Visiting Daddy's "Family"

Now before I begin, this is not a slight on the Broadfoot family; the following comments were made (by the children) in direct relation to the Gorilla Man himself (daddy). "Don't worry Daddy we will get to see your family soon". "You will right at home soon Daddy" ->, of course, the girls were referring to the Gorilla exhibit; it's a shame the zoo didn't have any baboons!!

Today, we had the wonderful opportunity to visit the famous San Diego Zoo, and what a GREAT DAY!!!! The zoo opened at 9 am and closed at 5 pm; we arrived at 9.30 and left at 5.15; what a day. To begin, we started with a bus tour around the park to get an idea of where all the exhibits were and how long it might take us to get around the park. We collected a map from the entry and saw the zoo had an Australian Exhibit, with koalas, kangaroos, wombats and even a Tasmanian Devil; we thought this perhaps could be last our list. The bus took us past the elephants, zebras, a cougar, lions, the pandas and even a camel.

The hump of a camel is filled with fat, not water and can help a camel survive for 3 weeks should he go without food; in addition, a camel can eat enough water in one sitting to also least him 3 weeks - that's amazing. When the bus ride finished we opened our maps and headed straight for the little monkey exhibit where we saw an array of little and funny monkeys hanging around (literally) and playing. From here we made our way to the tigers and hippos. It must have been feeding time or the big tiger as he was pacing the glass viewing area ..... Peter suggested perhaps that the Tiger saw everyone and was excited about the possibility of breakfast, lunch and dinner all at once!

The hippopotamus can weigh anywhere up to 3tonne and, on land can run up to around 50klm / hour; an impressive animal but very ugly all the same. When we arrived, the two hippos were underwater, asleep with their nostrils just peeping above then water for air. With the glass walls, we had the opportunity to actually see them (full size) while taking their nap. It was a cooler day in San Diego, and I suspect the animals were a tad colder than usual, which meant some were sleeping inside warm little burrows or in the caves made for them; however, on the plus side, it also meant that the park itself was not busy at all.

We finally made it to the Gorilla sanctuary, where we were able to see a big Gorilla, and then a mum with a little baby - very cute. And so Peter was asked how good it must feel "to see his family again"....... Before lunch, we made our way to the Panda exhibit which housed (in separate enclosures) a mother and 'baby' Panda. These Pandas do not actually belong to the zoo, they are on loan for breeding and study reasons, but they do make an impressive addition to the zoo's exhibits. Some interesting facts about the Pandas:
* once a mother has given birth, they tend for their cub for 18months and literally 'boot them out'
* pandas like to live in solitary confinement, they don't like sharing
* in the wild, pandas live at least 4 to 5 Kim's away from any other pandas
* a panda will consume up about 40kgs of bamboo in one day

We thought since we were close to the Australian Outback exhibit that we would sit near the 'Sydney Grill' place to eat our packed lunch. Miranda and Hayley were very disappointed they couldn't buy a meat pie or sausage roll from this 'Australian' themed food outlet, so they settled for a very large soft drink in a souvenir cup. While here we did take a sneak peek at the Tasmanian Devil, an animal I have never yet seen, even in an Australian zoo. Many of the Australian animals were snuggled up, even the rock wallaby; clearly in need of some warm Australian desert weather.

There was an abundance of bird exhibits; however, one of the most impressive birds here were the California Condor. With a wingspan of up to 8feet, this large black bird was on the verge of extinction until the zoo started a breeding program. Today, apparently due to the zoo's program, many Condors now live back in the Californian wild. Another incredible animal present was the giant tortoise. The oldest

animal in the park was a male tortoise who was approximately 155 years old, and the keeper suggested his good health should see him well past the 200-year mark. The oldest female, on the other hand, was approximately 120 years old; these animals were incredible. I have always figured that it was the shell that was the heaviest part of this animal, but this is not the case. The tortoise's body mass is actually the heaviest part, while the shell, even though very strong is only 1/3 of the total weight.

The final parts of the zoo we visited were the elephants and lions. This Zoo does not breed elephants. These animals come here to retire. The zoo houses the long tusked Asian elephant, and the tusks are so long, the zookeepers need to keep them filed down so they don't hit the ground. In the next pen, two female elephants were chasing each other; not quite in what we would consider a run, but pretty quick for such a large animal. As we made it to the lion's den, the male decided to wake up, and as such started to roar, well sort of roar but the noise was still impressive all the same.

The final animal that is certainly worthwhile to mention was the rhinoceros, who was enjoying a brush down by the zookeeper. Now when I say brush down, he was using a large broom and was lying on the ground like a little puppy lapping up every minute. Apparently, as soon as the keeper came to the fence with the broom, this massive creature just lay down in anticipation, too funny. The last activity was to see the Polar Bears and then hop on the Sky Rail back the entrance of the park, a ride Hayley had seen at Seaworld in Australia 2 years ago which we never hopped on. So for Hayley, this was very exciting, while for me....well put it this way, I really wanted to walk, dangling on a 'thin' wire high in the air wasn't all that appealing. However, the girls thought it was wonderful until they started making it swing when they were turning to see all of the exhibits below!!

A quick trip to the gift shop on the way out saw Hayley adopt another 'Teddy' to add to her collection. I don't think I had previously mentioned that when in LA when we first arrived we purchased a small pink spotted stuffed puppy for Hayley. This teddy affectionately called 'Rosey' has taken the place of her usual teddies which have been left at home. Now she has two American toys to somehow stuff into her suitcase but will be a great way for her to remember our trip. Miranda, on the other hand, purchased a cool cup and has added to her pen collection.

Tomorrow is a scheduled 'sleep-in' morning, with a day to laze around the resort; test the pool, go for a walk along the beach and perhaps leave the Tahoe to have a rest (even though secretly that will be very hard for Dick to do).