Travel Journal:

As a Postgrad in Edinburgh... - The Highlander, Pt. 3


The Highlander, Pt. 3 9/11/2007
 
Our last full day in the Scottish Highlands. It began with a lazy breakfast (for a change), then we headed out to find the Highland Wildlife Park. I had gotten a pass earlier to the Edinburgh Zoo, which is run by the same people who run the Wildlife Park, so it was easy for me. On this trip, Jonmikel decided to go ahead and spring for his own pass (almost twice as expensive as mine, seeing as I am a student and students get at least 20% off everything in this country, which is fabulous). Well worth it though; if you're going to donate money to a good cause, conservation, preservation and any other work with endangered wildlife is always at the top of my list. It's a small zoo, but they do breed tapirs, which is one thing even the Cincinnati Zoo has not done yet. That's saying something.

The Wildlife Park is one of the main reasons we wanted to get a car to rent. The first 75% of the place is an open area full of various hooved grazing animals, many of which used to live in Scotland until recently (dying out here due to either climate change, hunting, habitat destruction, or any combination of the three). But this enclosure is a drive-through only thing, so we'd need a car to go through it. It was pretty cool. They have a herd of European bison (think: wimpy American bison), and when we entered the park, the entrance attendant, after going through all the rules (don't get out of you're car, don't touch or feed the animals, the usual), said, "Watch out for those bison; they've been great road blocks today," and smiled. Jonmikel and I looked at each other, both wondering if we should mention that we're from Yellowstone and we know all about bison jams. :-)

But it was interesting to see how animals compare in Europe and North America. You have the European bison (like American bison), red deer (like American elk), roe deer (like mule or white-tailed deer), and the European elk (no kidding, it is, in fact, a moose, the exact same thing). Of course, yaks don't really have any equivalent.... still. They also had Przewalski's horses, which I'm not sure I have ever seen. So I was pretty excited, being a horse person, to get up close to some. Very curious creatures, though not as curious as those zebras that went extinct not that long ago that only had stripes on their heads (they have a stuffed one at the Royal Museum here in Edinburgh). But the horses look so tame... its crazy to think thesse things are wild, though I definitely know they are. Oh, and point of irritation: we never got to see a European Elk (moose), which we really wanted to do just for the novelty of seeing one in Scotland.

We reached the rest of the park, which you can visit by foot, just in time to watch the feeding of the wolves. Not as cool as watching it in the wild, but still interesting. Until all the children started howling incesently in a barely-recognizable coyote yelp. Scared the poor wolves off a bit. Scared me off a bit, too. We also got to see wild boars (I can totally see how they used to gore people violently in the Middle Ages), an artic fox munching on chicken eggs and something boney (all while being eyed jealously by the snowy owl couple that rested above him), Japanese snow monkeys (who loved to interact with their audience, making me wonder if we weren't the primates on display), and Scottish wildcats (pretty sure they're all just big, striped, ferrel house cats). An interesting variety of enclosures, some following the very European Old-World cagey style, some allowing more open views. The open spaces were impressive and very nice, what I would expect from a wildlife "park" as opposed to a zoo.

After a few hours putzing around, we headed out to find some hiking. We ended up back at the Rothiemurchus estate for some more hiking; this time we took a mountain view trek, lasting a few miles, but stopping short of the longer 6-mile trip, as it was nearing dusk (again, at about 4:30). Jonmikel was apprehensive about this particular trek at first, but was happy he listened to me (I am a woman, after all, aren't I always right about these things? ;-)). We DID get excellent views of the surrounding mountains, even Cairngorm Mountain itself, the largest one in the area, which is used for skiing during the winter months. It has a train that goes to the top, and they ask that if you drive to it, you donate a pound to the cause of making up for your carbon emissions. Quite eco-friendly. We got to watch as fog and rain moved in and happily skipped over us, but clung closely to the tops of the mountains all around. Along this trail we also got to see a small village, much of it abandoned, as well as some capercaillie that were making quite a racket in the brush. The landscape on some of it looked much like Alaska did, short, thick underbrus with some small trees hanging out. Kind of marshy. But quite suddenly it would morph into thick forest land. The geography in the Highlands is much more varying and amazing than I ever though it would be. I pictured... you know, flat stuff with no trees and some mountains and such. And I definitely was not expecting all the fall colors. I guess part of me didn't even think they had fall up here, or maybe that it happened back in September.

After our nice, relaxing hike, we headed back to Aviemore to find some quick eats. Aviemore struck me as the kind of town that has way more business in the winter as a ski resort area. Beds and breakfasts were everywhere, as well as larger hotels, and also skiing and outdoors outfitters littered the sidewalks, but all these seemed almost devoid of people during this shoulder season. I hope we get to come back sometime during the winter to see if it comes alive during ski season.

The next morning we had to head back home. I had school later that day, and the drive would be about 3 hours. We talked to the owners for a while. It's amazing that an older couple from the middle of nowhere Scotland knows exactly where Montana and Yellowstone National Park are, but you say those same things to kids at Edinburgh University who are getting masters degrees and they look at you like you're nuts because you don't live in either LA or New York (even DC is a little shady by Scottish standards, sadly enough). But they were awfully nice, talked to us about my degree and their son, who just sold his hotel in town, and his girlfriend, who just got a job aa a physical therapist at some good hospital somewhere and who also went to Edinburgh University. Then we began our sad journey back to the city. I must admit that being out in the Highlands, in a small town where you can walk everywhere, made me miss Gardiner an awful lot. I miss the small-town feeling, the fact that everybody knows who I am, though I don't miss the silliness of it all... or do I? I have to admit that the big city really wears me down a lot of the time, being constantly in the middle of it all. But that's another year ahead of me yet...
 
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