Even before I’d been granted a visa, I knew that I was gonna have the opportunity to visit the Best Zoo in the World.
You are assigned an Alma mater before you even schedule the visa interview and when I Googled Nebraska two things popped up, the flood and the zoo. The University had also sent a link to the best places in Nebraska to look forward and #6 was the zoo.
Imma be honest, as an African, I live amongst wildlife. In the capital city I can go see wildlife that’s how accessible it is. So I was skeptical about the best zoo in the world. Seen one lion, you’ve seen them all right?
Apparently not because the zoo was AMAZING! Well the parts that I saw anyway. It was huge! I couldn’t have seen all of it in half a day. It wasn’t about the animals, it was about the packaging of the zoo experience. They created a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience. A lot of thought and planning went into constructing that zoo. Whatever you’re into, they had it!
The sun was blazing hot but I was so excited that I was numbed numb to the heat. I was tired of walking around but I was curious to see it all. That was overambitious.
Fatumata Addina Jabbie decided it would be cool to go on the Skyfari. Do you know what a Skyfari is? A Skyfari is you on a zipline carriage hovering over a huge chunk of the zoo. And you know your girl is afraid of heights so it was a no from me. But Addina Jabbie doesn’t take no for an answer. I left the lions and got into the carriage thing with Ellie Woody. I explained my fear of heights and she understood. The carriage didn’t feel safe at all. To be fair, I could have had the Presidential detail and I still wouldn’t have felt safe. The ride began and I shut my eyes tightly. Farrah Guard, this isn’t how I wanna go out. Ellie kept me updated on the view. I was tempted to open my eyes. I took a peek and nearly fainted. I shut my eyes again. It wasn’t until we got to the zebras that I opened my eyes. I must really like zebras cause nothing else made me open my eyes. My eyes were open for the rest of the ride. I faced my fear and it paid off. The views were spectacular. You couldn’t have covered that much ground on foot. This was a vantage point.
This really was the best zoo in the world and you gotta see it to believe it.
