Today is a special day for us and the choice was made to celebrate it also in a special way. Specifically we want to see the capybaras that eluded us in Guyana and given that there is an easy way to do it in Arizona, why not? The Ghost Ranch Exotics ranch is promising that you can see them and even touch them and we make an afternoon reservation and in we go to see what is actually possible. The drive is about two hours and we make it with fifteen minutes to spare when we pull into the large but relatively empty parking lot. Our guide is awaiting us and after a short briefing we are into the first pen with a couple capybaras and a bucket full of salad to feed them. Surprisingly the capybaras are really tame and only care about the salad and to munch on our clothes.
After the brief introduction with two capybaras we move to the larger enclosure with more than ten capybaras all ready to attack us to get the salad. They climb on us, munch on us, climb on benches, everything just to get that sweet sweet salad.
Actually while we run around trying to escape the most “friendly” of the capybaras we notice that not all of them are having that behavior, some of them are satisfied with the usual hay. As our guide explains there is a pecking order and likely those are the lowest rungs and they would be beaten up if they tried to get to the salad so why even try.
After being fed the capybaras and us notice that it is quite hot outside. In contrast to us they have a bath that they can get into to enjoy, ultimately they are mostly aquatic creatures so it makes sense to have a water feature in their enclosure.
They swim around and they playfight and it is quite fun to watch them how they can jump in easily, we didn’t expect them to be that agile. Also we notice that the enclosure doesn’t hold only capybaras, there are also a few maras, another large rodent from Patagonia. They are not that friendly though which is why we didn’t notice them before.
Next are the porcupines. We learn that there was a tornado a few years back and lots of animals escaped but the only ones that weren’t recaptured were the porcupines. Who knows if they holed up somewhere or were eaten by coyotes or something else? These ones are quite fun too, one is friendly and approachable while the other one supposedly is aggressive and we should avoid them. So while feeding carrots to the friendly one we keep our eyes on the aggressive one while being hassled also by the guard dog who also wants carrots?! Weird dog.
Next are the warthogs, quite fortuitous. We didn’t expect to see semi domestic warthogs after seeing the wild ones just a few months back in Tanzania. Here again we can feed the female one but the male one is to be avoided. Not only by us but also by the female who was bullied by him and also by the keepers. The guide tells us how on Christmas day she was feeding him, quite confidently as she raised him from a young one, and then the warthog attacked her and threw her over the fence breaking a few ribs. So yeah we do not go near the fence even though he looks quite pacified. In fact he was castrated soon after and now supposedly should calm down in the next weeks.
And then the last major enclosure can be entered and holds emus and tortoises. Both can be touched if they permit and the emu is really looking forward to being petted. We spend some time here listening to stories of how tortoises are always escaping, they are surprisingly good escape artists being able to bury below the fences. Then we buy some souvenirs from the gift shop and it is time for the next stop on our celebration tour.
And that is an early dinner at a Mexican restaurant, Guadalajara’s Grill & Tequila Bar, that is nearby and looked quite interesting to us. Their major selling point is that they make the salsa right next to the table and you can choose the ingredients. As such this is the best salsa we ever had as we could avoid all the things that we don’t like like onions and jalapenos.
The food is really good also we like the Molcajete, both as presentation and taste, and also the steak. And then we end it all with fried ice cream, we are quite full after all this. So we decide to end the day with a hike in nature to walk the calories off and where else, at Sweetwater Ranch Preserve to see if there are any interesting birds around.
