Put me in the zoo

Last year on our vacation to Normandy and Brittany, we visited Branfrere animal park where we saw (and petted) wallabies amongst other animaux.

Although our holiday this year was was but three days and two nights, we thought we’d take in a nice big zoo. The Port Lympne Zoo looked pretty good, although had I seen a topo map of the place I’m sure we would have avoided it.

And the philosophy of the park was quite different. At Branfere – the animals were on show – but on their own little islands – giving them the illusion of freedom and us the illusion of proximity. And indeed many animals were allowed to roam free around the park. At the Port Lympne ticket booth we were warned that it wasn’t a zoo, but rather a park dedicated to conservation, where the animals really do come first. And that meant that they kept the night shelters open during the day and that the enclosures were really big (and as turns out full of weeds) which meant that it might require patience to see the animals.

If we hadn’t already stood in line for nearly an hour just to buy our tickets, I might have turned around.

When I pay a bunch of money to go into a zoo, I expect to see some animals. And they should either be available for petting or feeding or they should do some funny tricks.

Many of the cages at Port Lympne appeared to be empty. Animals were either hiding or sleeping in others – and given that the enclosures were so big – that meant that there was a heckuva lotta walking between boring animal displays. And given the steepness of many of the paths and us pushing a stroller full of baby and baby accessories, it was a lot of work to catch a glimpse of a “small cat” that looked suspiciously like the neighborhood tabby.

But they did actually have some cool animals:

We saw baby lions

gorillas

monkeys

(our own little ginger monkey?)

red pandas

and rhinos