I recently took a three day trip to Ontario, Canada to visit The African Lion Safari and then Niagra Falls. I must admit that it was way too long a distance to do in three days and I highly doubt that I would take this kind of trip again. It took us almost 12 hours from Manhattan with a few very short highway stops to get to our hotel in Brantford, Ontario. I was very wiped out and just thrilled to be off the bus.

The next morning at 8:30am we were on the bus again and headed for The African Lion Safari which was about 40 minutes further out.

The African Lion Safari was a fun place to visit and extremely kid friendly. Since 1969, the Safari experience has worked towards the conservation and preservation of many endangered and threatened species. As an accredited institution their wildlife partners has many zoological facilities and participates in managed assurance populations, contributing to species survival. The entire group got on an enclosed game drive bus and drove through the park. Here are some of the animals that we saw, from the bus of course :).

It was a fun experience but truthfully having had the good fortune of going to Africa and having been on several real game drives it paled in comparison, but… it was still an interesting experience to see how the park is set up to take care of these amazing animals.

After the Safari we headed towards Niagra Falls to have an early dinner at The Skylon Tower for dinner.

The Skylon Tower, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, is an observation tower that overlooks both the American Falls, New York, and the larger Horseshoe Falls, Ontario, from the Canadian side of the Niagara River. Here are some views as we ate a great dinner. By the way, you take an elevator up there (not bad) and the circular dining and viewing area are in constant circular motion (also not bad).

Here are some pictures to help you see the attraction.

From there we walked about 20 minutes to take a Hornblower Cruise to get up and personal to The Falls. We each got a poncho and it was an interesting experience. I optedLol to sit inside since wet shoes are definitely not my thing but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

Then it was back to the hotel about an hour away and it definitely time to chill.

The next morning we boarded the bus at 8:00am and headed back to New York. But…there was one more stop to make and that was The Corning Glass Museum in Corning, New York.

I think it’s a fabulous museum.

The display cases and rooms are so vast in size and really highlight the talent of the fabulous glass blowers.

Here are some examples of what was being shown.

So yes, I enjoyed the experience especially the Museum but it was far too long a trip for just two nights and I definitely suggest that you book it for minimum three nights if you’d like to go to the Safari and the Falls.

Whatever you decide, you’ll learn a lot and…make sure to bring your passport!!