The Haifa Zoo

Just across the street from our hotel is a lovely park, called Mother's Park and I decided to take advantage of the occasional sunshine and check it out.

There is a carousel standing nearby

and, just down the hill from here, I spotted an entrance to the Haifa Zoo.

I didn't feel up to hiking, and the clouds couldn't seem to make up their mind as to whether or not they would shower, so this seemed an interesting opportunity…so why not?

I paid the admittance, was given a map, and headed through the gate.

Would you be too surprised if I told you that the numbers on the map didn't correspond with the animals that they were supposed to represent?  And that there were more numbers listed on the side, each representing a species, than there were animals exhibits in the zoo?

But I didn't realize that until I was lost in the maze somewhere in the middle of animals, but I wasn't on a time schedule so it didn't really matter.

In no time, I was greeted by this lovely guy

and the white pelicans seemed like they wanted to come over and greet me as well.

The flamingos didn't seem very interested in me.

and I'm not quite certain what this leopard is focused on.

But I did appear to be the focus of attention among many of the species.

Lemurs  hanging out on a roof,

A meercat giving me a look

And I was hoping that this White Tiger didn't think that I was lunch.

I was getting so much attention from so many animals that I began to wonder if they thought that I was supposed to feed them.

These Asian small-clawed otters were too cute

entertaining me with their antics.

 And,when they snuggled together, they made the cutest little noise which I never would have expected.

Although most of the species were familiar, there were a few of which I was not.

The Nubian Ibix

And a Patagovian Cavy, just to mention two.

The zoo is laid out beautifully, with waterfalls

and a lovely view of the Mediterranean Sea, which would have been spectacular under different skies.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the baboon area

and I did wonder just what these birds were looking up at

and this guy gave me the creeps, although he was significantly smaller than the alligators that we spotted in Florida.  This is a Nile Crocodile.

On my way out, this guy just showed up out of nowhere.

Sorry, but I could not find one board that identified a bird of that color.

Now…..does that surprise you? 

 I suppose that we'll just have to wonder, won't we?

What was my favorite part of the day?  As I was leaving, I said To-dah (pronounced toe-duh), which means "Thank You" in Hebrew, to the attendant at the gate. 

I didn't expect him to reply, and I was really startled when he said, in relatively good English, "You're Welcome!  And have a great day!!" 

I left laughing out loud.  He certainly had me fooled, that's for sure!