Friday, April 3, 2015

Visiting the San Diego Zoo... (flamingos, and pandas and koalas, oh my!)


Zoos tend to depress me. How can you find pleasure in looking at other animals caged and on display? I don't. I wasn't entirely on board with our paying the HUGE entrance fee to visit the San Diego Zoo, but we did. It was the last part of Balboa Park that we explored. And I have to admit I kind of enjoyed it, due in no small part to these creatures...

Flamingos! I finally got to see real live pink Flamingos. It was wonderful.

They were even more beautiful that I thought they would be.

Indeed.

There were lots of these too. Poor guys have to make due with a plastic agave.

Erythrina

They were everywhere in San Diego.

There were lots of opportunites for jungle photos. If I hadn't been so darn tired I would have snapped more.

Sago, over a pair of Johnston's Crocodiles

Another Johnston's Crocodile joined by a couple of turtles.

Wish I would have got the name of this striking fellow. Batagur borneoensis, thanks for the I.D. Alan!

Oh gosh look, whattaya know, we happened back by the flamingos!

You probably know their pink color comes from their diet?

They were truly, remarkably, beautiful.

Then there was this guy. He was a fat little rock star with a stage and his own human that told his story over and over and over again. He knew he was a draw, and soaked up all the attention. Cameras and flash feeding his ego.

Pretty darn cute though.

I think he was trying to asses a fee for this image, as I turned and ran.

After climbing out of the panda-lands we walked along beside this retaining wall for awhile before I realized just how cool it was.

Planting pockets in a stacked cement product. I like it.

Plumeria? We had talked about Hawaii for this trip (our 10th wedding anniversary) but went with San Diego instead. I'll take this little bit of the islands as a sign we'll make it there eventually.

The day was long and it was getting dark but there was one more animal I hoped to see, and I did, hello Mr. Koala! I fear we disturbed him near bedtime, or maybe he was just resting up before he attacked that bounty of eucalyptus behind him (all the koala had fake (metal) eucalyptus trees to climb and eat in, the "branches" replenished as need be).

As we made our way back to the entrance Andrew spied this little truck, what a great plant hauling (nursery visiting) vehicle for me, if only!

This post concludes my coverage of our visit to Balboa Park. I've got a couple of San Diego-area nursery visits yet to share and then a bunch of stuff from the Los Angeles part of our trip, in other words lots more to come from Southern California!

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

25 comments:

  1. Be thankful you're visiting zoos in 2015-ish -- they used to be a lot more depressing!

    Painted Batagur (Batagur borneoensis)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ya, I remember visiting a zoo with Andrew years ago where all the animals were pacing, that's never a good sign. (thanks for the id!)

      Delete
  2. We didn't make it to the San Diego Zoo. There simply wasn't enough time, especially considering how big it is. Next time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There was also so much we didn't see, next time indeed!

      Delete
  3. It's a very nice zoo, the Flamingos are what I remember most from our visit too. Then there was a gorilla watching game shows on TV that was pretty funny. The turtle pattern would look great on an agave.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh no! Not TV for the gorillas...now it's probably reality TV.

      Delete
  4. The flamingos look incredible, even nicer than those plastic ones! It would be a thrill to see them in person. I mean, birds aren't supposed to be that color, right? Plus you got to see a panda and koala all surrounded by these beautiful plants. If you ever want your Erythrina back, just say the world!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope. I'm sure it's much happier in your garden.

      Delete
  5. Those flamingoes are so beautifully vivid! And it seems more and more zoos are making an effort to get their planting really good too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed, I think they see the value of a double draw.

      Delete
  6. OMG, that panda!!! Gaaah, the cuteness!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know right? Kinda wanted to hug it, but especially the koala!

      Delete
  7. Is it expensive? I can't remember how much it was--have not been there in a long, long time. Only remember the flamingos were the prettiest things, and the Bonobo ate his own poop, which was bright green, to (I assume) gross out the humans. It certainly worked.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, or at least it seemed so to me, $50 each.

      My parents were at a zoo somewhere in the LA area and one of the primates (not sure which one), threw it's poop at my dad. Thankfully it missed, barely.

      Delete
  8. I've been to both the Zoo and their Safari Park in Escondido and on a botanical scale, the Park wins hands down. In addition to a huge native Baja planting, and a very large succulent garden maintained by the local cactus & succulent society, they have a bonsai display there. I put some href="http://inkandpenstemon.tumblr.com/post/106648025314">posts up featuring some of it on my blog.

    Those cement pocket planters that are shaped like scales are interesting. I've seen them all over SoCal in stuff that looks like it was installed in the 70s.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw a post recently on another blog covering the safari park and from what I saw I have to agree. Thanks for the link to you posts, I'll check it out.

      Delete
  9. You might prefer the Wild Animal Park in nearby Escondido, which offers a more natural setting (but requires a tram ride as the place is huge). As zoos go, San Diego's is the best I've seen. The last time I was there (many years ago) happened to coincide with the birth of a baby hippo, which was a surprisingly magical thing to see. The SD Zoo does an exceptionally good job with their landscaping too. As for the koalas, they always look like they've just been woken from a nap (if you're lucky enough to find one with its eyes open).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There was only one animal (a cat, can't remember which one) doing that pacing thing here. Most of them seemed pretty engaged with their surroundings, which is always good.

      Delete
  10. Hahaha, I also think you need that little truck for nursery visiting! it is great :). The flamingos are beautiful...and I suppose you can tell they are well fed as their colour is very intense!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm still dreaming of all the plants I could fit in that truck...

      Delete
  11. Zoos can be sad, but most are changing to at least make the human visitors feel better about the experience. I am not sure how the animals feel about these new zoos. Unfortunately many of them are now more like refuges where endangered species (and their DNA) are made safe from total extinction. When we visited Flamingo Gardens in Florida we were also transfixed by the flamingos. At the time I thought the place was a little run down, but felt better about it after learning all of the animals were rescues of some sort or the other.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In my early 20's I went through a SERIOUS pink flamingo stage. It was good to find the real thing was even better than I imagined.

      Delete
  12. Those were called "crib walls" when I was an LA there until 1991...good way to combine retaining wall and planting together, though probably more for a mild, more humid coastal environment than where I am.

    10 year anniversary trip...very cool! That's a good length of time, actually less than I guessed when I saw you two together, so spiky, future Hawaiian trip congrats!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Crib walls"...that's quite fitting. I like it.

      How many would you have guessed? We've known each other for 16, but for the first few of those he was married to someone else (scandalous?...no not really).

      Delete
  13. I hate zoos, for the reason you mentioned. I hate thinking of all the animals all over the world that have been removed from their habitat and flown or transported by ship to other countries to live out their lives in cages. It's so weird seeing a koala over there. The flamingos are absolutely gorgeous - their colouring is incredible.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Comment moderation is on (because you know: spam), I will approve and post your comment as soon as possible!