USA Trip 2013: Part 9.2 - Exploring San Diego Zoo

[Please refer to previous postings]

San Diego Zoo is more like a park than a typical zoo. There are a lot of open spaces and things to do and see that does not necessary involve animals.

As I mentioned in my earlier posting, the site is spread over many small hills. There are complimentary buses that ply the designated routes for you to hitch a ride on.

Gazelles.

I believe this is the African section.

The next place in our have-to-visit itinerary (the first is the panda, see: http://meoramri.blogspot.com/2013/05/usa-trip-2013-part-91-trip-to-san-diego.html) is the polar bear sanctuary.

For the upkeep of a couple of polar bears, the zoo set aside a few acres of land that consist of a small park dedicated to the animal.

The giants taken from the glass panel of its water tank.

Life-size replica of the polar bear.

Another exhibition is the pre-historic  animals living is Southern California thousands of years ago.

Proxy for the American Lion - an African.

There were also elephants in California then.

A giant sloth.

Elephant santuary.

A leopard and a baby...

We then went to the old part of the zoo. Here is a Komodo dragon.

Loads of stuff for kids to interact with throughout the zoo.

A naughty bird!

To be continued.

USA Trip 2013: Part 9.1 - Trip to the San Diego Zoo

[Please refer to previous postings]

Day 9. Today we are off to San Diego to visit the San Diego Zoo. As usual, we waited in front of the hotel for the bus.

Self portrait while on the bus.

After a bus trip of slightly over an hour, we arrived at the zoo. Interestingly, the zoo is located beside a residential area. The bus driver briefed us that the zoo authority has obtained permission to expand the zoo by a factor of 2 but the neighborhood is suing against the expansion.

Sun shiny day for a zoo outing.

The main entrance to San Diego Zoo. Mascot is a pair of pandas.

Even before you enter the zoo, there are some interesting things to see like the pair of metal cut - life size - giraffes as well as the bush shaped elephants.

Below is the ticket prices to enter the zoo.

While waiting for our bus driver to get the tickets, we took some photos of the kids resting.
 

The zoo is large. Unfortunately, it is situated in a very hilly terrain which will require you to climb up and down hills to get to your destination. To have a good feel of the area, we took the zoo wide bus tour first.

The tour is conducted on a strip-out double-decker bus.

We first passed the main complex.

Tropical rainforest settings.

Some animal enclosures.

The polar bear santuary.

A huge polar bear sniffing the air (at us perhaps?).

The elephant center.

After the 15 minute tour ended we decided to see animals that we are interested in.

We now had to walk.

Going up hill.

Honey bears.

Kodiak bears.

Finally arrived at our intended destination, The Panda Center.

Red pandas.

The Takin.

First real life panda.

Eating time. Found a kosher hot dog vendor.

To be continued.