San Diego Zoo - 25th November 2008

So the last stop we had to make before we left San Diego was their famous Zoo. You know Marcel got into San Diego!!

It was a fun day. Firstly what we did was jump on the bus that takes you right around the Zoo. We figured since it was supposed to be such a big Zoo that we figure out the lay of the land from the tour bus then head back to the spots we wanted to check out more closely. After taking the bus (which was good) we kind thought the zoo wasn't quite as big as we imagined. It's a big place but I would say that the Melbourne Zoo is bigger. I haven't been to Taronga Zoo for years so I really could compare that one. Still it is really hilly. Get this . . . . Can you see Simon and Kaiden on the out door escalator. Isn't that funny . . . . but nice. As I said, the Zoo is pretty hilly although we were amused by the couple of out door escalators we were thankful by the end of the day . . . . which is why they are there. There are many different levels to the Zoo's over all make up. They also have a sky lift which is just an old open air gondola which takes you from one end of the Zoo to the other. The Zoo is very beautiful. It's filled with trees and shrubs that protect you from the sun which is nice. Of course they are ultimately there for the animals but they work for us mere mortals as well.

My favourite animal of the day was definitely the Panda. There are 4 Pandas at San Diego but only 3 of them were out. The Mother - Bai Yun and her 2 babies, Su Lun and Zhen Zhen, who really aren't babies any more but they are still significantly smaller than their Mum. The photo below is of the Ma ma -Bai Yun. Isn't she beautiful!

Kaiden & Simon's favourite animal along with the Panda was the Polar Bear. We watched it walk all around it's enclosure looking for a huge bone the keeper had put in the water. It was very cool to watch it find it and pull it out of the water then proceed to devour it. Bears are incredible.
Well actually, maybe these two exotic creatures were my favourite. Scary aren't they.

We had a great day at the San Diego Zoo. I think though a big part of it's world famous status must come from a lot of it's research and breeding programs. It is beautiful but I think we are spoilt in that we also have some great Zoo's at home. Well worth the trip.

I am happy to say that we made it through the entire trip with out Simon having to make an emergency trip back to Denver to sort out work problems. Also the trip home was minus any drama, unlike the effort, worry and stress we had to go through just to get to SD. Brilliant.