Israel Trip: Goin' to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo
One of the friendlier denizens
So what vacation with kids would be complete without a visit to a zoo?
The zoo in Israel is your typical zoo, maybe a bit more picturesque. The monkeys had themselves quite a sweet little setup there- a lake, a shack, climbing ropes, a hammock.. Must be sweet to be a monkey.
Anyway, upon entry to the zoo, they are all you can hear- mooing and howling to bring down the house. They were great to watch, more fun to imitate, and to me, it didn't get better than those dang monkeys. A shame to peak right as you come in to the park.
After seeing lots of birds (brightly colored, yes, but none too active) and watching a little penguin marching, we ended up in the children's zoo. This, as my wife observed, is the zoo's chance to make a vicious cycle all their own. Kids get bored looking at animals so they want to go to a playground; the kids' zoo is a playground in a zoo that makes the kids not want to go back to the zoo. There were a few animals there, like a mini-pony and a few goats. The goats, in fact, escaped their pens and were attacking the feed machine and anyone who ventured near it. My father-in-law rather enjoyed this, as did the rest of my wife's family who were there, until little Michael got a hoof to the head. (He's fine).
The upshot of it all is that due to the evilness of the children's zoo, I didn't get to see any big ol' animals like a giraffe or lion or hippo or a bear. Disappointing. I could've spent time in the Lemur habitat, as some did, but the propspect of standing in a road where Lemurs are free to zip by your head with no warning didn't quite fit into my schedule for the day, alas.
One thing I will say for the ol' zoo: good animal visibility. In the Bronx zoo, you are at least 200 feet from an animal in the big displays and sometimes it's impossible to see what you're supposed to be looking at.
By the way, from the zoo, we took that winding mountain road trip to Beit Shemesh that I mentioned. From there, I drove myself and Zak-o to my friend Kart in Ramat Beit Shemesh for a quick hey-ho, then back to Beit Shemesh and eventually, back to Jerusalem via that same windy road in the pitch blackness that only night can provide.
One of the friendlier denizens
So what vacation with kids would be complete without a visit to a zoo?
The zoo in Israel is your typical zoo, maybe a bit more picturesque. The monkeys had themselves quite a sweet little setup there- a lake, a shack, climbing ropes, a hammock.. Must be sweet to be a monkey.
Anyway, upon entry to the zoo, they are all you can hear- mooing and howling to bring down the house. They were great to watch, more fun to imitate, and to me, it didn't get better than those dang monkeys. A shame to peak right as you come in to the park.
After seeing lots of birds (brightly colored, yes, but none too active) and watching a little penguin marching, we ended up in the children's zoo. This, as my wife observed, is the zoo's chance to make a vicious cycle all their own. Kids get bored looking at animals so they want to go to a playground; the kids' zoo is a playground in a zoo that makes the kids not want to go back to the zoo. There were a few animals there, like a mini-pony and a few goats. The goats, in fact, escaped their pens and were attacking the feed machine and anyone who ventured near it. My father-in-law rather enjoyed this, as did the rest of my wife's family who were there, until little Michael got a hoof to the head. (He's fine).
The upshot of it all is that due to the evilness of the children's zoo, I didn't get to see any big ol' animals like a giraffe or lion or hippo or a bear. Disappointing. I could've spent time in the Lemur habitat, as some did, but the propspect of standing in a road where Lemurs are free to zip by your head with no warning didn't quite fit into my schedule for the day, alas.
One thing I will say for the ol' zoo: good animal visibility. In the Bronx zoo, you are at least 200 feet from an animal in the big displays and sometimes it's impossible to see what you're supposed to be looking at.
By the way, from the zoo, we took that winding mountain road trip to Beit Shemesh that I mentioned. From there, I drove myself and Zak-o to my friend Kart in Ramat Beit Shemesh for a quick hey-ho, then back to Beit Shemesh and eventually, back to Jerusalem via that same windy road in the pitch blackness that only night can provide.
