Off To The Zoo We Go

The view as we walked from
the parking lot to the entrance.

The Fukuyama Zoo

A few weeks ago, a friend of ours invited us to visit the Fukuyama Zoo with her and her little boy. We've never been to the zoo here before, and since Rini is not just a little lump anymore, we eagerly accepted the invitation. We decided to go last Saturday, May 18th, which turned out to be a beautiful day. Unfortunately, the morning was a little slow and cranky on Rini's part, taking her usual nap at 1:30P.M., making us leave a little later that we would have hoped for. On the good side, Rini was rested and happy after her nap, so it promised to be a nice time for all.

The next time someone asks me how big Rini is,
I can tell them she's as big as a King Penguin.

We got to the zoo a little before 3PM. Tickets were really reasonable, around 500 yen for an adult if I remember correctly, but was definitely less than a 1000 yen. The zoo opens at 9A.M., and I was surprised to see that it already closes at 4:30P.M., even on the weekends. (They're also closed on Tuesdays.) Though one doesn't really need more than 2 hours to see everything, it's worth to get there early, because by 3-3:30P.M. all the animals anxiously pace around their gates to be allowed inside and away from the people.
Well, off we went to explore. The first animals we came across were the penguins. I've never heard a penguin cry before and it's quite interesting. Rini was fascinated by them, and would we have had more time, I would have gladly stood around for more than the 5-10 minutes we did, so she can fully enjoy herself. Also, if you come at the right time, you can stand in line and feed them some fish. That's something I'd like to do next summer for sure.

Soon we kept on walking, and came upon a zebra, couple giraffes, and an elephant on the opposite side. The animals being on the other side than where we were standing, and because of my anxiousness of seeing the big kitties, we decided to take pictures and linger on our way out.

Next came the cat house. There were cheetahs, panthers, lions, and tigers, and some smaller cats, too. They were all very impressive and majestic, and I had the uncontrollable urge to pet each of them. I guess, we can say it was quite lucky that there was a glass wall between us then.

Let's pet the kitty, mommy, please?

OK, maybe not...

After seeing all the big cats, we went on to seeing some reptiles. Since their glass windows were quite high up, it was a bit hard to manage with a stroller, so we didn't stay too long. Then came the monkeys, which there were quite a few, including one of my all time favorite ones:

Finally, we saw some bunnies, and birds, and farm animals, too. On our way out, I took some pictures of Rini riding an elephant.

OK, so it wasn't a real one, but still...

For a second I would have loved to sit her on the trunk.

As you can see, the Fukuyama Zoo is quite small, housing only maybe two of each of the bigger animals. They have penguins, giraffes, zebras, elephants, an ostrich, a nice variety of big cats, a whole bunch of monkeys, flamingos, birds, a few reptiles, and some farm animals. There were no bears, but we didn't really miss them. 

Overall, it was a very nice and fun day, and I hope we can come visit again soon!

Bye bye Fukuyama Zoo! See you again soon!