Walking With Puma´s
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2007
1
14
18
Trip End
Jun 24, 2008
Ascencíon de Guarayos, Bolivia
Friday, February 22, 2008
Walking towards the cage, Rob was explaining that Sama could get quite moody and aggressive. I didn´t catch every word as Rob was walking ahead, but I heard that the last time Sama was walked... ... ... something about a hospital, and 17 stitches. Hmmm. Sama is a male Jaguar, and this was a little introductory tour to meet some of the cats in the park.
We approached the cage, me a little nervously, and Sama greets us at the wire netting. This felt good - nice and safe. Jaguar; impenetrable wire fence; Me... Until Rob said put your hand through. "Let Sama lick your hand and smell you..." What? "But but but - how many stitches? 17. Right, excellent". It was counter-intuitive to absolutely everything, from your first visit to the zoo, to the reaction of every nerve cell in your body. So of course I tentatively stuck my hand through the wire, Sama had a jolly good lick, then stood back, opened his mouth so wide as if roaring aggressively, and spent a minute inhaling the smell of my hand. Satisfied, he then stayed with us by the net. That´s it! So easy, so gentle, so sweet.
Thus was my introduction to big cats at Parque Ambue Ari. Not all experiences would be so scary, not all would be so incident-free...
Sorry for so little after so long - but much much more to follow...
Richard.
