Amazing animals

Day 125- Wednesday

Had the best morning ever. We have seen Arabian oryx, sand and mountain gazelles, giraffes, cheetahs, monkeys, an Arabian fox, tortoises, parrots, flamingos, ducks, owls and a whole host of other birds.

We started outside the Palace in the more wild areas. It was like being on safari, with the 4x4 having to negotiate the sand dunes and just the deep sand in general. Scary and bumpy but definitely fun. Amazing to see the giraffes, oryx and gazelles roaming free in extremely large areas.

Next we head into the palace. There is a beautiful large lake with all the ducks and flamingos. Next we meet Phillip the Arabian fox. He is hilarious and is just like Buddy with his talking and big ears. We enter his enclosure and he starts to show off. Running around and shrieking, then nipping our toes and rolling over for a cuddle! He is a real character and we don't want to leave him.

We get the most amazing opportunity to meet the cheetahs. Declan, our guide, hand raised 3 of the cheetahs from birth for a month but now they are 13 months old. One at a time they were let out of their enclosure so we could stroke them. I was a little bit scared at first but couldn't resist a stroke. Their fur is really coarse and they purr when you stroke them. When they lick you their tongues are really rough. One of them nips Tom's knee twice! An amazing once in a life time opportunity.

To finish we get to see the stages of egg development. From the egg being collected to the chick hatching, there are different rooms with different incubators. As Declan gets out an egg that is at the final stages it hatches in his hand! So amazing and cute. Then Holly and I get to hold a quail chick that has hatched in the last minute. Soo cute, couldn't even really stand up!

We all had such a great time and Declan was really knowledgeable and taught us loads. We have been really lucky as this animal collection is not open to the public so we have been special guests today!

The morning has wiped me out though. Come home and have a 2 hour snooze but still feel tired, weak and slightly nauseous after. Everyone is heading to the mall for dinner but I don't feel well enough to go. Gutted that I have to stay in on my own. This 'good' week hasn't been as good as normal. Haven't had a whole good day yet. Have 3 patients tomorrow so need to have an early night so I am on good form. Dinner, bath and bed for me.