Zoo

On Sunday Eva and the boys and I headed to the Prague Zoo. It was a blustery but not too cold afternoon and the zoo was crowded with lots of parents and kids. The zoo is in the city but you don't feel like you are in an urban area. There are beautiful trails and the animals seem to have lots of space inside and outside. I forgot I was in Prague.

We saw some weird monkeys in the Jungle exhibit. I like monkeys. They seemed a bit sluggish; they didn't swing around Tarzan style. Perhaps we were interrupting their afternoon nap.

The Jungle part was a big indoor pavilion so they could simulate a tropical environment. But most of the animals were outside. We strolled with the stroller along the trails and saw loads of animals in their paddocks.

There were so many dogs! It seemed like almost everyone there brought their dog to the zoo! There were signs up about keeping your dog leashed, duh, but still. I am not sure I would take my dog to the zoo. I would be afraid that a dog would see the lions and go crazy. Especially since a lot of the animals were outside behind fences that a dog could find his way through. Maybe European dogs are better behaved or more used to zoos?

I saw Hedwig!

A hyena sleeping underneath a skull. I felt like I was in Arizona or something. I wish the hyena had been awake since I wanted to see it up close.
This picture of a bison came out a bit more artistic than I planned. I did not mean to focus on the grass but I sort of like it. It was odd to be all the way in Prague and see animals that are native to North America.
I liked the camels, too. There were lots of them. I always thought that the "Sally the Camel" song was about my sister and my first grade class was singing it because I was there. I have since realized the truth.
Zebras are so cool. They make zebra print look silly in comparison. These zebras were having some lunch by their cabin. But they had a large grassy area in which to roam.
The Prague Zoo has an upper and a lower part. You can walk a trail between them or take a chair lift down. We had the baby so we walked. About halfway there, as we passed various animals and the boys ran around, we saw this house in the distance.
I think it must belong to the zoo since it is basically right in the middle of it. It seemed sort of Edgar Allen Poe or Hitchcock--deserted and alone against a grey sky with ivy crawling across the side.
It is probably administrative offices or something very mundane.

I was amazed at the different terrain the zoo possesses. A huge wall of rock, a cliff, was suddenly right there amidst the trees and flat land. You can see mountain goats perched impossibly on the rocks.

If you look very carefully you can see the chair lift. Up on the hill is the upper part and down where the people are is the lower.

The lower part was covered with water in the horrible flood of 2002. There was a flagpole with a pennant on the top marking the water level at the worst moment of the flood. It was probably thirty feet high. They were able to save most of the animals, thank goodness. There were pictures of the zoo when it was flooded. Absolutely covered with water. The lower part is next to the river, which is why it was hit so hard. I would have liked to read the plaques and learn more about the flood and where they put the animals and what procedures and protections they have in place to prevent something similar from happening...but it was in Czech. And even if I could read it, it is hard to pause when there are two young boys running around and a baby in a stroller who really wants his yogurt.

Much of the lower part has been rebuilt so the pavilions are new and there are nice places to eat. Overall, I was very impressed with the zoo. It was so kid friendly. There were benches everywhere, lots of places to eat, many, many little statues and exhibits and playgrounds for kids to touch and climb on. So the boys spent the entire afternoon running from a wooden bear statue by the polar bears to a mini-ropes course by the monkeys and a playground by the seals. It wasn't fun for me to have to keep track of them during their wanderings, especially in the dark jungle-type buildings...but they were fine. At times it was tricky to juggle my irrational fear of even seeing a snake behind glass and trying to keep an eye on the boys.

They liked the tigers. The boys would jump and squeal if the tiger even came near them or looked in their direction.

I don't know what these are but they were next to the tiger pen. Too cute.
This bird was a shocking orangey pink. Hard to believe it is natural.
Here is a kid train that the boys loved. It went around in a circle but they pretended to drive it.

See how kid friendly the place is? They even have carts you can use to pull tired kids around. And I love how the cart is a Mercedes. Not really, it is just an ad. But funny.

So now I have been to the Prague Zoo! Check that off my list. It was a fun, if at times stressful, visit. I was reminded that zoos are really amazing. It is so cool to see animals like that in real life and up close.