Kinderzoo in Rapperswil

Nutria

Capybara

Meerkats

Last week with the kids from my work we all went to the Kinderzoo in Rapperswil on a very hot day! Everyone with kids or who works with kids in this area will have been here at least once or twice. I have been quite a few times but realized that this was the first time in 2 years since I was last here and it has changed a bit.

The elephant area is bigger and there is a walkway starting at the giraffe area going up and leads to a restaurant. The famous sea lion show is still on 3 times a day, plus the whale play area and the pirate ship too and a horse drawn carriage going around the whole zoo. There are plenty of opportunities to ride on some of the animals such as the elephant, camels and ponies.

The last time I was here there were still rhinceros to see, but now there are some magnificent cheetahs to watch. Luckily they were prowling around their area, one came right up to the glass and sat there looking at the people. What a fantastic animal! I was glad to see them.

It was a great day, the kids liked playing in the different play areas as is to be expected!


Other animal stuff:

The capybara that escaped from a zoo in Toronto has been recaptured!

We all remember last year when tragically Cecil the lion was killed by an American dentist, now his grandcubs have a chance we hope to survive without this vile trophy hunting!

I like stories like these!

Photo of the Week - Hippo Time

On Sunday Alessio and I went to Zurich zoo, I had thought of going on a hike but changed my mind. It  was great weather and the zoo was busy. Alessio chose what animals to see and towards the end we ended up at the hippo area. This fellow was minding his own business and suddenly he decided to look at me, I was the only person there and well open his mouth. I just snapped away and managed to get this shot. Well I like it!

Photo of the Week - Spectacled Bear Spectacled Bear, What do you see?

Alessio and I visited Zurich zoo on a warm sunny day in May, and there have not been hardly any of them believe me!

A lot of people have different views about zoos in general and in my opinion if the animals have enough space, can roam around and their environment looks like it would in the wild, then I think they are ok. Of course not all animals have large spaces, but the Zurich zoo I think is quite good.

After spending about 6 hours there Alessio told me we still had not seen the bears, so off we went to see them. There living space is quite large and we had to walk a bit to actually spot them, finally we saw one, a Spectacled bear. Spectacled bears are the only bears to come from South America, sadly like many other animals their future looks uncertain due to habitat loss.

Since it was nearly closing time we were nearly the only people to see him? walking around looking for food, it was really amazing to this bear. Then I noticed another one hidden in a den, it could have spent more time just observing them, but we had to leave.

A Visit to a Zoo

The trip to Walter Zoo with Alessio and my friend Aimee and her kids Noah and Lily took place on Good Friday which was 29th March. As you can see from one of the photos it was freezing cold, snowing, something that we are used too even now in the middle of April.

Walter zoo is in Gossau near to St.Gallen, we went there with the train and a bus takes you right to the zoo. There are lots of animals to look at and for me I liked to see the Siberian tigers, the first time they were busy eating and then they were having a nap. Tigers are beautiful animals although not sure if they should be kept in small enclosures.

Alessio and Noah enjoyed stroking the goats, I was quite surprised that Alessio wanted to do this, the kids also loved watching the chimpanzees swinging around and two were have a fight together!

There is also a show which runs for about one hour, sort of like a panto but with some animals. It is free but you are asked to give some money for it.

All in all it is a good day out, especially on a sunny day, there are lots of places for grilling and having a picnic.

My Favorite - Tigers

These wonderful animals Alessio and I saw in the zoo back in July. On past occasions it has been hard to spot even one, but to see 3 sitting on the rock enjoying the sun was just great to see.
It has been a while since I did a post in the series of my favorites and when I took these photos thought I would do one on my favorite animal - the tiger.

I have always loved tigers with their bright colours and black stripes, these guys looked cool. Especially  the photo where one has his eyes closed and taking some sun!

Photo of the Week - The Three Stoogies!

On Monday Alessio and I went to the Kinderzoo in Rapperswil as Alessio had no Kindergarten in the morning due to it being Sechselaüten, the festival that tells the Swiss if the summer will be good or bad. Which it should be as it took 12mins 7 seconds to explode, so lets see if it rings true. Back to the photo while there we saw a parrot show which we had never seen before and these 3 lovelies were perched on their stand. It was a fun day but freezing cold and damp, no doubt it was only the first of many visits to the zoo this season.