Birding with a Camel

Las Vegas, NV

 

Donna walking Abraham while taking to Nancy

Clark County Wetlands Park

Today we met Donna's childhood friend, Nancy, at Clark County Wetlands Park for some birding.  Nancy said she was going to bring Abraham and it turns out Abram is a 1000lb Dromedary (Camel).  He is about 5.5 years old and still growing.  He is one of 2 camels that Nancy has on her ranch in Henderson.  Nancy runs Petting Zoo 2 U here in the valley, providing all kinds of exotic animals for all kinds of events.  She once took her camel Moses to Zappos for a hump day event, she provides animals for manger scenes during Christmas, and all kinds of other events.  The first time I met her, we had just seen La Rev at The Wynn.  She provided Doves for the show. 

 

Our walk started out with a great view of a Greater Roadrunner.  We were close enough to here it say, "Beep Beep!"

Soon we saw a truck and trailer pull up and we were in Vegas so we gambled that it was Nancy and her Camel.  The license plate said 2CAMELS so it was a safe bet.

Abraham wanted to get all the smells as they arrived.

Part of this walk is training for Abraham.  He is used to being with big brother Moses and taking cues from him.

Abraham got pets and pats from us as soon as he was offloaded.  He also met quite a few people in the parking lot.

Abraham likes snacking on all of the plants as he walks.  It would be kinda like us walking through a buffet and stopping to snack from time to time.

Nancy showed us how well trained Abraham is by having him sit and even kept him from rolling in the mud, which he likes to do.

Nancy wants Abraham to get used to all sorts of situations so she had Donna walk him.  It would be an understatement to say that Donna didn't mind.

There are a lot of things you can't do in the wetlands park...

but we never saw a sign saying No Camels so I think we were fine.

When Nancy saw a footbridge she saw a new challenge for Abraham.  He had never crossed a bridge before and the rushing water under the bridge made him a bit nervous. He did great.  Camels are less jumpy and skittish than horses.

You can't go very far with a camel in Las Vegas without getting requests for photos and pets.  Nancy is very accommodating and even finds moments to pass out her business card.  People happily take them and she says that quite a few of these interactions lead to new jobs.

After our walk it was time for snacks.  Abraham loves his snacks and Donna loves passing them out.

Some other lucky passerby got to give Abraham a snack too.

It was so much fun to walk and talk to people.  They just loved meeting Abraham and Nancy.  One of the people we met will be contacting Nancy for a bit of manure for his garden.

Tomorrow is packing day and on Thursday we head out.  We will be driving down to San Diego to see family and then heading up the coast camping along the way to our next destination, Portland Oregon!  We are looking forward to lots of great food, Willamette River views, and I am looking forward to tons of pinball tournaments!

That's it for today.  If you missed, Valley of Fire State Park, check it out.