We celebrated our wedding anniversary with a fun trip to Europe. This time we explored Germany and the Netherlands before spending a few days on a canal boat in England.
Little did we know what a fun surprise the Zoo Berlin was!
We didn’t know our hotel was right next to the zoo. We were relaxing on the patio and noticed a very odd cow, at least we thought it was a cow. Or a horse. The air didn’t stink like a dairy or farm. We stared at it trying to figure out just what the animal was before we noticed the sign on the perimeter gate. Zoo Berlin tickets available at concierge desk.
Our next day was an all-day car tour of Berlin, which was fabulous by the way. Two full days in Berlin was not enough, we want to return for a full week.
Our hotel had bikes available so we spent the day riding around some of the points we saw the day before. We went to a very moving Holocaust Museum, rode by Checkpoint Charlie and more. We got back from our bike and headed straight for the concierge desk for zoo tickets.
Our entrance point was the complete opposite end of the zoo from the main gate. It was a cool afternoon and the animals were active, not like our zoo that closes at 11am in the summer because it’s so hot.
We learned some of the zoo history as well. It was the first zoo in all of Germany when it opened in 1844. We asked about the animals during WWII. We were told very few survived and most of the buildings were destroyed. I looked it up later on their website, only 91 of the 4,000 animals survived. Like much of Germany, it was rebuilt following the war.
The lion pen was amazing. The male was majestic and ferocious at the same time. He posed for us while the female relaxed on the grass.
The jaguar walked the outer area of his habitat. Seeing him in the green foliage revealed how his spots act as a camouflage in the jungle.
We learned the Persian Leopard is the largest of the species and lives in the forests in the Middle East. His paws were huge and he moved so quietly.
The Roter Panda was new for us. They were so fluffy perched in on a high tree stump.
Berlin Zoo has Pandas! We spent a long time watching them play and eat. This is where most of the people were. Most of the time we were by ourselves. On this day it paid to go later.
Another new animal was the Sichuan Takin from inner China. Kinda looks like a cross between a wildebeest and a yak.
It was recess at the giraffe habitat. There were several with what we think are the younger ones running around. It was fun to see. Our zoo has one zoo family of mom, dad and baby and they are rarely out.
The young Siberian Ibexes were fun to watch as they climbed all over their habitat. Higher and higher they climbed.
The elephant habitat was closer to the main entrance. I ducked into the giftshop until I saw the sign that said must exit zoo and quickly retreated. No souvenirs today.
We watched the elephants with their trainer. One by one they squatted down on all fours while the trainer brushed them off. Total time as about 10 minutes. It was fun to watch their interaction.
Our next stop were the Meerkats. They were in constant motion. Shame on us, we had to look up the meerkat’s name from Lion King. As much as our boys watched it, you’d think it was bored into our memory. It’s Timon in case you’re wracking your brain right about now.
Then we hit the primate section. They are always fun to watch at any zoo.
The Wanderu, or lion-tailed Macaque were busy eating in a tree making it hard to get a good picture.
Up next were the Gorillas playing while it started to rain.
The Baboons were active, like they are at every zoo we’ve been to.
The Orangutan were the most active, swinging around on the ropes. All that swinging made it impossible to get a good picture, they sure were fun to watch.
Hippo Bay was one of the zoo highlights. One was hanging out half in/half out of the water, truly relaxing. The other one was swimming around the plexiglass wall, making it easy to see him. It was wild seeing something so big be so graceful.
As we finished watching the hippos and left the bay, we heard a loud familiar noise. We looked at each other wondering if we were hearing it correctly. Yep, we were. The Berlin Zoo had California Seals! Aarr! Aarr! They were flipping around and vocalizing like crazy, just like they do on the California coast.
They also had American Bison. We are used to seeing them in larger groups at Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon North Rim.
I was happy to see the Zebras, their stripes are mesmerizing. We got a glimpse of nature at work, or zebra porn if you want to call it that. The female was having none of it and kicked him several times.
That animal we saw from the hotel patio that sparked our curiosity was a Bongo from central Africa.
We’ve had some fabulous finds on our trips and this is tops. We’ve now added foreign zoos to our list of things we must see.