The Secret Garden at The Mirage, Las Vegas

***Background***

The Secret Garden can be found tucked away in an area of The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, which is situated about halfway along the Las Vegas Boulevard section that is commonly known as The Strip.

Siegfried & Roy are most famous for being spectacular magicians, who take part in illusions that no one else has done before. They have used a lot of big cats in their shows in the past and seem to have a genuine ...
...since they first performed at the Tropicana in their Las Vegas debut, way back in 1967 and have now performed in many of the big and well-known hotels in this spectacular city.

They were first introduced to white tigers back in 1982 when the Maharajah of Boroda asked them to help to bring the plight of these magnificent animals to the world's attention. As a gift he gave them cubs to help set up a breeding plan and save these endangered ... more

***Background***

The Secret Garden can be found tucked away in an area of The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, which is situated about halfway along the Las Vegas Boulevard section that is commonly known as The Strip.

Siegfried & Roy are most famous for being spectacular magicians, who take part in illusions that no one else has done before. They have used a lot of big cats in their shows in the past and seem to have a genuine love to protect and set up a conservation programme so that we do not see a lot of rare animals disappear through extinction.

They have come a long way together since they first performed at the Tropicana in their Las Vegas debut, way back in 1967 and have now performed in many of the big and well-known hotels in this spectacular city.

They were first introduced to white tigers back in 1982 when the Maharajah of Boroda asked them to help to bring the plight of these magnificent animals to the world's attention. As a gift he gave them cubs to help set up a breeding plan and save these endangered animals from extinction.

By 1996 they were celebrating the success of their 15000th show in Las Vegas and a year later opened the Secret Garden where they introduced not only their white tigers, but white lions and other animals too.

***Entering the Secret Garden***

There is a charge to get in to this section of The Mirage but it is well worth the $15 dollar entrance fee for adult or $10 for children aged 3 and over. Under 3's are allowed to enter free with paying adults.

The first place you get to is the dolphin habitat and a quick talk is given by one of the members of staff who look after these beautiful animals on a daily basis. We were told about the exciting news that there was a new addition at this enclosure and that he was less than 2 months old. Sgt Pepper was his name and he was proof that the breeding programme in this facility was working. His parents were Duchess, who was 30 years old and Lightning who was a slightly younger 22 years old. When he was born he weighed in at 25 pounds and we were told that in the underwater viewing area there would be a video playing showing his birth.

We were told how the bottlenose dolphins were not taught any tricks here and that any jumps or actions that made them appear as if they were waving during our visit, were all aspects of normal behaviour that they would undertake in the wild. It was made very clear to us that although the keepers cared a lot for them, that they respected that they were there to do a job of looking after them and giving them the best environment for the conservation work.

At the end of the talk we were also warned not to drink from bottles near the dolphins or other animals, as bottle-tops could be highly dangerous for any of the animals, should they end up in the water or the enclosures.

***The Dolphins***

Later on in our stay in the States we visited Sea World who also have a breeding programme in place, but the thing that made the Secret Garden special was that the dolphins were not asked to do shows or perform in front of thousands of people. That's not to say they didn't entertain us of course, because they were more than happy to swim around and do little jumps as they surfaced for air after a long underwater swim.

There are three different pools with different dolphins in and the first one featured the underwater viewing area, which gave us a fantastic opportunity to see exactly how a dolphin moves underwater. The birthing video was very special to see and we learned how they are nearly always born tail first and start swimming straight away with the help of their very loving mothers. Dolphins can generally give birth every 2-3 years and they nurse their young up to the age of 2 years.

The next pool was the one that everyone wanted to see, although to be honest there wasn't that many people there that day and we had plenty of space to wander around or sit at the side and just watch in amazement how this dolphin family looked after each other. This pool contained mum, dad and baby and they delighted everyone by making their cute little clicking noises, as they swam round and at one point we even had a little heads up and wave from the dad. It really was difficult to pull ourselves away from this sight.

The third pool had another pair of dolphins who seemed to delight in chasing each other around and turning direction at a moments notice when it looked as though they were going to collide. Again we saw them jump up as they came up for air.

***White Tigers & Lions***

We could hear the lions and tigers roar from the pool area near the Secret Garden but I don't think we were really ready for quite such an experience close up. It really was impressive to see a male lion throw its head back and create such a spine-chilling noise. This is all to do with natural behaviour of course and letting others know who is in charge but it genuinely looked as though he was just sizing us up to see who he could take a bite from first and trying to place an order.

The main reason that white lions and tigers don't do well in the wild is that they are easily spotted and don't blend in very well with their natural habitat. This means they can have trouble when it comes to sneaking up on their prey. It is thought that there is only one in every 10,000 tigers than is white and that there are around 200 in zoos throughout the world who are trying to keep this beautiful animal alive. The white lions are also rare and every effort is being made to ensure that this species lives on too.

The animals that are on display in this habitat also get the chance to roam about properly at the home and ranch of Siegfried and Roy. This is where pregnant mothers are cared for and if there are any problems with newborns, they can be looked after properly. It also gives these large cats an ideal opportunity to play and interact too.

Most of the big cats were ambling around slowly and sleepily in the shaded areas of their enclosures but we did get to see a beautiful tiger taking a dip in the pool and splashing about happily. This we learned was part of the natural behaviour of tigers and that they were in fact excellent swimmers.

It really was special to see these wonderful animals so close up and although it was sad to know that they could not be re-introduced into their natural habitats because of the dangers they face, it is heart-warming to know that they do get the chance to run around to their heart's content at the nearby ranch too, and that these animals are there on a kind of rotation system.

***Other Animals***

There are other animals on display here and we saw the slightly more common orange and black striped tigers and the golden lions too. Black Panthers with their piercing eyes and leopards were lazing about on branches in trees, snoozing in the shade of the immense heat. Snow leopards were also around.

Alpacas munched on the grass as we walked by and didn't seem too bothered by the fact that across the way, the big cats roared and looked in their direction. These comical animals were also fun to watch as they went about their daily routine.

Nearby you can also choose to touch the wishing tree, where legend has it that will grant any wish you make while touching it. I'm still waiting to see if my wish will come true and I'm not going to give anything away, as that is my secret.

***My Thoughts***

I really loved taking in this quiet and peaceful area of The Mirage, which took us away from all the hustle and bustle going on inside the casino and shopping areas. It was really lovely to be able to just find a seat in the shade and sit down to watch some amazing animals that seemed perfectly content in their surroundings.

The dolphins were my favourites of the day and I have to admit that I would have sat and watched them for hours if we hadn't had so many other things planned. It was lovely to see such a natural bond between the dolphin family members and how protective the mother was, making sure her baby didn't go too near the edge of the pool near any of the visitors. Sgt. Pepper did seem to take pleasure in showing off though and as most dolphins do, had a little smile to himself every time he looked our way.

In total we spent just over an hour leisurely walking round and watching the animals. It was well worth the $30 or around £15 we spent in order to be able to learn a bit more about the conservation side of things and to see such beautiful creatures so close up.

As with a lot of these places, there were a couple of shopping opportunities to get a little souvenir but we found that these were either in the form of huge cuddly toys that we would not get on the plane or smaller overpriced items, so in this instance we refrained from spending our money.

The Secret Garden is open daily but times vary throughout the year so it's best to check first if you intend to pay a visit. It is definitely something I would recommend. 

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