My son and I are leaving our small town in southeastern United States to live for a year in a small town in southeastern France. It couldn't possibly be THAT different, right?

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

La ferme aux crocodiles

Living abroad with a young child is permitting me to go see some sites that might have interested me as a single traveller but that I would not have bothered to visit.  Sam, Jed, and I saw one of those today:  the crocodile farm in Pierrelatte about twenty minutes from where we live.  I have been intrigued by the brochures, but I kind of thought that it might be a bit of a cheesy roadside attraction.  We wanted somewhere close by to visit today, though, so off we went to see some reptiles.  What we found was a huge facility with a nursery and a laboratory and a big conservation effort.  Here a few of my favorite photos:

We had hoped to see the crocs being fed, but that only happens once a week so we just had to watch them lounge around in the sun and occasionally crawl to a better spot.

The croc-themed playground was really cool.  Jed was almost too big for this tunnel, though.  I'm glad that he made it out!

They keep this place pretty warm so I was dying in my fleece.

This is the beginning of the visit before Sam realized that the temperatures would mimic those of New Orleans' swamps.  

The huts in the background were inspired by huts found in Bénin.

 

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