A few weeks ago myself and team ditched an afternoon of spreadsheets for a date with the penguins. This much anticipated away day miraculously coincided with the cancelled train strike and a beautiful summery day.Of course, I couldn’t help myself and took my camera along.
Now, zoos aren’t exactly my favorite things in the world. I don’t like the thought of animals in captivity, and I’m pretty scarred from the way the big cats used to pace at Twycross. But I also know they are pretty important for conservation of rarer animals. Without breeding programmes, education schemes, and training many animals would be extinct naturally. And London Zoo definitely isn’t one of the worst zoos. The animals look pretty content and, whilst enclosures could be bigger they definitely aren’t crammed in. Edinburgh Zoo beats it hands down, but it’s an attraction in London that isn’t too expensive and provides a fun day out.
We visited the giraffes first, followed by trying to catch a glimpse of the African Hunting dogs. A wander through the lemur exhibit resulted in one of us being sprayed in the face, whilst we all awh-ed at the otters curled around each other to sleep.
We split up, one group heading to the spider session, the other to the tiger feeding. Being terrified of eight-legged horrors I went tiger, and it was definitely something I won’t forget in a hurry. Absolutely magnificent.
One of my favorite exhibits was the walk-through butterfly enclosure. I usually avoid these as they tend to group them with the spiders, but here it was separate. Full of butterflies and their flashes of colour, I could have stayed for hours if it wasn’t for the humidity!
We wandered through Gorilla Kingdom before an ice-cream stop, and then managing to find Nemo!
Penguin feeding was the last stop of the day. A favorite of just about everyone, I adore penguins. I find them such characters – and I fell in love with Ricky the Rockfeller who bossed all the humble penguins around.
Have you been to London zoo before? What’s your favorite zoo animal?
