We finally found a time to visit the zoo and went with our friend Meiram and his daughter Ayolim. We went in the morning to take advantage of the cool weather, but it's been so hot here that it was still pretty warm. Most of the animals were still trying to find some relief from the sun. However, the lion was one of the first animals we saw and was quite active. He even charged at us (which was a little scary, despite the fence and the big trench between us) and then turned and shot some urine at us. There were quite a few kinds of big cats: tigers, leopards, black jaguars, cheetahs, ocelots, as well as lots of other big animals such as rhinos, elephants, crocodiles, zebras, giraffes. The enclosures aren't quite as nice as the ones back home, but there was a bigger variety of animals.
The kids really liked the monkeys, especially the baby ones. Will was a little concerned with the size of the enclosures (the polar bear pen was quite small) and how often the pens were cleaned, but the animals seemed in good health (although I don't think I saw any zoo staff except for food vendors). Meiram, as usual, was quick to buy treats for the kids and even bought a $5 picture of Kate holding a rabbit that a vendor snapped as we passed by. I tried to convince him we didn't need it but he loves buying things for the kids. My favourite part was watching Thomas walk hand-in-hand with Ayolim down the paths!
We finally found a time to visit the zoo and went with our friend Meiram and his daughter Ayolim. We went in the morning to take advantage of the cool weather, but it's been so hot here that it was still pretty warm. Most of the animals were still trying to find some relief from the sun. However, the lion was one of the first animals we saw and was quite active. He even charged at us (which was a little scary, despite the fence and the big trench between us) and then turned and shot some urine at us. There were quite a few kinds of big cats: tigers, leopards, black jaguars, cheetahs, ocelots, as well as lots of other big animals such as rhinos, elephants, crocodiles, zebras, giraffes. The enclosures aren't quite as nice as the ones back home, but there was a bigger variety of animals.
The kids really liked the monkeys, especially the baby ones. Will was a little concerned with the size of the enclosures (the polar bear pen was quite small) and how often the pens were cleaned, but the animals seemed in good health (although I don't think I saw any zoo staff except for food vendors). Meiram, as usual, was quick to buy treats for the kids and even bought a $5 picture of Kate holding a rabbit that a vendor snapped as we passed by. I tried to convince him we didn't need it but he loves buying things for the kids. My favourite part was watching Thomas walk hand-in-hand with Ayolim down the paths!
