Many years ago when I was in Grade 5, one of my teachers
showed us a movie. That movie was called Jurassic Park and I fell in love with
dinosaurs. Well, you know what I mean. They got my interest; I thought that
dinosaurs were marvelous creatures! When the opportunity arose to win tickets
to the Days of The Dinosaur exhibition, I entered and crossed my thumbs. I only
had to answer a question about what my favorite dinosaur is. I have a handful
of favorites but I chose a Velociraptor. Majestic creatures for their small
size. (I watch Primeval too haha), a few days later I received mail that I was
one of the ticket winners. Yay!
So on Saturday I dragged my reluctant sister to the
exhibition. She’s not really a fan of dinosaurs but she had to drive me there
anyway and I told her that we HAD to take photos and videos for my nephews who
would have loved to be there so away we went. I was so excited that I had a
silly grin on my face and my eyes were wide, and wider they got with wonder. I
have to applaud the organizers of the event here. Once you went through the
doors, it was like you were transported to a whole other world. I imagined I
was on the set of Jurassic Park, and it felt great! It was dark and the only
light came from the special effects lighting. How awesome!?
So there I was, armed with two phones for simultaneous video
and photo taking, looking everywhere and anywhere with glee. We saw fossils,
dinosaur bones and mock-up of an excavation pit with life-size dinosaur bones
in the sand. The exhibition was set up in such a way that you followed a
winding path and as you walked down it, you were able to see dinosaurs on your
right and left. The dinosaurs were all life sized and they were all animated. I
didn’t expect this at all and as I was taking a video of the one dinosaur, it
suddenly moved its head and tail and I got such a fright! Another thing, there
were also sound effects of the dinosaurs’ (loud) roaring and groaning so
imagine my delight. Onwards we went, with my sister asking me how they balanced
and walked. I told her they walked like chickens. I will not tell you every
dinosaur we saw because there were many and I doubt I remember all of their
names at this point, just know that I wished I had most as pets. What? Some
were cute!
A little way ahead, we came to the exhibition of the
dangerous dinos and I got even more excited knowing I will be seeing T-Rexes
soon. And see them I did. Let me tell you; they were terrifying. Absolutely
horrifying. Just look at this one:
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| Murderous T-Rex |
Now imagine an animated dinosaur, its head swinging around
to look at you and opening it’s huge mouth, coupled with the loudest roar of
all the dinosaurs. I felt like prey and the more I looked at it, the more scared
I got. I may or may have not teared up. My sister laughed at me and even
tweeted about it. She also asked me a lot of questions about how dinosaurs with
tiny arms got up when they fell. There was one brave toddler who was just
standing there, staring at one with the most fixed and wondrous expression on
his face. Dauntless that one, I tell you.
A little way after the T-rex exhibition, I was getting antsy
to see my Velicoraptors and we came across the Brachiosaurus! Who remembers
these plant eating ‘giraffe’ dinosaurs in Jurassic Park? I loved them in the
movie and I was so excited to see one exhibited that I kept shaking my sister
and pointing that “I lurrrve them!” One passing woman looked at me in
amusement. It was life-sized so it was VERY tall; I tried but couldn’t fit its
whole body into a photo. That’s how tall it was. My sister called it the
Shaquille O’Neal of dinosaurs. Good thing I took a video.
After the Brachiosaurus, I kept looking around for the
Velicoraptor and I found it! The little guy wasn’t standing like the other
dinosaurs, but was lying on its side, two legs flailing and its head swaying,
mouth opening and closing. I pointed it out to my sister. Turning from the
raptor, there was a scene in the middle of the room. A T-Rex was standing over
a wounded Triceratops which was laying on its side, teeth marks on its belly
and it was breathing. Something seemed familiar about that particular scene it
clicked! The scene was from Jurassic Park! They had recreated it! I jumped up
in joy (I’m not ashamed to admit this by the way) and I went around the exhibition
to get a closer look. Looking at the wounded Triceratops breathing in agony
(sound effects ya’ll) I felt sorry for it. I knew it wasn’t real but I wanted
to climb over the lines and give it a hug. It was even more saddening because
that was what happened to them during the Jurassic period. My sister said she
felt sorry for the Triceratops “which had to suffer the ignominy of having its
fossils found with T-rex bite marks.”
After that scene, we had reached the end of the exhibition. There
was an area reserved for (kids’) fun with a photo area where you could take
photos standing next to a dinosaur. It was packed so my sister and I made our
way out. Since it was my treat, I asked her if she enjoyed it. She replied, “I
enjoyed laughing a lot.”
Needless to say, I had quite a great time seeing all the
dinosaurs; I had never quite realized how enormous and how tiny some of them
were. I’m sorry for this terribly long post but I just had to blog about it
all! The exhibition has moved to Cape Town now so if you live in that area, do
check it out! You won’t regret it and hurry because tickets sell out fast!
ROAAAR.
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| Would you run? |
P.S Sorry for the poor, grainy photos. I took those ones with my 3 year old Blackberry 8520 which I use for everything and the picture quality isn't really great. Will update this post with the photos I took with my sister's far better phone.
