We've lived in Iwakuni for 2.5 years now, and finally made it to two of the well-known tourist spots in our own prefecture. Safari Land and Akiyoshi Cave are about 2 hours away on the Sanyo expressway, and are fun for the whole family. Directions in info can be picked up at ITT in Crossroads Mall. The driving instructions are very accurate, but there are some spotty areas along the Sanyo, so GPS may glitch out on you. I would have both at the ready.
Below are copies of the info sheet I had from ITT. Admission prices and other info are also on there. Just click to enlarge. Bring lots of 100 yen coins to buy food for the animals from machines. This is a post from Iwakuni Explorer with helpful info.
For 500 yen more, you can get the Safari Land English tour box, which gives you fun facts about the animals you are seeing. It was worth it.
We went to Safari Land first... and drove our car though fields of... elephants...
deer (the spouse wished desperately for his hunting bow)...
... zebras and antelope and park rangers.
Sometimes the antelope didn't want us to leave...
There were two-humped camels... but no long-necked geese... and a bus full of tourists feeding the animals. If you;re smart and time it just right, you should enter the park right after the bus. You get the excitement of having animals that are awake... most of the time.
Then it was time to check out the carnivores... and that's when it seemed eerily like the movie Jurassic Park, large gates and all. I was just waiting for a goat chained to a grate.
But these animals, fortunately, weren't attacking the cars like I hungry T-rex...
See the cheetah? Look closely...
How about this one?
Then there were the lions...
And then the tigers... one of which WAS attacking the bus like a hungry T-rex... but, then again, one of the rangers was throwing raw chicken on the windows of the bus.
Fortunately this guys was able to tell the difference between a yellow bus and a small white station wagon.
The driving part takes about 20-30 minutes.... and then it's off to the Kids' Safari.. also known as the petting zoo.
And there was plenty of petting... and feeding. Lots and lots of feeding.
An attempt at stealing...
Sleeping kangaroos look a lot like humans... the one below is obviously a male... I could tell that just from the sleeping pose.
As was this cool lounger...
And this one... this one is obviously female... one kid crawling all over her with the other one struggling to get out of the pouch.
This guys seriously needs a dentist... but he was super adept at scooping with those teeth.
I'm not sure who was more interested in who. I don't think this giraffe had seen a herd of non-Japanese people before.
There is a playground... animal themed of course.
And more feeding...
...and petting...
... and feeding and petting...
... and stealing! The monkey acted all sweet to Will, just to get close enough to steal the cup of food and run away. Will's comment: "He used me!" Once the monkey realized there wasn't any food he/she wanted, he/she brought the cup back to Will. It was quite amusing.
Although you can;t tell from this photo, this cow was extremely large and oddly proportioned.
And then it was time to play with the elephant. And feed her. And pet her.
An elephant nose is a lot like a bristle brush...
... which Xan was not expecting.
The spouse LOVES to travel.
This guy looks like he'd rather eat Xan...
We then drove from Safari Land to Akiyoshi Cave, which takes about 15 minutes... unless you stop to look at the burnt hills and valleys. This weekend was an annual ceremony where they set the mountains on fire. Some of them were still smoldering as we drive through.
We reached the cave and parked outside the small village full of tourist shops and walked up to (one of) the mouths of the cave. The cave is 1 km long, so once you walk through the cave, you will have to walk back through, or out and around the cave, to get back to your car. I mention this because we did not know we were in for a 2.2 km hike. Fortunately, we all wore comfortable shoes. I do not recommend taking strollers because there are a lot of slick, wet steps, and, despite the bright tones of the photos below (I used long exposure times to capture as much detail as possible - bring a tripod if you want to do the same) it is very dark. Small children might get frightened.
Every so often there are these boxes. There is an English option. I recommend stopping to listen to the messages. The cave is pretty on it's own, but it's fun to hear the names of the each formation and the legends behind them. The one right above was my favorite. It was called 100 Dishes. Each of those curved edges was a small pool of water that had a really cool reflective effect.
We walked back to the village and purchased some grass grasshoppers... origami grasshoppers sold by a man who spoke three languages and was working on mastering his fourth. His English was very good. He said it was good for business. Well, he got Xan's business.
And the ice cream pancake shop got the dads' business. They can't stop talking about how tasty these strawberry/ice cream/whipped cream/pancake delights were. We may have to make a trip back just for the ice cream. Apparently the spouse doesn't mind traveling if there is food involved! See the smile?
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