Off to the Zoo

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Geo: -25.7332, 28.2102

This morning Paul and I decided to visit the local zoo in Pretoria. We arrived at 10am. As we arrived so early, the zoo was very quiet and this made it easier to move around and view the animals. We started with Paul's favourite animals and my least favourite – the reptiles. There were so many different species of snakes – they were a large range of colours, lengths, patterns and thicknesses. Seeing all these snakes was enough to give me goose bumps and send shivers down my spine.

Further along we stopped to admire the interesting looking Galapagos Land Iguanas, crocodiles, various fish and other amphibians and the patchy coloured Gila Monster. We then came across an interesting sight – alligators sharing an enclosure with terrapins. I was surprised to see that the alligators had not eaten the terrapins. The terrapins were even sitting on the alligator's back.

It was now time to move on from the reptiles. During the rest of our visit we saw a wide range of animals, starting with a jaguar eating a piece of meat, baboons grooming each other, a couple of bright Scarlet Ibis and a Racoon Dog. We then came to the best part of the zoo – the Australian part. Here there were wallabies, koalas and kangaroos- a nice reminder of home.

We then saw mountain goats, a Bongo, an Okapi, a herd of Sable antelope, a couple of fat, lazy (but cute) Dassies, a white Oryx, female kudus, ostriches, a herd of Lechwe antelopes, a male peacock, a porcupine and Forest Buffalo.

Some very colourful and interesting birds crossed our path – the Crowned Crane and Scarlet Ibis. We also saw Spotted Hyenas pacing in their enclosure, Gibbons hanging around and a sleeping Serval.

In another enclosure there were many vultures, a few different varieties that were very busy eating animal bones and flesh. On the way out we passed a pond that was surrounded by many pinkish flamingos. We really enjoyed our visit to the zoo, but I was really looking forward to seeing African animals in the wild later on this week.

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Photos

01 Green Snake
A Boomslang, also known as a Tree Snake.

02 Snake
A thin unidentified snake.

03 Head in the Sand
This snake has its head in the sand.

04 Python
A variety of python.

05 Snake
Another snake I was not able to identify.

06 Python
A long, fat python.

07 Albino
An Albino Python - a very thick and long snake.

08 Python
Another variety of python.

09 Fat Ones
The fat anacondas look like they have been eating big meals.

10 Python
Another variety of python.

11 Yellow Head
This snake has a yellow head.

12 Striped
A striped snake.

13 All Curled Up
This python is all curled up.

14 Large Lizard
This is the Galapagos Land Iguana - a very large lizard.

15 Pretty Head
The Galapagos Land Iguana has a pretty head.

16 Piled Up
Four terrapins all piled up on each other.

17 Paul
Paul looking at the crocodile.

18 Smiling
The smiling crocodile.

19 Close Together
Lots of piranhas swimming close together.

20 Big One
A Giant African Bullfrog.

21 Shark
A Ragged Tooth Shark.