Travelsmartplanet

You’ll find lions and tigers at the Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary. This amazing  non-profit facility is dedicated to the rescue and care of  endangered big cats, providing them a safe, loving, forever home.

Run completely by volunteers, this sanctuary allows you to get an up close and personal with the rescued big cats: lions, tigers, leopards, cougars and bobcats. Learn about their habitat, their personalities and the stories behind why they have found refuge at the sanctuary.

Since their inhabitants are mostly nocturnal (big cats can sleep up to 20 hours a day), you will most likely appreciate the nighttime tour the most.  The resident cats wake up after dark and this is when they are fed.  At 7:30 PM, you will get to watch over 600 pounds of meat distributed throughout the sanctuary. During these tours, be prepared to hear the big cats roar “loudly” – lions can be heard up to five miles away.

Daytime tours and nighttime feeding tours of Catty Shack Ranch are available but only on select days, so you’ll need to check the website for the most recent schedule. These tours are the primary source of raising funds with 100% of proceeds going to their residents.

Treat your family to a very unique, informative, exciting experience. Animal lover’s will appreciate how well these residents are loved and cared for at this very special retirement home.

Location: The Catty Shack Ranch, 1860 Starratt Rd, Jacksonville, Florida 32226 USA
Dates: open only on select days, please check website
Hours: Daytime Tours 1 – 4 pm, Night Feeding Tours 6 – 8 pm
Tel: 904- 757-3606
cattyshack.org
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions:
visitjacksonville.com

View of the Voiles de voiles Pirate Ship adventure from the SOS Labyrinthe in Old Montreal. The Voiles consists of games, aerial courses and bouncy castles that can keep you occupied for hours.

The SOS Labyrinth is one of the great family attractions at Montreal’s Old Port. Essentially, you have to make your way through this huge complex maze and find 4 items: the Captain’s hook, a pair of Dutch wooden shoes, a travel wallet and a Cuban pitchfork. The stories behind these items can be found on the wall as you enter the labyrinth, and they are also on their web site. Plan to spend about an hour here. 

This is the statue of Bel Vizcaya, who was not actually a real person. He was dreamed up by James Deering, who designed Vizcaya in the early 1900’s, and he stands at the entrance to the grounds.

Parrots enjoying themselves at Jungle Island near Miami. There are about 1,800 birds here, in addition to the tigers, vultures, flamingos, kangaroos, lemurs, hippos and a kookaburra. You can get very close to the animals, and you may even wind up with a parrot on your shoulder.

How many of you know that Henry Flagler of Standard Oil, who was a pioneer of tourism in Florida, appears on some US five dollar bills? His Flagler mansion, which was known as the Whitehall Hotel, appears on the back.

Ceiling detail in the entry hall of the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach. The carving was intricate, and the gold was real gold.

Here is the magnificent ballroom of the Flagler mansion, in its heyday and today. You can see carved moldings, electric chandeliers, arched doorways and windows and polished wooden floors.

Here is the magnificent ballroom of the Flagler mansion, in its heyday and today. You can see carved moldings, electric chandeliers, arched doorways and windows and polished wooden floors.

This is a UH-1 Huey helicopter shown at the Valiant Air Command Warbird museum in Florida. Here you can find a collection of vintage war aircraft, photos, uniforms and personal artifacts of the vets, and you can even meet some of these vets as they volunteer to work on the restoration of these planes.