I went on a day trip yesterday to test my new car navigation system in a non-familiar region. Even though I had been researching possible destinations for a couple of days, I decided rather spontaniously to drive to the wild animal park Bad Mergentheim. I have to appologise to lynard_ for not asking to join me, but I was afraid to call him up at 6 on a Sunday morning... :-)
Anyway, I went there safely and watched the wolves. They have a pack of 25 (!) wolves there, this is one of them:
Most of the photos came out blurry or wiggly, as the park does not allow tripods. But I was lucky to arrive just when the park opened, as about noon they disappeared in the back part of the enclosure. They have more than just wolves, of course. Their bat cave is really amazing. A small and dark artificial cave with lots of bats flying around you. Ferrets and badgers sharing one enclosure. Or beaver whelps.
Unfortunately, it got too hot around noon, so I left the park at 1 PM. While trying to calculate a tour back via Rothenburg o.d.T. the navigation software crashed, but restarted itself without loss of data. The calculated route was reasonable, and so I drove to Rothenburg. Quite a nice town, ideed, especially on days like yesterday where it wasn't crowded with tourists (and as long as you keep away from the main road.) But not on my list of "must see" destinations.
I stayed there until 4 PM, covering most of the old town part, and had an uneventful drive home. Despite the headache afterwards (probably due to the heat): I really should do this more often.
Comments
lynard-.livejournal.com 17 years, 10 months ago
i barely doubt you would gotten me to the phone as i couldnt sleep at saturday night and went to bed at 4:00 am ;)
Yes, Bad Mergentheim is very nice and they have a huge pack... best time is to enter around 9:00 am, when they open and go straight to the end where the wolves are... feeding time is between 9:30 and 11:00 and so all the animals are already up and waiting, not being stuffed with food
Link | Replywoelfisch.livejournal.com 17 years, 9 months ago
Yup, that's why I got up so early (well, the other destinations I had in mind would have required to start that early as well) and went directly to the wolves. One of the locals with a tripod permit was already there, though. I really like that you can get quite close to the wolves, without a fence disturbing the sight. And they are still interested in what goings on on the other side of the moat... Well, they observed me *very* closely, but only as long as I kept my camera down. As soon as I start to shoot photos, they immediately lose interest in me. I take down my camera, and they resume observing me again. Apart from some small children ("could we hunt that down, perhaps?") they don't care about any of the other visitors, though.
Oh, and they really love the guy who's emptying the garbage bins and cleaning the trail. No wonder, he has doggy treats in his pockets. :-)
Link | Replylynard-.livejournal.com 17 years, 9 months ago
Well the kamera makes you a tourist ;)
you were allowed to use a tripod? Last year they had a huge sign at the entrance disallowing the use of tripods because all the poor little kids couldnt see a thing because of us evil photographers (nonsense)
Link | Replywoelfisch.livejournal.com 17 years, 9 months ago
Mere mortals, like us, still aren't allowed to use a tripod, but one of the locals there had an allowance. Maybe if you are insistent enough you might be able to talk them into giving you one...
Link | Replyeosfoxx.livejournal.com 17 years, 10 months ago
uh schönes foto
ich hab schon viel übre den Park gehört - scheitn wirklich eine reise wert zusein.
bist du immer so früh auf o.O ?
Link | Replywoelfisch.livejournal.com 17 years, 9 months ago
The park is quite nice, indeed. However EUR 8 entrance fee is quite a lot. And I'm a bit concerned about the size of the wolf pack. On the other hand, that way they never get bored and the group dynamics seem to work quite well.
And no, I usually don't get up that early. In fact, it costs me quite an effort to get up before 8:30 at all. I'm still amazed that I was able to pull that off... ;-)
Link | Replylynard-.livejournal.com 17 years, 9 months ago
I think the wolf area had a deepnes of about 1.5 kms or so - they have a lot of room i think
(wir sollten mal dort ein furmeet machen *g*)
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