Tucked away on the Florida-Georgia line is a place so wonderful that you won't believe your eyes and so "hidden" that a lot of locals don't even know that it's there- even though it is very well known in the world of animal conservation (especially for it's okapi, cheetah, and rhino programs). White Oak Conservation Center sits on the banks of the St. Mary's river. The total property covers 12,400 acres and includes multiple meeting halls, houses for convention lodging, and even a gold course. This place is NICE. Opportunities for the public to visit the conservation area are limited and expensive. They offer some public tours, and also host special "events" a few times a year. These special events usually sell out within the first day of being announced. There is one event that I have been wanting to attend for a while now. The event is called "Breakfast with Beasts". As the name suggests, you have breakfast and then get to visit the "beasts"- which in this case are cheetahs who run on a lure course. They had an event scheduled in the spring but it sold out in one day (which I have since learned always happens), so I have been waiting.... patiently.... for months... for them to announce another breakfast event. Then two weeks ago as I was doing my daily trolling of their website, I noticed that they had an event scheduled. I called and booked immediately. The only unfortunate thing was that Brian had to work, so it was just going to be me and the kiddos.
I called to book and was emailed a map of how to get to the main gate. After traveling down two rather long dirt roads, we checked in at the gate and were given another map of how to get to the pavilion where we would be having breakfast. We were definitely in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully there were signs and people along the way to help us. When we arrived we were directed to parking and met by a guy in a golf cart who shuttled us up the trail to the riverside pavilion. We walked into the pavilion, were greeted by two more staff members, and were ushered to the drink bar where we had a choice of several different breakfast beverages. We sat with a nice couple from Jacksonville who had been to White Oak several times before. As a matter of fact, many of the people that we talked to were repeat visitors. Following a delicious breakfast, we boarded a trolley and headed out to the cheetah demonstration area.
We got to see five different cats run. They were chasing a lure on a course that had been set up before we arrived. I videoed the first two runs and I have uploaded one of the videos at the bottom. I wish I would have recorded the third cheetah because she was super-fast. The cheetahs were given different routes to run- some ran straight, others had routes that cut back and forth. It was really neat to watch these animals do the thing that they are known for doing. You don't get to see them run like this in a zoo setting- no room. After each animal completed her run, she was loaded back up into a cage and taken back to her pen. Before going, they would drive the cats up next to the fence where we were standing so that we could get a really good look at them. Two of the cats were purring- loudly- like a house cat when they came by.
The last two cats to run did so together. After their run, they were brought onto a platform directly in front of us. They ate while their caretakers answered our questions. Cheetahs are one of the animals that White Oak is most known for. They currently house 28 cheetahs on site. One fact that we learned is that having fewer than 3 cubs will not provide enough stimulation for the mama cheetah to produce milk. So, if a cheetah has fewer than 3 cubs, she will abandon them immediately. I mention this because this situation happened at White Oak a number of years ago. The staff ended up having to hand raise the cub, and so that it wouldn't be alone, they paired it with a puppy and raised the two together. It's one of those weird animal relationships that you sometimes read about- two different species being best friends. After the last cats ran, they sent out the puppy (now a huge dog) to be with her buddy/sister. That was really neat.
And here's the part I'll never forget- they walked the last two cheetahs along the fence and let us pet them. Yep. We pet the cheetahs.
Across the road from the cheetah course was the white rhino pen. White Oak is also well known for it's rhino program. They have the largest herd of white rhinos outside of Africa. Seriously- I have never seen so many rhinos in my life. It was feeding time when we showed up, so all of the animals were close to the fence. The rhino caretaker was on hand to answer our questions. Owen and Olivia were standing near the caretaker, and they were listening to her intently. What happened next I could not believe. One of the baby rhinos left it's mother and walked right up to Olivia at the fence. I thought that the caretaker was about to tell the kids to back away from the fence, but she didn't. Instead, she started telling them where would be the best place to touch the little fellow. And so, we got to pet the baby rhino- so stinkin' cute!
After leaving the rhino area, we took a short trolley tour of a nearby portion of the conservation area. We got to see some of the okapi- which is another species that this center is well-known for. We also saw the giraffes, different types of deer, and some type of buffalo. I know that there are other animals that we did not get to see- our tour only hit some of the highlights.
In case you can't tell, I was really impressed with this place. I would love a return visit in the future- maybe to take the official "tour" and see different parts of the reserve. Guess I better start saving my pennies
After the church service we headed to my parents' house for our annual Christmas Eve dinner. Nick and Cassie had just brought James home from the hospital, so obviously they couldn't make it home for Christmas. We did Facetime them and we all oohed and aahed over that precious little baby. Everyone received so many nice gifts, but the gift of the night was Mama's new cell phone. This is really a gift for us all- her old one is a total piece of junk. Hopefully now we will be able to get a hold of her.
Around 2 a.m. Santa paid a visit to our home, and around 2:30 Brian and I were woken up by our children telling us that Santa had come. The kids were told to go back to bed for a little bit and that after a rest they could get up and play with their toys. At 3:30 they were up again, and Brian had to go order them back to bed for a second time. This time they actually went back to sleep and ended up sleeping until almost 11:00.
The kids received so many nice things. After opening all of our gifts, we made our way to Granny Buie's house for a delicious Christmas lunch. We were all exhausted by the end of the day. We had such a blessed Christmas with our family this year. 
