23 - Walk on the wild side
During 13 weeks on the road we saw a lot of different animals - and not just
road kill either. From alligators to manatees, penguins to baby giant pandas,
even a tank full of dolphins. As wonderful as these sightings were however,
these animals were all in captivity (or, in the case of alligators in the
everglades, so common as to be, well, common). Seeing animals in the wild,
and in unscheduled encounters, was always more exciting - even if the
creatures were docile. There's something about the unexpectedness and
'discovering' the animals for yourself, rather than looking in a cage and saying
'yes, that's the rare lesser spotted thing-umy, I cannot see it but the label says
it is there.' We had a number of such discoveries, and a few pseudo-sightings.
Among the latter were coyotes (dogs); raccoons (cats); and alligators (logs).
Sheep and rabbits on leads in Times Square aside, the first real wild animal
encounter occurred in Yosemite. This was the occasion I mentioned earlier
when we were rushing back to our bus stop after a final hike when suddenly
three savage creatures emerged from the woods - mule deer. OK, so we did
not think they were savage at the time, but we did later find out they are
involved in the highest number of human/animal attacks in the park.
Despite our fears for our mortal bodies we were very excited to have
spotted these deer. In the UK we have driven past 'deer crossing' signs on
countless occasions without even a whiff of antlers. But here we were seeing
them clear as day, well clear as grey blobs at dusk to be fair. Over the next
week or so we saw deer on three or four more occasions - even in broad