Sol tells us about this zoo in Lujan, like 60 km outside of Buenos Aires, where you can interact with all the animals like pet tigers and hold baby lions. Hmm... where else are you going to have the chance to do this? So, me Bryan and Nathan (Bryans friend visiting from Cali) jump on a bus the next day and start our adventure to Lujan. We had to take a bus to the train station to get to Moreno then a bus to get into the little town of Lujan.. 2 hours later we made it!
We walk in and its for sure the weirdest looking zoo I've ever seen. From the entrance all you can see is like a big dusty field, a graveyard of broken down tractors, a rusty shed, and to the right a big gated bird pond and thats it, oh and ducks walking around everywhere. Big over population of ducks. Cool Sol. Ok, not bad, give it a chance... we visit the ducks and turtles and continue wandereding around walking, kicking dust. It feels like a run-down petting zoo, then all of a sudden, it was like we turned this corner and the whole thing opened up. Its all outside, no sidewalks or anything- just dusty dirt, grass sometimes and big cages of animals spread out over a huge piece of land.
We found the big lion cage- six lions just lounging like lions do- at first you think its just a lion den, then you notice there are three little dogs sleeping next to them like no big deal. The lady told us that they raise the tigers and lions around dogs so they become "domesticated." haha ok.
After that, we went into the baby lion cage! They were so cute like the size of big thick puppies. The trainer was this intense lady who LOVED lions. Not gonna lie, I was kinda freaked out by the baby lions haha - it wasnt really until one of them stretched in front of me and yawned and then BAM! his claws just like shot out- and Ive never really even had a cat so I was kinda like ughh...
They only two months old and she said that if they bit you it would just be like the bite of an oversized dog. Soo kinda freaked out still- one saw my toenail polish glissen in the sun and then he crouched down behind a tire staring at my toes like he was planning to attack like you see on the Discovery Channel when they pounce. haha so I was like trying to hide my toes. Anyway, after a while in there we left and as we were leaving the lady told us if we go to the big cage by the gray van, we can touch the big big tigers.
Ok, so the BIG tiger cage. It was this huge cage with like 7 tigers sleeping and one pacing back and forth across the front of the cage by the door. The trainer- whos like 18 and not experienced at all- was like, do you want to go in with me? Me and Nathan looked at eachother and were like ehhh no , not really. Then Bryan's like, "Yea man, I'll go in." just like no big deal. Sure. So Bryan goes in with the tigers and walks up to this one tiger laying on a higher platform. The trainer tells him to go up behind the tiger and pet it on the back, not the head. All the guy does to distract the tiger is squirt milk on his paws. He says they aren't drugged, just "domesticated." haha. Then the tiger realizes Bryan is there and turns his big head (like the size of three big watermelons, thats the only thing I can think to compare it to) towards Bryan and the trainers like uhhh maybe you should go to the other side. haha so Bryan gets his pictures, hangs out for a while and then leaves. Then Nathan goes in with some other kids and is alright. Check.
Im the only one left. Okkkk , I'll go! In and out. No big deal, just big cats. Big kitty cats. Everything is okay. The trainer tells me they can smell fear which seems legit because dogs can. I walk in, and automatically breakout into a full sweat, my heart is pounding, everything I hear is in an echo batteling the sound of my heart, adrenaline is pumping. SO SCARED. haha. I kept telling myself, "I am not afraid, this is fun. I - am -having - fun." I get up to the platform where Bryans tiger was... and the big cage has suddenly shrunken drastically and the tigers are huge.. I just see the big tiger pacing back and forth out of the corner of my eye. Im freaking out out on a whole new level now because now you're in and there's no turning back. The trainer can see it in me and is just laughing. I made Bryan come for support, so he has my camera and is like ,"Its ok Elise, touch the tiger." So Im standing there with my hand like half a foot away from the tiger pretending to pet him- like "Okayyy Bryan just take the picture, take the picture please" and hes like ehh "Nope, not til you touch it. Just touch it." I cant do it. "Bryan just take the f***ing picture, Ive got to get out of here" The trainer is laughing (which at the time wasnt funny at all) He looks over at the pacing tiger and is like "No! Natalia No!! Stay!! " which freaks me out even more and in this panicky yell I say," Why are you saying no! Why are you saying no! " He just laughs, obviously getting a kick out of this whole ordeal. I can feel the terrified tears starting to come, it was just a matter of if they were heavy enough to fall or not. haha. So I finally touch the tiger. Feels like a horse actually. Bryan gets the picture- although fails to get a picture with the tigers head in it.. just a striped body. Anyway, not the point. Then Bryans like just walk in front of the tiger and look at his face. So I do, and it is such a beautiful animal. Really. So so beautiful. After seeing the tigers face and look in his eyes, a lot of the fear left and it was more of like a stunning "wow you are so beautiful" feeling.
In my cowardly defense, you know, the 18 year old trainer (who isnt a trainer at all, just works there for some cash during the day) says they're domesticated- but you always see big cats like that turn on their trainers and they have instincts and they can snap at anytime. And I guarantee if a tiger started attacking me the trainer wasnt going to be like, oh wait Ill save you! The zoo's kinda idealology (is that the wrong word?) is that if you're in a cage with any animals and they attack you; it's kinda your fault, the zoo is not responsible.
Then, we came across the sea lion pool- which was like a huge hot tub surrounded by a cement sidewalk and then the gate. Next to the cage was a bucket of raw fish one of the workers had forgotten about and just left. So... I mean, we've already pet tigers, held baby lions, we might as well feed sea lions dead fish! Haha it was so fun! There were three of them and I would throw one and they would race to catch it diving into the water and then swarm the gate again yelling for more. This is one of the videos from it:
We washed our hands from the smell of fish and went back into the baby lion cage, after petting the tiger- holding the babies was nothing. They were so so cute! and kinda just like puppies. Oh and you know what they feed the big lions and tigers... raw meat. Im not sure what kind because it was in the middle of the big lion cage - but it looked like half a thing of raw bloody cow ribs covered with flies, just hanging out on this platform. So safari of them. (You can see it in the picture)
Then the boys rode a camel and we rode an elephant and decided to go home because we were still two hours from home. Sol told us you could hold baby bears, but we didn't find the bear section. And after talking to some people about the zoo, we found out that two months ago it was prohibited to interact with the animals because some lady got her hand bitten off or something by one of the lions I think. Now, its like nothing ever happened and everything is back to normal at the zoo- crazy. I think before the hand biting situation, they used to let you ride the lions which just seems wrong. Some people are trying to get the zoo shut down because its really not that safe and its not normal for people to ride lions. But, Im glad I did it! Very glad! And that... was our trip to Lujan :)
