I love camping. And I mean real, sleep in a tent that you have pitched yourself, on the ground, in a sleeping bag, type of camping. But I am married to a man whose idea of camping is a 3 star hotel that makes you bring your own toiletries. Needless to say, we do not do a lot of any camping. But I really wanted to the girls to experience what it is like to sleep outside, in a tent, under the stars. So, I did a bit of research and stumbled upon a place here in the Czech Republic that held a lot of promise. A further look proved that this was exactly what I had been searching for - they were within a 2 hour drive so we could make a weekend of it, they had tents, but also had beds with linens and duvets, so I could satisfy both B and I, and they had a restaurant on site so we would not have to kill/catch our food. And as a bonus, they are attached to a Safari/Zoo. Win, win, win. I booked us immediately for their only available weekend for the rest of 2015. (The place is very popular)
That weekend is now somehow 3 weeks behind us and I am just now getting to this post. I have no real excuse other than I have been busy getting back into the swing of the school routing, but here I am, ready to tell you the tale of our weekend spent on Safari with good friends.
We headed out just after school ended on Friday afternoon. Dvůr Králové is only about 150 km (90 miles) outside of Prague but it took us a bit over 2 hours to get there due to the fact that the Czech schools had not started yet so everyone was still weekending at the summer houses and the traffic was more congested than usual. But no matter because we didn't need to pitch a tent, or start a fire, or kill dinner before relaxing; we could just check in and relax. Which we did.
Our two tents for the weekend are the first two white ones you see in the above picture. And that greenery is all that separated us from the animals.
Inside our tent (after we made a mess)...
For those that don't like camping AT ALL, the grounds also has these. Each comes with doors, windows, a bathroom and a kitchenette. I wasn't willing to go on safari at a hotel... |
| There was also a pool, covered hot tub, and the communal showers/bathrooms. And a playground, beer hut/coffee stand, and bike area. |
We didn't have a lot of time that evening but we did get a quick half an hour in on the playground so the kids could burn the last of their energy, ate a quick dinner and then they all fell into bed. The grown ups, who were tired but not tired enough to go to bed at 8:30, sat around the table on the front deck and caught up on the past 2 months since we had gone our separate ways for vacation. And then, about 10 p.m. we noticed that everyone around us got up, almost in sync, and went into their tents and went to sleep. It is always quiet in the Czech Republic, but it was now eerily silent. Except for us. We did try to keep it down to a whisper, but we are American's and we tend to be loud. So, not wanting to get kicked out on our first night, we retired for the evening. Which was probably a good thing, because these kiddo's were up with the sun.
We got dressed in no time. It's super easy to get ready when you don't have to shower, put on makeup or worry too much about any of the niceties. We had a hearty breakfast and then walked around the corner to the zoo. How awesome is that?!
And we spent the rest of the day doing what you would at any zoo; wandering from exhibit to exhibit, eating junk food and drinking beer. Fabulous way to spend the day among friends.
About 10 minutes after entering the zoo - at 10 am.
You could build your own water way...really cool.
We even got in some pony rides...
Can you find all of the stick bugs in the picture above?
Bees! They were everywhere!!! I even got stung once.
This mama was adorable. She was playing with her baby for a bit and then grabbed this cloth and came over to the window. She would put it over her head so that she could look out and see who was watching her (the cloth cut the glare). She was playing peek a boo with our kids for a bit.
We stopped for awhile after lunch to play. And have ice cream. And rest.
And then we continued on. This is a drawing (yep, chalk drawing) on the ground to make it look like they are standing at the edge of a waterfall.
They all got to pet a zebra!!! Zebras are not known to be very nice animals, and it is why you don't get to pet them in the zoo's by us. Here, we got to pet a Mama that was so sweet and kept coming back for more.
And we got to see the Black Rhino's. And some interesting Rainbow tushies...
We even got to be a part of the exhibits. The above picture is Stinkerbell INSIDE the Rhino pen. The kids can go through a tunnel and pop up in this open area to see first hand how the Rhino lives.
We were all getting a bit tired of the walking (see above pouty face) so we headed back for dinner, pj's and some play time with each other and with our flashlight before bed.
A good nights sleep and we were up early again, this time ready to see the drive through portion of the zoo - the Safari. This is where we got to sit in the car, open the windows and see the animals roaming free around us. After a quick bite to eat, of course. And a stop at the zoo gift shop to pick up our newest stuffed friends - a lemur and a sloth.
No worries, we closed the windows, locked the doors and sat down in our seats for the Lion portion of the drive.
And suddenly, it was time to say goodbye to our campgrounds. We had a fabulous time (even B agreed that camping like this was acceptable) and we were so glad that our friends were able to join us because it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without them. But we were not quite ready to head straight back home yet. On our way to the zoo on Friday, we passed an area with a castle. Since we were going to pass it again on the way home, we decided to stop and see what it was all about. Imagine our surprise when we walked up the hill and saw that they were having a small weekend festival!
MadHatter and her friend J had to try out their archery skills. They each had their choice of weapon (long bow and cross bow were their choices) and because there was no one waiting, they kids got to shoot to their hearts content.
We couldn't take the tour, because it was only offered in Czech, so we made do with wandering around and seeing the sights on our own. We had a beer, a bit of lunch and were back on our way in about an hour. A quick pit stop, but so much fun. And a great ending to a great weekend.
If you ever feel like visiting here are the links to where we stayed and the castle we visited-
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