Giza Zoo

Yes, I am behind on posting photos and just blogging in general. We have been very busy and I simply haven't had time to stop and write... I take that back. I've sometimes had time to stop, but usually, by the time I get to that point in the day/night/early morning, I have no brain power left with which to write - and hope to make any sense at all! Make sense?!

Honor's class took a field trip to the Cairo zoo recently, and I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised. What I had heard, had truly prepared me for a bad experience, and I was secretly hoping that Honor would ask if we could just not go. I was expecting the worst, in regards to the animals. But we went, and actually enjoyed ourselves. It was an old place with the animals in very small enclosures, but clean enough, and the animals seemed comfortable and easy-going with their keepers. They were very interested in people and came up to the bars, probably hoping to be fed. We had kids looking at animals, and animals looking at kids. It was a very nice day out.

This was part of the kindergarten Egyptian culture class. They learned a bit about the history of the zoo, and the names of some of the animals in Egyptian. The zoo has been in this location for a very long time, and the gardens are very nicely established. Click HERE for an interesting history, as well as this interesting article HERE, which tells more about the zoo, its physical history, including the tidbit of an iron suspension bridge built by the French engineer Eiffel, yes, that Eiffel. The gardens were beautiful too.

There were a lot of feral cats. I like cats, even feral - better than rats! - but didn't like to have them near the kids. Fortunately, except at snack time, that wasn't a problem. And I thought it was fun to see them throughout the zoo... it was as if each zoo animal had pets. Ostriches with cats. Rhino, with cats. Pelicans, with cats. I realize it probably isn't a good thing to have all these cats freely roaming the zoo... because of disease, fleas, etc.... but just try to tell the cats to keep out. Yea.. right!

Here are some photos - I took most of them, but Honor snapped a few. She's getting to be a good photographer.