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Monday, December 17, 2012

[Parc Omega] The place to enjoy autumn leaves and safari

It snowed  all day yesterday, and it feels like it has been winter since long time ago.


I should have uploaded these photos and post in October, but I was still busy writing about our summer vacation in France.

You can see some interesting spots in France here:
1) [Auberge Ravoux] Van Gogh's last residence in Auvers-sur-Oise
2) [Basilique Saint-Denis] French Royal Necropolis - The burial place of the French Kings
3) [2012 Maffliers] Kids grow fast... and we age faster...?
4) [Chateau de Chantilly] Le musée Condé - The generosity of a royal prince
5) [Balade gourmande] Brittany by sail: Unforgettable day on a traditional boat in Cancale
6) [Must eat foods in France] You must try these ten inexpensive food in France
7) [Four Representative Architectures in Paris] The most visited edifices in Europe - Part I
8) [Four Representative Architectures in Paris] Notre Dame de Paris - Part II
9) [Four Representative Architectures in Paris Part III] Musee de Louvre or simply Louvre
10) [Opera Garnier] The symbol of Elegance at the centre of Paris
11) [Mont Saint-Michel] Picturesque UNESCO Hertiage site in Normandy
12) [Place des Vosges] A Perfect Symmetrical Square in Paris
13) [Roland Garros] Visiting the glorious French Open venue
15) [Musee Rodin] How to enjoy masterpieces of the great artist, with 1€
16) [Panthéon] The right place to see an evidence of the Rotation of the Earth
17) [Epilogue] Trip France 2012 - Leaving much to be desired



   One Sunday late in autumn, we drove to Montebello, Quebec,
to see famous autumn leaves and feed carrots to ungulates, i.e. hoofed animals.

I must have written about my fear of animals. Yes, it's true that I am afraid of animals, in general. I am grateful for the fact that my kids inherited Mr. D's gene to like animals. Don't get me wrong. I don't dislike animals. I like seeing all kinds of zoological and domestic herbivores, carnivores, and maybe omnivores, too.
But, I can't bear even the thought of feeling them under my skin or being physically close to them.
Despite my fear, we've been to many zoos and animal farms because kids and Mr. D love touching and feeding the animals. As far as they don't force me to touch or feed animals, which they don't, I'm fine accompanying the three guys and enjoy animals from a little distance.


Well, it was not so possible to be distant from animals at Parc Omega (Omega Park).
The park is a 1,800-acre safari park where a 10 km path is stretched out to home wild animals such as moose, deer, bears, raccoons, and wolves.


I don't know why we brought two sacks of carrots all the way from Ottawa. I had thought that there wouldn't be anywhere to buy carrots at the park. But, they were selling carrots at a very reasonable price of $2.50/bag! So no need to bring carrots!


Entering the 10 km safari route (by car), we already had a blast feeding! a bunch of red deer were awaiting us at the entrance. 


They were not afraid of cars as the cars were driving at the speed of 10 km/hour at most, and people in the vehicles were eager to feed and pet them. 


So, those wild creatures come up very close!


They were just beside you. 


There is only a thin window glass between the huge nostrils of deer and me! 


Thank goodness, we were in the car. 


Otherwise, I would have fainted on spot. 


I drove the car since I didn't have a courage to feed any creature other than human beings.


Oh, by the way, the most part of 10-km nature path is a drive-through route which means that visitors stay in their cars and drive through the park.


Kids and Mr. D had so much fun feeding red deer and white tail  deer while I was completely frozen throughout.
Pablo took a bite of carrot before he fed a deer. I just hoped he didn't take a bite after. 
:( But, I'm not 100% sure.


There was a walking trail where we could walk and feed.
We bought some grains and corns too.
I can assure you that this herbivores like grains, more or as much as the carrots. I think it's so natural.


Herbivores are not aggressive at all. They don't have those attacking gene.
They accommodate to the circumstances instead of resistance.
Walking path was peaceful and beautiful.
Autumn was right there. The colours of the leaves were fabulous.


What a gorgeous day it was. Even the weather was oh so perfect :)


I love the sound of walking on dry fallen leaves, but not the wet ones though.


On the little hill covered with colourful fallen leaves, there was a pavilion where we could see the entire walking trail.


Isn't this just gorgeous?


What  an autumn day it was.


The above-said pavilion from a distance~

Then, we drove to the section of predatory animals.

The section was full of arctic wolves.


We were warned not to feed those animals. Seriously~ I was wondering if there were anybody trying to feed carrots to a carnivore?


Arctic wolves were beautiful and their postures were so elegant.


"Arctic wolves are a sub-species of the timber wolves. They live on the arctic islands of Canada and the north and east shores of Greenland. They adapt very well to cold climates and their white fur serves as camouflage." (Reference: the official site of Parc Omega)


Arctic fox cubs were very cute.
I find all the babies of any species are cute.


Then we entered the valley of the bears


And then we saw a whole bunch of black bears.


Isn't it amazing that these heavy(?) creature can climb up the trees and even sleep there?


The bears we saw at the park were the American black bears which are the most common bear species native to North America.


Black bears with their huge ball shaped bodies were really cute, at least form far.
Lot of cars including ours just stopped and watching the bears for a while.



We also saw ibexes and wild boars on the way to the prairies


We were allowed to see the bison only from the car.


Bisons were eating hay.


Bison were huge! 


I knew they were big, but even bigger than I had expected.


Alpine ibexes' horns were big enough to scare me!


This one must be a baby ibex. So cute, but still untouchable for me.
(I can touch kittens and puppies, but not bigger than that)


oh well, deer's antlers also look hefty.


Maybe the size of antlers is their pride. :)


I would say this is about the right size. It looks like a crown sometimes.


It was a wonderful visit we enjoyed very much.


(A group of white tail deer)
As I said above, I am fine and do like animals as far as they don't come to have physical contacts with me.


People say that the parc is truly amazing in the snowy winter.
We may go back before the winter ends.


It was a phenomenal experience for all of us!


Parc Omega

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