Guangzhou Zoo

Today we enjoyed a cool and breezy morning at the Guangzhou Zoo. Most days here have been in the sixties, but today felt more like low 50s and breezy. We bundled up the babies and loaded them in the Ergo carriers and headed out to explore the zoo. The first animals we saw were the monkeys. There were many different varieties of monkeys, many of which I had never seen or heard of. We all enjoyed watching the monkeys for quite a while. There were some little ones that were very fast and were running laps, swinging and jumping around their cage. 

One of the many variety of monkeys we saw today

The majority of the exhibits were adequately kept and were similar to what you would see in the US. There were a few exhibits that were older and in need of an upgrade. There were a few new exhibits under construction so hopefully they were for the animals that were in the old, outdated exhibits. The bears were one of the animals in need of an upgrade. Their exhibit was open around the top and nothing was stoping a kid from easily climbing the low railing and falling in. It made me nervous to stand too close with the babies. The lions were also in need of a new home. They were in small, round concrete cages and were pacing back and forth. It was sad to see. The bars of their cages didn't look especially secure either. I think they could have made an escape if they tried hard enough.

We were shocked by how close we could get to some of the deadly animals and how not well confined many of them were. The eight or ten lions were pacing in their cages and looked like they wanted to eat us for lunch. They were skinny, hungry lions. We moved along quickly. 

There are a lot of signs everywhere in China that were clearly not translated correctly. There are often misspellings or words left out that change the complete meaning of the sign. We always get a kick out of these signs. Although spelled correctly, we enjoyed the following sign that marked a deck overlooking a garden. 

This one marked the way to the "Best Managed Scenic Spot." As much as we all laughed at the sign, this area made for a beautiful picture (see below)

It turns out they were not lying. It was the best managed scenic spot! We later saw a sign for an "Excellently managed scenic spot." It was nice but not nearly as nice as the "best managed" area. 

They had a beautiful, huge Asian elephant with long tusks. I have never seen an elephant with tusks before. It was quite a sight!

Unfortunately, we traveled all the way to China and looked forward to seeing the panda bears. Wouldn't you know that there were only two and they were inside their exhibit sleeping so we could barely see them.  The two animals that we did get to see that were displayed on our map were the wild ass and the lesser panda. Wouldn't you know the wild ass exhibit did not have a sign on it. We were hoping to photograph the dads standing in front of the wild ass sign. We all joked that since we didn't get to see the pandas we would have to settle for seeing the lesser pandas. That is really their name. They look like a mix between a raccoon and a little red fox. Not at all like a panda. Not sure where hte name came from. We headed to their exhibit and it was empty. Oh the disappointment we all felt! We were standing there sulking and out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of something. I looked 30 feet up in the trees and there were the lesser pandas!! There were about 4-5 of them up in the trees hiding out. 

We were all also amused to see the raccoon exhibit. We joked that we see those laying on the side of the road all the time. The raccoons by far had the nicest exhibit in the zoo. I couldn't figure it out. However, they did not seem well contained. They could have easily climbed/jumped out. Then we saw the raccoons. They were the fattest, slowest raccoon you have ever seen! Aaron decided they kept them fat to keep them in their cage. These poor things could hardly walk up a sloped log and climb into a tree. 

Thank goodness Aaron got a video to share with you all!

We were very disappointed that the animals doing tricks were not performing today. That would have been truly amazing to see!

One thing that I did notice about this zoo that I found strange and disturbing was the number of animals that would be in one average-sized exhibit. For example there were 16 zebras (our zoo has like 5-6). There were about 13 full-sized crocodiles in one small indoor area. Below you will see this small area about 3 by 5 feet with a ton of lizards. They lizards and snakes were piled on top of each other. It was disgusting to see so many all piled up.

Big pile of lizards

We were running low on time and had to head back to the front gate to meet our guide. We swung past one last exhibit. The baby bunnies. They had a beautiful exhibit with a stream and a pond and a beautiful pink flowering tree. Then we noticed two large cages inside the bunny exhibit. Inside each of these cages were three giant PYTHONS wrapped up and snuggled up under blanket. This was not the bunny exhibit. Those baby bunnies were dinner! I am glad the pythons were still sleeping in the warm house covered in blankets and it was not feeding time! We all laughed and wondered how you got stuck with the job of covering up the pythons and tucking them in. They were well covered with these blankets. A person had to have covered them. (Sidenote: the zoo keepers working in the animal cages feeding and scooping poop were wearing business suits. They were well-dressed zoo keepers).  

Baby bunny exhibit....Oh wait, that is not the baby bunny exhibit. That is lunch for the three giant pythons! I am glad we left before it was feeding time.

We had a great morning at the zoo and had a lot of laughs. Our group is wonderful and we all get along well and enjoy each other's company. We eat almost every meal together and are having a lot of fun. Today after lunch the dads and babies went back to the hotel for a nap and the moms went shopping. It was quite a sight to see us trying to navigate and make a purchase in a Chinese department store. You would think it would not be that hard but you have to pay for things differently here. You pick out a pair of shoes and rather than going to the main check out counter you have to find another cashier, pay for your item that you don't yet have and then go back and pick up your item. They were trying to explain this too us but no one spoke a word of English so we just wandered around giggling until we eventually figured it out. 

Off to bed now. Tomorrow we go to the US Consulate to finish our paperwork. Twenty-four hours later we will get Hadley's visa and we are free to leave China. America we will see you in a few short days! Add in to the next couple of days a dinner cruise on the river overlooking downtown, a morning shopping on the island, a 3 hour drive to Hong Kong and 30 hours of traveling with a toddler and you get a very busy schedule. We have enjoyed our time here but I can't wait to get home!