Our anniversary!

Well, what a lovely day - and I don't just mean the weather, which has been glorious (at least until the walk back from the tube just now, when it has started raining).

We started off a bit later than I had hoped, but arrived at Camden Lock Market around 1.30pm or so, and found some Caribbean food for lunch - goat curry, jerk chicken, peas and rice, plantain, spinach. Very filling and tasty. Then we wandered briefly around the market, and I bought a few chocolates, since apparently the 6th anniversary is "candy and iron" - I bought a couple of cola flavoured balls, which I suppose is candy, but I haven't managed to find anything iron so far! Maybe later ....

We then walked along the canal in order to cross under the road and tried to get on a canal boat. Unfortunately the canal boats at that side only do tour cruises, not trips to the zoo, so we had to go back to the market side where we found the waterbus. Soon we were on our way!

It was great to arrive in the zoo grounds by boat. We stepped out, and very soon we were in the Africa section, and what a feast of animals we saw there, after being welcomed by the meerkats.

First up was the red river hog. Very pig like, and very big. Quite cute, and red, and stripey. We then wandered on to see the African Hunting Dogs, which looked very much like hyenas. They were golden, black and white and very speckled. Next in line were the warthogs, which reminded me of the family of warthogs I saw in Liwonde in Malawi.




The animals then began to get bigger. Hiding behind a tree we could see some white and black stripy legs, but they didn't look like they belonged to a zebra - in fact, it was an okapi, a strange looking horse like creature. Next door were the zebras, which looked all smooth and well toned, and were mostly enjoying a rest in the sun. Then were the most mentioned animals (or so it seemed to us) - the giraffes. They were both sitting down enjoying the sunshine as well, their long necks making them look proud and elegant. Unfortunately we couldn't see the tapir, since she was having a snooze in the shade.


We then went to visit the Biome, which had a sloth, a couple of giant rat but quite cute like creatures called "agouti", marmosets, some birds and other interesting creatures in a rainforest environment. It was fun watching them, especially when the two agoutis started chasing each other round in circles right beneath us! The sloth is well named indeed - he never moved the whole time we were there.




The next stop was downstairs to the Nightzone. This is where all the animals that move around at night are. Some great animals there. But my favourites, by far, were the bats. At first they all looked spooky enough, hanging upside down like mini Draculas, sleeping. Then one opened up his leathery wings to stretch, and then to flap around. That was quite a spectacle, his plasticy black claws still gripping the branch that he was dangling from. But then he began to pull himself up, with what would be his hands and arms. He held onto the wire mesh along the ceiling of the habitat, and then clambered along the way that any climber would if having to grip the underside of a rock and move forward to safety. He climbed right along to another bat at the edge, and they proceeded to have a conversation, of sorts. Later he hauled himself back, flung out his arms and leathery black cape, then drew his arms - and cape - back tightly around his body. Just like a miniature vampire! No wonder people have been inspired to think of them as blood sucking strange little people for so long!

Eventually we went back out into the daylight, and decided to go and see the big cats. More tomorrow! Goodnight!