One of my aims on this voyage was to visit the world renowned San Diego Zoo. I knew that the ship would not offer a tour to the zoo and with only half a day available before I disembarked for my journey home I decided that I would have to get there under my own steam for a change. It proved very easy and took only a ten-minute ride in a cab up to the Balboa Park and the zoo entrance.
The zoo houses over 3,700 animals of more than 650 species and will celebrate its centenary next year. The zoo has an international reputation for breeding endangered species although much of this work is undertaken at the associated Wild Life Park sadly a $100. 30 minute cab ride north of the city so that will have to go on my ‘secondary bucket list’!
The zoo has over 100 acres of grounds and is set amongst some of the 200 canyons that characterise San Diego, which of course is located close to the San Andreas Fault Line. It made for a healthy afternoon’s exercise walking up and down the steep canyons and pathways that house the different exhibits. I was pleased that I took the double-decker, open top bus tour first since this gave me a good overview of the exhibits and their location. So after an American sized fish & chip lunch I began my exploration of the zoo along with hundreds of toddlers and children and doting grandparents. I gather it was the middle of a school break. Not that the park seemed crowded since it is so extensive that I never encountered any problems in viewing the exhibits or in getting some photos as you will see.
Perhaps the only disturbing feature of the visit was the number of youngsters skipping and running excitedly between the exhibits followed by obese- and I mean obese - parents riding mobility scooters!
The zoo has a reputation for pioneering the development of cage less displays and on reflection I suppose the majority were cage less but I felt that Singapore Zoo had the edge since with the exception of the aviaries and butterfly exhibits all their exhibits were cage less and made the very best use of the tropical habitat. Don’t misunderstand me though the San Diego Zoo is still spectacular but the habitats appeared more artificial and intrusive than Singapore.
It must have been good because I arrived at 1.00pm and left at 5.00pm!
The photos are of the Flamingo Pool. Good but not as good as seeing them in the wild in the Etosha National Park Namibia last year but then nothing is ever likely to beat that!
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