I do have a few issues with zoos, but generally I enjoyed my time there. We were able to sleep over in the African Savannah building-- right next to the hippos, giraffe and Red River Hogs. It was fun!
The first animal we saw at the zoo! Hee Hee
This guy put on a show for us!
Not sure...
She lost a tooth while we were waiting for the tour guide!
Jengo is the new baby giraffe.
He was a tricky little guy and a bit camera shy.
I have gained an immense appreciation for the hippo from this trip to the zoo. I'll tell you about it sometime.
She thought he was pretty cool.
Both of the hippos.
Jengo or his mom, I can't tell.
Red River Hogs...
...are the only hogs who can live together in family units. Another animal I learned about and like! This picture shows momma, daddy and baby (squished in the middle and spotted) sleeping together!
I thought the zebras were so fun! look at those ears! And, zebras are not black. They are really brown and white. Pretty obvious in this picture. Why are we led astray in thinking they are black?
Ostrich, I suppose!
African drumming.
And African garb.
The whole group drumming, dancing and dressed up!
The skit-- she was a cameleon, I think.
I was a fly.
We slept right in this spot. A metre away from the Red River Hogs!
They are strange looking though, aren't they.
Mr. Peacock was very happy to show off for us.
See, he'd walk around like this. And turn and put on quite the show. All us ladies were impressed.
The elephants.
His tusks are capped in silver, although it is hard to see. Dental problems.
Another group shot.
Tiger, right?
A black bear that isn't. Honey coloured, really. Who named the black bear the black bear?
Poorly done, sir.
See. No black at all.
A waterfall with a washroom building hiding behind it.
So... the hippo...
Did you know hippopotami do not swim? Not a bit. They can hold their
breath for quite a while once they put their mind to it. They simply go in the water, and bounce around from the bottom of the lake to a rock and then eventually wander on back to shore. But swim they do not. They are not known for their beauty. Hippos are not associated with traits that people want to immortalize with inspirational sayings on posters to be hung on bedroom walls. Sports teams and cars are not named after them. Prepare yourselves, for despite their afore-mentioned lack of finesse; I am proposing that we all be a bit more like the mighty hippo. How often do we consider what we don’t have and let our lives be governed by it? Hippos cannot swim but does that stop them from confidently strolling up to the water and jumping in? Absolutely not. Some of us might be hippos and therefore be lacking in qualities that are cool or interesting. Maybe we are not fast or pretty. Maybe we don’t have interesting skills or our teeth grow outwards(this is an issue for many hippos ) but what we can have is confidence. We can know what we are (and what we aren't) and stand on the shore, decide to make the best of it, take a deep breath, and plunge in.
There you go... (although Sonja wrote it for me-- but my thoughts-- I needed to write a message for a newsletter and it was later than this and she volunteered to write it. When she was done, I read it, and loved it and was very grateful I didn't have to write anything. And it was perfect)!
My joey. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment