With the spur of the moment and being 1h drive away not 2h we decided to visit the Highland wildlife Park.
Breakfast, pack, book tickets online and go. And here we are at the gates of the Highland Wildlife Park.
We started walking round in the pilar bear direction, the cub and his mum entertained us playing ball in the water on a hot day. We seen a nosy arctic fox, ate some raspberries from the bushes growing next to the path. Heared the amur tiger so ventured that way and spotted one hiding behind a tree. The kids were well impressed. Beautiful big cat.
We slowly climbed the hill in the snow leopard enclousure direction but there was nothing to see, they were hiding. No luck! We walked further around, spotted bisons, horses, deer, goats and lots of birds. We did the whole loop checking all the enclosures.
We approached the snow leopard enclousure from the bottom, as their area is on some cliffs to make it as natural to them as possible. There it was, a beautiful male sitting on the ledge above us wriggling his tail. It was hard to take photos as he was a fair bit away.
We continued our trip and walked to see the owl, moose and wolfs. On the way back we decided to quickly split as we heared on the radio of one of the park workers there is something happening near the the snow leopard enclosure. Ashley with the kids went to check out the wild cats enclosure near the car park. I ran to the car, dropped our bags and started running towards the bottom part of the snow leopard enclosure. No luck. One last chance was to run to the top. My legs were a bit tired from the hill race I did the day before. I got to the enclosure at the top and spotted people gathering around.
There they are. 2 adult Snow Leopards. Male was kept outside on the cliff side while the female and its cubbs in the enclosure at the top. Suddenly the female moved towards the den.. and 2 little snow leopards ran out followed by a 3rd on few min later. They are 9 weeks old and absolutely adorable! Female slowly moved to the opposite male enclosure taking the cubbs with her. 2 of them got lost on the way and stayed behind the fence. No problem mum leopard got them eventually as the little ones couldnt work it out how to get through the opened gate.
I quickly ran down near the carpark to find Ashley and our cubbs but little Freya wanted to see her monkeys. We walked around the amur tiger encloaure again and spotted one closer to the view point. Eventually we got to the monkey enclosure. All the monkeys were at the viewing point near the viewing window. We all enjoyed looking at them and the few week, month old baby monkeys.
Coffee for me and an ice cream for the children. Visit at the gift shop and final excitement of the day out was ahead of us.
Before we left we went on a car tour around the main park area. We were really lucky as all the animals were at the road. We had few close encounters with a beautiful silver stag, Przewalski horse that tried to eat my silver trim from around the window and sticking his head into the car, bison walking right next to the car giving way to some stubborn geese and spotting a rabbit and a hare. It was a very spcial day.
Maybe you will ask why this blogs title is all about the Snow Leopards when there is so many beautiful animals in the Highland Wildlife Park?
Dynafit has a Snow Leopard as its logo and once a year they organise a Snow Leopard day challenge to climb as many meters as possible for a great cause. They are donating to the Snow Leopard Trust and helping protect these beautiful animals. There is around 5000 of these beautiful cats left in the wild.
Snow Leopard Day: Ski touring for a good cause
Breaking a sweat for wildlife conservation: For 13 years, Dynafit has planned and organized the International Snow Leopard Day for the protection of snow leopards. Ski touring enthusiasts across the globe can express their passion for the sport while doing a good deed, together accumulating meters of vert in the name of the endangered wild cats. The more participants, give their all, the higher the donation becomes. An event concept that matches our maxim #SPEEDUP perfectly.
The DYNAFIT Snow Leopard Day is an annual event on the calendars of those in the ski touring community, and it grows in popularity each year.
http://www.dynafit.com
Social responsibility: Why snow leopards?
As a passionate mountain sports brand, we not only want to make innovative, premium products, we are also conscious of our big responsibility when it comes to people and the outdoors. The Snow Leopard Day is part of this wholistic approach and a key component in our commitment toward wildlife conservation.
The snow leopard embodies the values and skills that our brand and our products also represent. With its exceptional speed and outstanding endurance, there is no other animal so well adapted to life in the mountains as the snow leopard. To Dynafit, the snow leopard is the role model and symbol for all characteristics and faculties that ensure living and surviving on the mountain – and thus a true role model for every endurance athlete.
Unfortunately, this extraordinary animal is now however in danger of extinction. Thus, we have set ourself the goal of helping the snow leopard.
Www.dynafit.com
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