Trip to Taif Mountains!

Al-Shafa | Road to Taif

Taif is a mountain city where visitors go to escape the heat and enjoy cooler weather during the summer days. We decided to visit Taif for the change of scenery and something to do besides visiting the malls. Also, a temperature less than 100 was much anticipated! I have to say, the "cooler" breeze was nice. I am guessing that it was in the mid-90's at the time!

This is nearby the area where stopped to picnic. We climbed a few rocks and saw some goats. But we scared them away and couldn't get any good pictures. These quick animal sightings were very exciting for the kids!

Toothpick tree | Named by our son for humor

Last summer, we enjoyed the mountains of Colorado, where we saw turkeys and buffalo's. However, the mountains in Taif, Saudi Arabia had other interesing wildlife including eagles, falcons, goats, camels, and monkeys. A few of us were lucky enough to see some monkeys climbing on the mountain wall as we drove by! But of course, we didn't get a picture of that either!

I did get a picture of this eagle at the nearby zoo that we visited!
After reading about the horror stories of Riyadh zoo we wanted to see how bad was Taif zoo. To our surprise it was no way close to the Riyadh zoo. Things were not how they should have been but the animals had bigger cages. The lion did look malnourished but in much better shape than the one in Riyadh. The lion and the bear also had open areas to walk freely. But along with all the usual we also saw a few animals that really surprised us. Actually, we couldn't stop laughing! I'll let y'all decide for yourselves!

Yes a Dog from the U.S. 

Cats from all over the world

Other animals that we saw were: porcupines, wolves, foxes, a very sad looking elephant, a 3-legged camel and a five-legged bull (poor thing!) We saw a baby crocodile, gazelle's, ducks, chickens, donkeys, horses, lots of camels, a parrot, an iguana, owl, llama, and little baby monkeys (they were adorable!) Overall, it was a fun and interesting experience. We had a great time with our family-and the kids had so much fun! We even went all the way there and back without any restroom visits! It's amazing how a stinky, squatty-potty will take away the need to go!