It cost about 10,000 won to enter the cafe; you can stay as long as you'd like and pet the various animals that they have there. First we watched as the staff fed the foxes. We were allowed to give them treats, but not to touch them, as that could cause them stress. The cafe had two foxes, a silver fox and an arctic fox. The staff seemed to have put in a lot of effort into training them.
Next we got to play with the wallabies. The cafe had two of these as well. They were cute and approximately knee high, maybe mid thigh. They had high interest in food, so if you had a small snack of carrots or grain in your hand they would bound right over to you. Other than that they were allowed to freely hop around the cafe as they pleased.
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| Look at this goof haha |
They had one happy go lucky raccoon over in it's own pen. The pen had lots of toys and a slide, which it was playing on while we waited. The staff also let the raccoon out so it could scurry around the room with the other animals.
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| The raccoon looked so chill |
Finally, other than the meerkats, they also had genets, which are a type of African carnivore with gorgeous markings despite their small size.
Then it was meerkat time!
In order to not stress the meerkats, you are only allowed to spend 10 minutes inside the pen per group, and they have breaks between visitors. I had to soak up my 10 minutes of meerkat time and use it wisely. Upon entering the pen your hands are sanitized and you are supposed to remove any clothing that they could easily tear or snatch away, including your slippers. Once inside and seated, you are given a blanket to drape over your lap to create a comfy place for them to lay. As I sat down the meerkats scrambled about, all of them instinctively digging at whatever was beneath them. Then one chose me! I had been chosen, and then immediately the meerkat tried to gently dig right through my shirt! It made me shriek a little honestly; I didn't know what to do for a moment.
Any time a meerkat passed by I would whisper to it Me...Choose Me....Come to me~~~
After several minutes one chose my lap as its place to stay, and settled in for a nice nap, complete with a fully exposed roll onto its back. I sat and gently petted it while the others continued their digging and soon enough the ten minutes were up.
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| My snugly meercat friend |
The most memorable part of the cafe was the staff's connection to the meerkats though. First, there was a male staff member who entered the pen alone to tell the meerkats it was break time. He walked in, sat in the center of the pen with a blanket and opened his arms wide, implying Come my meerkats! Nap time. All the little guys just climbed straight up into his lap until it was nothing but a heap of meerkat bodies. He patted their heads a few times to calm them and they all were instantly sleeping. It was that moment that I realized the staff must spend lots of time with them, and clearly have a bond with them that is far greater than the average customer would. All the animals answered by name and, for the most part, obeyed the staff. One of the female staff members was playfully blowing on one meerkat, when the meerkat decided to shove its entire paw straight into her mouth... the girl was quite surprised I'll say. It was really funny. She sort of spat its hand out of her mouth and called it mean names for a moment, but in a caring family sort of way. Like she was chastising him for picking on her, or telling him he knew better.
Overall the cafe had a very laid back and relaxed atmosphere, as you should be quiet so as to not startle the animals. I found that it was a relaxing way to spend some time and experience being around animals you just don't see everyday, but in a safe and friendly manner. I was worried that like some other cafes I've been to, it would be inhumane. I was glad to be wrong. In terms of caring for the animals first, there is no cafe that I've seen that does it better than this one.
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