I’ve talked a little bit in the past about Denver Zoo’s behind the scenes and up-close encounters. A lot of zoos do them, and last August I participated in Dallas Zoo’s Backstage Safari. If you are visiting the Dallas Zoo, it’s a must-do. If you live in the area, it’s a real easy gift for an animal lover in your life.
It starts off with them roping off their gorilla training area for just your group so that you can participate in a target training session. Afterwards, you get to go behind the scenes in one of their hoofstock barns and feed and interact with an okapi. Then you get to go to a private show area and get introduced to a not insignificant number of their ambassador animals. I got to meet their flamingos, a cape porcupine, a monitor, and (I think) there was one other. I’ve even heard rumor that their ambassador cheetah sometimes makes an appearance!
It was during the first part of this that I caught this beautiful moment between mama and baby. While another guest was target training with dad, I had the Tamron out and just fell in love with the interactions these two were having. It also serves as a nice lesson: just because there’s something awesome happening 3 feet from you, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep an eye on the rest of the area. You might find something beautiful.
The Zootographer 