It's a Zoo Out There!

Some of you may know that I live near the zoo...very near the zoo! I can go up to the roof top and see the tigers and the rhino. Most nights I can hear the tigers bellowing and the morning is filled with the chatter of the monkeys.
So today I thought that I would head over to the zoo and have a little talk with my neighbors.  I took one of my roommates, Sara,  with me for back up, just in case the tigers got nasty... I figured I could throw her in, while I ran!
Upon arriving at the ticket counter, Sara was shocked that there was a different price for the badeshi verses the Nepali.  But at $4.50 for both of us, I was not too worried. Since it was her birthday too, I gifted her with a ticket!
We decided to head straight back to the tigers, so as to give them a piece of our mind about all the noise at night. In the photo you can see the reply I got from the lady tiger.  The male tiger just ignored us and pretended to sleep.

Next, we visited the hippo, who was very rude! As we approached the cage, she opened her mouth and grunted. Then she backed into the water and disappeared for a while. We pretended to walk away, at which point she decided she was hungry enough not to care about all the people standing around and lumbered out of her pool to eat. She sounded like a vacuum cleaner, sucking in her veggies.

The rhinos were across the path and we had fun watching the baby splashing about and blowing bubbles in her pool. I had seen the larger one from my roof top and sometimes you can hear him barking. But he is a gentle soul for the most part.

There was a large deer and bird section, interspersed with small cats and civets. This pheasant was one of the more interesting of the bird collection. Very beautiful coloring. The ostrich stayed hidden and the emus just stared as us. The peacocks, which I have also heard making a ruckus most days, stayed quiet. The zoo also had a guinea fowl, and lots of parakeets. I am glad I am not on that side of the zoo. They are so noisy!

The elephant is quite an old fellow. In the old days (I think that was last year) one was able to rent out the elephant for parties and ride him around town. But now he just walks around the zoo with kids on his back about 3 hours a day. We saw a  lot of evidence of where he had gone today. 

Overall... it was a zoo! I have seen better and I have seen worse. It was good to visit and meet the neighbors.

And we picked a great time to do it. It was not raining and hardly any people were there. On the weekends all the villagers visiting relatives in town  make a big excursion to the zoo. It is the thing to do!   So I had been warned not to go on the weekends. 

But now I can check that off my list! 

Meet the neighbors - Done!