Wazza's European Adventure!

Paradise Wildlife Park - Part 3

Hello again! I'm continuing on!

Well, we just visited the tigers, and as you can tell, we got quite a lot of beaut photos'. Now, we were wondering if there were any fast cats there, and we got to the enclosure of one of the fastest in the world - the cheetah.

This girl was beautiful. She was shy, which is totally understandable if you were in a cage/enclosure, with no mates of any sort, and you had humans around you with cameras at every turn.

She came out for lunch though!

As you can see, she is really beautiful. I can't remember what her name was, but the zoologist had a pretty perfect name for her. 

It was such an obvious name - but I can't remember for the life of me!

Anyway. She came out to eat. The keepers put this large plump carcass on a stick, on top of a little landing strutting out of a bunch of grass and wood. 

The cheetah slowly, looking all ways, went up to her lunch, took it between her teeth and ran away with it.

We tried to get some other shots of her whilst she was eating, but couldn't manage any decent and clear shots. So... sorry!

After walking about 10 or so metres, we thought... "where are the lions?" So we went for a small walk around near the cheetah enclosure. And there they were. Just lounging around...

I mean, like, really REALLY lounging it..

Look at the size of the males paws! They were huge!

Just lying around doing nothing at all

 We figured that we weren't going to get any action out of the lions, so we decided to walk back to whence we came, and got a great surprise. 

We saw our cheetah feeding, and was able to get some great shots.

She was really going for it. She seemed very hungry, but throughout her feeding, she was keeping an eye out for threats. 

 Such a beautiful cat...

 I love the big cats, but what are smaller and slightly cuter?

OTTERS! These little guys were out of their enclosure and put into one where they were able to be seen a little bit better, and they were just adorable. They stood up, scuffled the floor, doing all these cute movements, And they all seemed to be very comfortable with the attention.

In the reptile enclosure, we saw these two getting up close and personal

and a few snakes here and there... especially this one below

 

 

They are somewhat more famous than others, but the meerkat was on hand, and in its own outdoor enclosure. It was such a well made one, with heaters for them (above) and plenty of places to check out things, like logs and bases of chopped trees (above right). They seemed very occupied.

And the final animal we saw, were the zebras. I love zebras. One, because they start with the last letter of the alphabet, and two, because they have amazing markings. 

All the other exhibits were under construction or deconstruction, so that was the end of our day at the zoo...

On the way back to Harlow, we stopped in at the Sun Inn. I experienced a couple of pints that I had not had before, which was good, and made it home in time to watch some well needed football!!

Thanks for coming back, and for having a read

I'll be back again to continue my adventures soon...

Until then

Cheers!

Waz

Wazza's European Adventures

Paradise Wildlife Park - part 2

Hi - and thanks for coming back!

Continuing on my merry adventures at Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne, UK.

Below are some of the little creatures that I was truly amazed with. Their tactility was amazing. Their hair styles were even better. These guys were everywhere in their shelters (you know the ones - the shelters are in a more darker, secluded area of the park, usually close to the reptile sanctuaries) and they didn't make much noise (unlike the monkeys and gibbons!) They are extremely cute and very tactile. 

 I absolutely loved this little guy (below). He and his mate were going from branch to branch, keeping a good eye on me, and Brian. We got some amazing photos, just like this one where he was looking directly into my phone, and then into Brian's camera.

These two guys below, took the cake. They weren't doing a thing at first - just moseying around, looking for things in the dirt. Then they saw us, and jumped up to the nearest tree closest to the window, and started preening each other for our enjoyment. I was quite amazing.

So after a good walking around, to see where we really wanted to go - we wanted to find the big cats! - we strolled past the gibbons... oh boy! What a racket! 

 This big guy was probably the boss of the structure, going from one tree to another, going inside and outside, yelling at the others.

As you can see, this guy (below) was in and out of their sleeping structure. He gave us the ol' up and down, checking us out as much as we checked him out! These guys were amazing. The strength, flexibility and dexterity was too cool!

These below... were the noise makers. You could hear them all the way from the other end of the zoo! They swung back and forth, and did some amazing somersaults and flips just for fun. And they knew they were being watched, so they kept up the noise...

If one stopped the noises, the next one would start!

"WOOO WOOO WOOOP WOOOP WOOOOO!"

Freaking cool! I almost couldn't get their sounds out of my head for the rest of the day.

We decided that we had enough of the primates, and we went looking for the big cats. They are probably my favourite animals, and I heard there were some Bengal Tigers, Lions and Panthers in here, so we went for a search. We didn't have to walk far, as immediately after the gibbons were these majestic creatures.

 These are Siberian Snow Leopards... And they are so amazing. They were really hard to find, because their shelter was made for them, and it really does represent and look like Siberia in the cage. The only parts that aren't are these "sleeping platforms" on which they just sit there and snore away. They have agility too, walking around on nearly nothing to get to these platforms.

Look at this guy! He looked huggable! But I dare not! lol

I just loved the way they were so casual. Let's face it - they were bored! But they came right up to my face on the second floor balcony, and then just dropped on the platform with a "thunk!!" and stayed there. I didn't manage to get any more photos of them, but they were beautiful creatures.

Next were the other big cats...

This leopard was just bored shitless! He was not moving, and sleeping in the glorious sunlight. We tried to wake him (I think everybody did!) but to no avail. He was having some serious zzzz's!

 Sleeping away...

 Now this is what I was waiting for. I was here to see these guys. The Tigers. I'm a Tiger in Chinese Astrology, and I like that I'm a Tiger! :)

This one (left) was on the ground, pacing around. He was just exercising apparently (this is what the zoo keeper was saying)

He went up on the walkways, and then plonked himself down, to watch US! I just loved the attitude these guys had. Chilled!

When I managed to get a good shot, it was from this angle - these two were bored. I mean, what else is there to do when you are a tiger in the zoo? Sit back, relax, get fed, sleep and watch all the humans go by!

This guy (above) was pacing madly, after this shot. There is a protected area where you can take photos without the wire, and he would come right up to you, stare you in the eyes and walk off... I got a few of them... 

This one was just so regal, so majestic. I'm going to put him on a t-shirt!

 This photo (below) - it was roughly 30 cms away from my camera phone. Almost looked directly into his eyes.

Okay - I've gotta do some work!

Part 3 coming soon!

Cheers!

Waz