My kids prepared a birthday weekend surprise for me. I had no idea what they had in mind. All I knew was we were visiting my son Franco and his pregnant wife Ban. Franco now lives in Cebu where he works for Pick Up Coffee. He loves it there. I can understand why.

Our weekend was set at the Cebu Safari and Adventure Park. I was really caught by surprise. My daughters Ali and Danielle planned it all. This place is in the mountains outside Cebu. It’s an hour and a half drive to get there. Here, animals roam free in their own secluded areas. It is over 170 hectares of forest with paved roads. In spite of the warm weather in the city, the high altitude makes it cool. There are over a thousand animals and more than 100 species. There are cabins on the top of the mountain, where families like ours can stay. On the night safari, we jumped onto a truck with a cage, where we all sat down. We entered the white lions area at night and had two huge male lions casually walking beside our truck. They were like five feet away from me! It was a scary yet exciting experience I never knew we had in the country. What a thrill!

All these would have been incomplete if food at the park was not good. It has three restaurants— American, Italian, and Filipino. We chose the American restaurant for our first meal. I had a simple fried chicken quarter leg with gravy. It was delicious, crispy, and dipped in the delicious hot-and-creamy gravy. Even the mixed vegetables that came with it was properly made. They were still crunchy and just had a tinge of salted butter. I want to go back.