.
To that end, SeaWorld has launched a new Generation Nature initiative offering interactive games, digital apps, video blogs and activities designed to get kids to be more environmentally aware. Bindi Irwin, 15, is their guide. (Kids are encouraged to share their conservation efforts -- whether taking a shorter shower to save water, saving power by unplugging a charger, or carpooling. Kids can earn points for completing a conservation challenge, with SeaWorld directing funds for each point earned to the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund. The kids can direct which program their points support -- like saving penguins.
"We tell the kids they can act locally, and have an impact globally," says Dominguez.
Good point! Now where's that recycling bin?
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Eileen is happy to answer your questions at www.takingthekids.com @takingthekids on Twitter and Facebook. Let the kids lead the way with her Kid's City Guides.
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