National Zoological Gardens

The National Zoological Gardens, also known as the Pretoria Zoo, is the national zoo of South Africa and today I had the pleasure of visiting. Sometimes when visiting a zoo it can be upsetting seeing animals in captivity. Obviously it is no replacement for seeing animals in the wild but the zoo focuses on conservation of wildlife and the education of the next generation to help these efforts.

Zebras infront of the city skyline. 

The majority of the time it is not evident that you are in a city zoo and the skyline in the above photo can only be seen from a few enclosures, however, that might be because it is absolutely huge. We spent over four and a half hours walking around and we still didn't get to see everything. I am pretty gutted about missing the Giraffes as I think they are beautiful animals. However, they appeared to be pretty elusive. There were signs pointing to an enclosure we could not find at all and they did not seem to exist on the map. Seeing these guys pretty much made up for it though...

He looks like he is loving life.  

Two very beautiful elephants even though the mud they were spraying on themselves nearly covered us too.

We arrived at the same time as feeding time for the cheetahs but I thought I'd leave those photos out for now. It was lovely to see them relaxing and then extremely active when they heard the keepers arrive. 

I don't think you can see his snarl unless you zoom in but it is impressive.

And obviously I couldn't go to a zoo 6000+ miles away from home without taking pictures of some of my favourite animals ever....

After another swelteringly hot day, it was still 36C when I checked the thermometer at 5pm, it was great to come back and jump in the pool. I also experienced the moon rise for what feels like the first time in years.

Incredible. 

And now I am off to feed my new addiction (no its not making everyone jealous although that does come a close second) and start the second series of Sherlock Holmes before bed. It is love.

Until next time.

A x