San Diego Zoo!

Ok! So I would like to firstly say, Robert you were a total wimp this day! Haha! For those of you that don't know Robert says he doesn't like (more like hates) snakes, to be honest the word terrified describes it better! Haha, so you can imagine how our day at the zoo went! Now on the other hand I am a person who loves all animals and I was determined to see them all! We didn't get to the zoo until half 10, so I was annoyed that I wouldn't get the full day to get around them all! 

As you can see  from the photo above, the weather was much nicer than it had been on our first day in San Diego! So when we headed in through the gates, we went over to look at the board that told us if there was anything happening in the zoo that day. Well between 9 and 12 you could go and view the baby panda! As soon as I saw that I was off following the map to the quickest way to Panda Canyon!

Now one thing that the map doesn't tell you is that the zoo is extremely hilly! Not that it put us off in anyway Robert and I love walking, but I guess that's why the zoo has a bus that goes round the main roads in the zoo!! So we decided we would walk along Center Street along the Asian Passage exhibits, which had mostly bears and monkeys.

We then got to Panda Canyon and were met with a big queue waiting to see the pandas! So we waited and then when we got into the exhibit  saw the cutest little panda ever playing around the exhibit with his mum!

I can not tell you how much my heart melted when I saw the two of them!! It was amazing! Also it was hilarious too, because every time he tried climbing the tree he would get up there and his mum would basically chuck him off the tree!! The first time she did it everybody gasped in shock and the zoo keeper that was there had to tell everyone not to make loud noises and that she was doing it to make him tougher. She also told us that in the wild he could fall 50ft and he would of been fine! Just a ball of fluff! Mum then took him in for a bath and he kept trying to climb back out!! So cute, honestly!!

I had to get a photo with them (sort of!)!!

We then had some lunch at the Canyon Cafe and then went round Panda Trek, where we saw the male panda Gao Gao, who is the dad of the baby we saw, amongst other animals!

We then went round to the Polar Bear enclosure, but sadly didn't see any, although I did take this amazing picture, which shows how tall a male Polar Bear can be with Robert standing next to it and he is just over 6ft!!

Here are some other animals we saw along the way!

We then had a laugh going into the 4D cinema and watching an Ice Age film for 20 minutes! It was quite amusing, but I think we were the oldest people in there without kids! Haha. The day was going well so far for Robert, not one snake in sight! We then went into Elephant Odyssey passing the koala bears on the way!

Seeing that huge male lion lying so close to us was amazing!! He was huge! Then right next door to him was two Jaguar cubs!! I'm not sure if they could see us properly, but they knew there was something behind the glass, as they were both turning their heads at the exact same time when they heard noises! They were gorgeous! Then the elephants were pretty impressive too! They had Asian and African elephants and one of them was getting a check up and we could see it all happening! It was really cool! Then sadly for Robert we encountered our first snake exhibit, which we knew was there because there was a snake marked on the map! Honestly, I just don't get it with Robert, the snake is behind a pane of glass and is completely blocked in, it cannot get out. Yet Robert still thinks it will get him, and specifically him!! I mean the snake spends his life in there and Robert practically runs past it and yet that snake is going to get him! Any way I went up and said hi to the snake who was quite an interesting looking rattlesnake I'm sure! Hehe, Robert could hardly take this photo, even though the snake was  over 100ft away! 

So we then wandered over to Africa Rocks and went on the big cat trail! Now when we were looking at some exhibits, the bus went past and stopped at the New Guinea Singing Dog, enclosure, where we had been watching one of them resting! As soon as the bus came the dog was away behind a bush and as the bus stopped I heard the guide say "The animals along here are very aware of noise and like to hide from loud noises". I was just like, well what on earth is the point of the bus going past here if the animals are just going to hide from you every time you drive past!! The best of it was that as soon as the bus drove past the dog was right back out in his sunny spot! Tip: if you want to actually see the animals in the zoo don't take the bus!!

Seeing the big cats was amazing!! As you all know I love cats! The black panther was also sleeping right at the edge of the enclosure! He was so close to us!! We then went round into the Urban Jungle exhibits, where the male giraffe was wanting to get up to some monkey business with the female! Robert found this hilarious (he is a child!!!) and could not stop laughing! There were people trying to feed the giraffes, but they were too distracted to eat!! Haha, it was quite funny, but Robert just couldn't keep his laughs in!!

We then headed into the Lost Forest! It had loads of amazing different types of animals all throughout it! So I was looking forward to this part! Sadly we never saw any tigers, but we saw the Orang-utans playing about and also the Bonobo Chimpanzees playing right at the viewing spot, which was amazing!!

We then went deeper into the Ituiri Forest and came across an awesome exhibit full of Swamp monkeys and otters, who play about with each other! I had been told about this exhibit and was told to look out for a special monkey called Jaribu. Kecia can you spot him?! Could he be the one who looked directly at me?! It was amazing as they were all rolling what I presumed to be shellfish in order to get them open! 

One of the funniest things happened near the tiger enclosure. At one of the viewing points, there was a glass enclosure beside it, which Robert thought was a snake, so I went up to see and it turned out to be birds. I said to Robert that the coast was clear and he wandered over to have a look. Out of the corner of my eye I realised there was another glass enclosure in the corner and then I noticed the huge albino python laying in it. So I casually stood in front of it so to not alarm Robert and said that we should keep walking. Robert then realised that I was trying to hide something and practically jumped out his skin and was annoyed that I had allowed him to go near the enclosure!! Hehe, it was funny, but I hadn't done it on purpose! We then got (safely, Robert's words) away from that area and walked past Tapir and spotted a sleeping Fishing Cat!

At this point it was half 4, so I only had half an hour to get round the reptile area, because of course Robert would not be going there!! So I was made to walk round the reptile house by myself and then into Discovery Outpost by myself too! I saw Turtles, loads of different kinds of snakes, a Komodo Dragon, Frogs and a Crocodile! I think by that point most of the animals in that area had been taken inside for the night so I missed a part of that area. It was an awesome day, seeing so many amazing animals! 

We then left the zoo and went back to the hotel! We chilled for a bit and then went out for dinner at half 7! We went to a chilled out place called the Burger Lounge and I had yummy chicken. We then walked down to Pinkberry for dessert! Our next day would be spent driving to Las Vegas, so an early night was needed! Hope you enjoyed seeing all the animal photos! 

Love, Jen x

For Kecia x