Parc des Oiseaux

The day after our energetic day in the mountains, we were all pretty happy to lay low – especially Vicki who twisted her ankle on the last leg (sorry) of the hike.

Thank heaven for Michael P who never travels anywhere without his handy dandy ankle brace. Vicki spent most of Friday with her foot up, but when she had to walk, she had great support, thanks to Michael’s brace.

Mario, Kate and the kids didn’t want to leave La Dombes without seeing Parc Des Oiseaux, which is renowned for its great bird shows and lovely grounds.

The show was very impressive, with gorgeous exotic birds swooping across the amphitheatre, narrowly missing the heads of the audience, as they landed next to their trainers.  

We saw a Southern Ground Hornbill demonstrating its hunting skills on a rubber snake, and some bright red scarlet ibises.

After the show, we walked through the shady, well-laid-out grounds and spotted all kinds of birds from every part of the world, including kookaburras, pelicans, flamingoes, ducks, herons, ostriches, and many storks, including the jabirus from Senegal with a bright yellow patch on its nose. It did a nice mating dance for us.

The highlight, though, was a screened-in aviary with rainbow lorikeets. The price of entry was the purchase of a 50-cent cup of nectar, which the colourful and comical birds will do almost anything to get a taste of. It was hard to tell who enjoyed it more – the lorikeets or the kids.

The Mountain Hike

Christine’s younger brother Thierry had heard we were interested in hiking, and so he graciously offered to lead us on a hike through one of his favourite regions – a mountainous area through which a train track had once been planned – back before World War I.

Our interpretation of Thierry’s description was that once we climbed up to the bed where the tracks had been laid, it would be a fairly flat hike through the mountains and the numerous tunnels that had been blown out for the trains.

Not exactly. Because of the demands of World War I, all the metal tracks had been pulled up, and nature had reclaimed its territory. The terrain was rugged and rocky and in one case, where the tunnel had collapsed, we found ourselves hanging onto trees and craggy rocks to make our way along the steep mountainside. In fact, we learned afterward that the "trail" is not classified by the local authorities as trail anymore, but rather as an area for spelunkers to be explored at their own risks!

This is not us, but rather a group of rock climbers we ran into in the upper portion of the hike.

There were rewards, however: some spectacular views along the way, and finally an idyllic spot near a waterfall where we enjoyed another one of our signature picnics, complete with wine, of course.

And on the way back, guess what – Kate got a pocket call from Toronto!

After five hours of pretty rugged hiking, we were all ready for a refreshing break.

 We finished off the day with a meal in a pleasant little restaurant in Villars les Dombes, where some of us dined again on frogs’ legs. When in Ain….