Walkabout at the East London Zoo

I decided to do something different for this walkabout: I visited the East London Zoo.

We have written many stories in the recent past about the state of the animals here and had many animal rights activists up in arms.

As I drove into the complex, I had a look around and saw that the community comes to the premises to park, perhaps to enjoy the trees.

I saw handful of police officers with two police cars having a congress about something. I suppose it was very interesting because they were still there when I left.

I had not been to the zoo since I was about knee-high and as a result could not picture it at all in my imagination.

The woman at the counter said it was strange to see a female come by herself to the zoo. She asked if I was not scared. Of course not, I said. I jokingly asked if I should be afraid of something and she said no.

I started at the information map of the zoo to get my bearings. And off I went, like a fish out of water.

The first thing I heard was the noise from the CBD and grass being cut. My only wish was to turn down the noise volume of the CBD.

There is a children’s play area with swings and jungle gyms for a wholesome outing. They were in working condition and the grass was cut. There were two buildings I saw for private functions.

Obviously there are animals I have never seen before except in books and documentaries; and I was fascinated throughout my whole visit. Please excuse me in advance for gushing here and there.

I had never seen an emu before so my breath was taken away immediately, not forgetting our national bird, the blue crane, waltzing about.  

Young wild boars lay in the shade while an adult ate.

It seemed I had forgotten I was in a zoo for a moment, and almost did not see the crab crossing my path, pincers in the air. I stopped and off it waddled sideways to a nearby stream of water.

I was extra-careful about looking where I walked from then, and I also looked very closely at the animal enclosures from there onwards.

It was on to the foxes after that. I was disturbed by a text message on my phone and almost missed seeing one of the most majestic animals, in my book — the lions.

I was mesmerised by the ginormous paws of three white lions as they sat peacefully in the shade.

A carriage of the children’s Smartie train was not on the track, but I did see a carriage and “steam” train head off on the other side.

A zoo official was doing his rounds with clipboard in hand and checking if the gates to the animal enclosures were locked.

I looked forward to seeing a bengal tiger, but nothing. Sigh.

A porcupine was preoccupied with food — I think I got there at animal lunch time. You will also find birds such as parakeets at the zoo.

I moved on to the primate section. I had hoped to see a hamadryas baboon, but unfortunately did not. My disappointment did not last too long as the monkeys took an interest in me.

They were soon distracted by some monkey business and had a full-on animated conversation among themselves.

The zoo has clean ablution facilities on either side of it. If you are thirsty, a visit to the kiosk will benefit.

I should have said that after one look at Zeb the chimpanzee, I almost fainted. There is a sign up: “Zeb throws objects. Please beware, his aim is accurate.”

It should be noted that there are educational information boards outside enclosures and signs warning people not to feed or tease the animals.

I almost missed the Nile crocodile as it lay camouflaged in the grass. I suppose it needed to keep warm as it lay like a statue.

I probably saved the best for last and it scared me half to death. After I had seen the burrowing squirrels, I heard a movement and screamed inside. My heart beat faster as a jaguar stared at me, pacing back and forth.

It walked up and down along the fence and I had an up-close look at its beautiful coat. What a show-off!

In all, the animal enclosures were relatively clean and the animals looked healthy.

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