Sunday, August 2, 2009

A visit to the Riga Zoo

Sister Humphrey and I boarded the #11 tram-valj yesterday and took a 20 minute ride to the Riga Zoo. It is on a large lake and is very much in a wooded setting. It took us 3 hours to walk around the zoo to see all the animals, snakes, birds, etc. It's a very nice setting for a zoo with trees all over. It was on the cool side, which I am not complaining about. Summer here has been a very pleasant surprise, thus far, with temperatures in the 50s and 60s. Even with higher humidity, it's been comfortable.

I hadn't been to a zoo in quite a few years so can't really make a comparison but think it has as many animals and as varied species as Hogle Zoo. The signs were in Latvian, but the names of the animals were usually also in English and each sign had a map showing what part of the world is native for that animal. There was a huge Kodiak bear that must have been a circus bear. He sat, looking up at the crowd who threw him food (don't know what it was they were throwing) and he was very good at catching it in the air.

It's amazing the great variety of creatures our Father in Heaven has created for our enjoyment and use. One of the most fascinating to me was the stingray. It was very active and was fascinating to watch the grace with which he moved, as he cleaned the sand and the glass walls.

I have always enjoyed watching the monkeys and they had only two cages/two varieties and they were not very active. No chimpanzees or orangutans.

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