Birthday celebration is an ancient European tradition, which originated as an attempt to ward off some evil spirits that people believed were attracted to a person celebrating his/her birthday. So as to be safe from these spirits, the act of giving gifts and well wishing became a tradition. To scare the spirits away, family and friends would gather around the celebrant to bring good thoughts, best wishes and gifts. Over the years, birthday celebrations simply became a way to socialize and share good feelings and good times to create a memory to last a lifetime.

No matter how you say it: Happy Birthday, Maligayang Bati, Feliz Compleanos, Bon Anniversaire, kull sana wa anti ayyibah, Buon compleanno, etc., birthday greetings have become a part of one of the most widely celebrated cultural traditions in the world and can take on greater or lesser significance depending on a variety of beliefs.

Just a few days ago, I celebrated my 14th birthday. This time, however, it’s not the traditional way of blowing the candles of my cake but rather the exotic way. Yup, yup, yup with the monkeys and the donkeys and the big kangaroo! Off we went for a little more than an hour drive to the African Lion Safari, located in Cambridge, Ontario just west of Toronto. It was a little cloudy that day but the sun still peeked out every once and a while. As always, this is mom’s idea of another exciting road trip, family bonding and of course, an exotic way of celebrating my birthday.

Upon seeing huge sign that says “Welcome to the African Lion Safari, Have a wild day”, it was obvious we’ve reached our destination, and what a wild day we had! First, we went to the drive thru trail of exotic animals. Upon entering, we were screened by the “King of the Jungle and his family”, the lions, of course were roaming freely. And yes, it was “us” who were encaged in our 4-wheel drive SUV with our doors and windows locked-up. Excited to have a closer glimpse of all these amazing creatures, we’re all geared up with our lens for random clicking while mom manoeuvre the wheels and almost hit a cheetah who smartly (or stupidly) cross off the trail underneath our vehicle. Whoohh, that was scary!

As we continued to trail off, we got to see all these amazing animals almost face to face: the monkey, who are the jolliest of all creatures, kept on hopping from car to car and seemed very excited to see their (human) visitors, showing off their funny faces; the pretty llamas, zebras, giraffe, snow deer and tons more up close. A little further down the road we met a very welcoming ostrich that happened to greet people by coming up to their car window and would start to peck at your door. It’s pretty cool being able to see the animals in their natural environment, it was different from a zoo, way better in fact. Besides the drive thru, there were elephant and bird shows, a little water park, the queen boat ride and all sorts of other attractions.

The trip was another amazing experience for me specially to celebrate my birthday in a quite extra-ordinary way. It was very untraditional without the cake, which has now become standard in many cultures and particularly in Canada, and as serious affairs or fun get-togethers, birthdays continue to be among the most widely celebrated cultural social gatherings. However, as cultural birthday traditions are starting to cross-over as people from different cultures interact, I bet you, there are hundred ways to celebrate it.

I broke the tradition this time and I chose the unglamorous yet fun and fantastic way, so I could be closer to nature and God’s wonderful creations.

So, celebrate a year of a precious life with a memorable experience your way! No matter what, go explore!