Monday, June 25, 2007
long time never update, so now i'm back with huge loads of photos taken from my trip to the zoo n the night safari!
i've not been to these 2 places for a really really long time (i think it was in sec sch when i last went with the Guides for CIP).. n ever since laogong went to the zoo with his frens during my exam period, i've been asking him to go to the zoo with me as well. finally, our chance came when he had 2 days off available for us to go to the 2 places!
happily reached the zoo last tue, bought the tics, stepped in, n our adventure starts!

first up is the
siamang, found along the treetops trail.. we found 2, hanging on the branches, this one even hung on the branch n let us take his pic.
next, we saw the goral, which were all hiding in the shade. only managed to take this gd one tt isnt blurred.
next up, the
otter! they're one noisy bunch, n abit smelly too. it was close to their feeding time when we were there, so they were flocking quite close to the edge of the enclosure, n staring at us, as though hoping we would be feed them.
saw this free-ranging money hanging from the tree top, n there were so many tourists surrounding underneath, taking photo of him. sadly, i dunno the name of this species, so no info on it.
after tt, went on to see the
tapir, but it was slping in the far end of the enclosure! didnt get a gd photo of it =(

the super smelly
babirusa are next! they got so many tusks sticking out of their face, i wonder whether its becoz they like to fight, so the tusks became their weapons..
the majestic white tiger!! this one should be the male, it was prowling around, as though he is thinking of how to jump across the river n land on our side. scary, coz white tigers can jump a distance of 10m!!
the
pygmy hippos were hiding in the water when we arrived. they didnt move though, so haiz, we moved on instead.
pumba's species, the
warthog! they were quite far away, but no less smelly =P

the
black-backed jackals were moving around constantly in their enclosure, but managed to take this photo tt isn't blurred =)
found this colourful bird along the way, but dunno the name.. pretty nice =)
the
hamadryas baboons from the great rift valley of ethiopia live in big grps, n there are as many as 70 living together in the zoo!

living next to the baboons are the
banded mongooses. they were hiding in one unseen corner at first, but when me n laogong stood in front of their place, they started appearing one by one, n gathered in front of us, as though waiting for food or something.
the nubian ibex live on the rocky area above the baboons, n can't be seen clearly. they were happily munching on leaves when we were there.
the
giant tortoise were next. laogong n i had an interesting debate abt this tortise, whether this side is the head or the tail. i guess the tortise took pity on us, n turned around slightly, letting us see both sides of him. i won =P

the
rock hyraxes were roaming around n making some kind of growling sounds when we reached the enclosure.
this is the cassowary, another colourful bird. below is the size of their eggs! scary horz, much bigger than the normal eggs we eat..

reached the australian outback, n saw the kangeroos! was rather surprised to see tt the fence surrounding them is not very high, as though the zoo keepers are not afraid tt the kangeroos will hop over n escape..
sadly, my cam chose tt moment to die on me! *sniff sniff*
we went to watch the animal show: elephants of asia. rather interesting to watch these huge animals lugging n pushing logs, n performing tricks. took the chance to try my cam again, hoping tt it can still be used to take a few more photos..

this was taken after the show ended, when visitors can pay $5 to get a basket of fruits to feed the elephants. cannot see them clearly lahz, but they're really HUGE!
saw this monkey again! this time, the female was with him, carrying a baby! the female monkey was running along the fence though, as though she's trying to avoid being touched. protective instincts of a mum i guess.
the
orang utans are the last one tt i was able to took photo of.. after taking this photo, my cam died again.. n couldn't be turned on again.. haiz..
n for the rest of the day, we enjoyed watching another 2 animal shows, n walked around the rest of the zoo.
on sun night, we went to the night safari. sadly, we found out later tt our cams were both not suited for night photo taking, n most of the photos we took were almost black. with no flash photography allowed, we could only try as much as possible le.
this is at the entrance of the night safari.. haha the rare moment of laogong acting crazy =P
this is also taken at the entrance of the night safari.. there were a lot of fire stands along the way. i guess the lamp posts were too bright, so fire is the next alternative..
saw this bird flying around n stopped to drink water from the small waterfall.. really nice!
took this photo of the
ankole cattle near the entrance of the night safari. was waiting to enter the creatures of the night show.

this is the stage set for the show. was waiting from 6+pm to enter the seating area. a lot of ppl rushing, like stampede =P
tried to take photos before it turned dark, but without flash, the photos aren't great at all.
this is the
owl trained for the show. pretty cool, to watch it glide in the sky.
the
leopard cat tt went on stage n started munching on grass.. haha.. pretty funny when the zoo keeper said, "u're not a herbivore!"

this is the giant snake (i think its a cobra) tt was so heavy, it needed 4 of the zoo keepers to carry it.. n they asked a man to come on stage to carry it.. look below.. scary right?

the show ended soon after, n we started walking. sadly, the photos we've taken were almost all black ='(

this is the
bearded pig.. can't be seen clearly from the photo..

this is the
bongo.. again, cannot be seen clearly.. haiz..

this is the
sugar glider.. rather small, like squirrels liddat.. i wish the photo was clearer.. they're really cute!!!

this is the
leopard.. the normal kind.. there's another kind called the
clouded leopard, but it was hidden in the trees.. it took a long moment for me before i spotted the clouded leopard.. n i even pointed it out to 2 angmohs who were also standing in front of the enclosure n trying to catch a view of it. hehe i got a sharper eyesight =P

this is the owl.. there were 2 different species there, one is actually hidden in the shadows beside the white one.. the one hidden is actually a
horned owl, but i forgot the species of owl shown in this photo..

n this is the
leopard cat.. they keep moving around along the branches.. i took a video of one of them pacing around (the video is clearer).

the last animal tt was still quite clear.. the
mousedeer! there're actually different kinds of them living in the same enclosure, but becoz they were all hidden in the dark, i cannot take a better pic..
n well, this ends the adventure we had to the zoo n the night safari..
the next time i go, i shall make a video instead... i think videos produce a better result than photos..

endnote: saw this interesting thing when we were at the bus interchage at cck, waiting for the bus. if i'm not wrong, this is a spider web. if it really is, it will be the smallest one i've ever seen so far. interesting huh? wonder wad kind of spider produces this kind of web..
9:44 AM