Everland is the largest theme park-slash-resort in South Korea, and it is also one of the theme parks that commands the most number of visitors all year round. The T-Express was one of the main draws, and then they opened the Safari World, and attendance increased even more. Later on, they opened another major attraction, “The Lost Valley Safari Adventure“, and the numbers were higher than ever. When we were there August last year, the resort was celebrating the first anniversary of The Lost Valley, and we were so glad we were there, even for a bit.
The Lost Valley, just like the Safari World attraction, is also located in the Zootopia zone of Everland Resort. If you recall, my previous post was about us going on that safari bus and being driven around where tigers, lions, and bears live in. Now how is it different from The Lost Valley?
One. There are more animals in The Lost Valley, and most of them ones that I have never laid eyes on in the flesh before, much less heard about.
Two. You will ride, not on a regular safari vehicle, but on an amphibian vehicle. In fact, Everland claims it to be the world’s first specialized convertible amphibian vehicle. Cool, eh? That means it’ll drive through dry land, water, and uneven terrain. Which further means you’ll get a much closer look at the animals!
It was a no-brainer. We had to go on the Special Tour, even if we had to join the long queue.
The Lost Valley Special Tour is the main attraction in the whole Lost Valley Safari Adventure area. When you enter the Lost Valley Safari Adventure area, you will encounter other animals, but the big event is going on the tour. So we did exactly that.
As I mentioned earlier, the queue was quite long, but it was moving, and you won’t get bored while moving along, since they made sure to set up stuff to see while you’re at it.
If you watch The Return of Superman, specifically the Song triplets when they were still on the show, you’ve probably caught the episode where they visited this theme park, and Daehan, Minguk and Manse met triplet tiger cubs.
Well, guess what, we saw the triplet tiger cubs!!! And they’re just as perky and energetic as they were on TV! They kept moving around, it was so difficult to get a decent shot of them. (And, of course, we had to move along so as to not hold up the queue.)
There was even a posted story or legend that pertained to the Lost Valley. It was entitled, err.. “The Legend of the Lost Valley”.
Basically, it spoke of TAU, a white tiger and the leader of Lost Valley. He led all the other animals away from their home, towards Lost Valley, in order to escape the humans who are treating them with cruelty.
In the ensuing fight against the humans, Tau was severely injured, until he died. However, his soul was reborn and took on the form of a Lion of Fire. To this day, Tau still protects Lost Valley.
Aside from TAU, there is also JUM, the guardian of Lost Valley. He was the one to lead the animals to Lost Valley after TAU stayed behind to fight off the humans His wisdom, strength and perseverance eventually enabled them to find the Valley.
Pretty simple stories, in my opinion, but they say a lot.
It took us 15 minutes on the queue until we finally got to board our ride. It looks like an ordinary bus but, unlike the one in Safari World, the windows were open (no glass separating us from the animals. Makes sense, methinks, considering how Safari World has the large felines). There was a driver, and another lady who was giving a running commentary
Needless to say, the commentary is in Korean. No English here, sorry.
When we finally started moving along, look who we first encountered:
Yep, camels. And one of them approached our ride, looking just as awed as us. 🙂
There was a flock of Barbary Sheep lazing under the sun. I think they, too, are having their siesta or afternoon nap.
There’s a descendant of Jum. The elephants were separated from us by a narrow stream. But even from afar, they looked so gentle despite the size.
Oh, and just to give you an idea what we passed through, I took a few photos.
To be honest, it was difficult to take a photo of everything. I was on one side of the vehicle; Lorie was on another. When I see a deer on my side, there are peacocks on hers. *sigh* I wished I could split myself into two and check out both sides.
\By the way, this is how engrossed I was.
This spotted pair looks so cozy together, though.
By the way, the Lost Valley adjoins the area of the Safari World, so we can also see from afar the lions and tigers that we were able to encounter earlier during the Safari World ride.
And we saw giraffes! And zebras!!!!
Remember our trip to Calauit Safari Park, where we fed these gentle and elegant giants? This brief encounter made me fall in love with them even more!!! (check out the video at the end of this post.)
The vehicle stopped for several moments beside some animals, allowing us to interact with them longer than a few seconds. At no time did we feel threatened, because the animals, except for giving us a look or the occasional glance, went about their business.
The giraffe, though.. what a flirt. 🙂 A lovely flirt.
Some animals I couldn’t identify. Others, I was too busy ogling to properly take a photo of.
Those were flamingos, though… I am 90% sure. And I got some confirmation of what Craig Ferguson kept saying during his late-night show when talk of flamingos come up: they stink. 🙂
Good thing they’re gorgeous, haha!
And don’t you just love this pair of baby rhinos? Or, toddler rhinos I dunno what you call them, but they are young rhinos.
The Special Tour lasted for 20 minutes, and it was such a satisfying 20 minutes! Again, I am grateful to the South Koreans (locals) who were on the bus with us. They hardly cared that there were two foreign bodies (LOL) among them. What we didn’t understand in the guide’s narrations, we made up for in listening to the reactions of the other guests. We were easily carried away by their reactions, and it heightened our appreciation for the animals that we were seeing.
Maaaan, this tour, and the Safari World one, easily cemented the reason why Everland is my favorite amusement or theme park to date.
And now, the videos.
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