In August I had the occasion to visit the biggest and the most beautiful zoo in my country, that is in Targu Mures. I knew one day I'm going to remember that trip with pleasure and that day is today. It was a super hot day, full of joy and happiness. Now it's the end of November, the temperature is -1C right now, it's dark and due to the pandemic, very soon we're going to be under lockdown. Gone are the warm summer days when we could travel a little and enjoy the beauty of the country.
The variety of animals is impressive here, compared to the other zoos in the country, the surrounding is beautiful, there's a huge playground outside the zoo, where kids can enjoy themselves for a whole day, not to mention the street food variety you can get there. It's a place for the whole day, for everyone, starting from the youngest to the oldest of the family.
There was this lake for the swans, goose and pelicans ...
... but they were not interested in enjoying the water, they were spending time in the shade instead.
These were new to me as I've never seen (or heard of) a Patagonian Mara.
These are some cute, but strange species.
White storks, what a strange thing to see them in captivity/free. These are migrants birds, at the end of August every year they take off and don't come back till March next year.
This is a poor coati, that could not stand the 32C heat anymore and was resting on his back, with its legs up in the air. Poor thing has to suffer because doesn't have summer clothes and the fur is too hot.
The zoo is on a hill, it's surrounded by a bunch of trees, you could say it's in the forest, so the temperature is not as high as in the city, but it was still hot. This bilingual sign says don't feed the animals, which visitors tend to ignore, giving the animals all kinds of processed food. That day however, none of the animals was interested in having anything.
The other one was walking up and down in the shade, enjoying the somewhat cooler pavement.
Baboons were also enjoying a good siesta, some on the log that serves as playing ground, while others in the ground, having a nap.
Horses are used to extreme temperatures, so these had no problem at all.
This little pony was let out by the caretakers intentionally to entertain kids and adults as well. These are tame animals, don't harm anyone and little kids love to play with them. It's a good strategy as where else can kids play with ponies.
The girl on the photo tried to get the pony in the paddock, but the little guy had absolutely no intention of going back. Freedom was more important for him.
At some point a caretaker passed by with a wheelbarrow full of fresh veggies and threw this little guy a delicious cabbage.
These guinea pigs were having lunch, enjoying the vegetables served for them that day.
The beauty of the place is that the whole area is well taken care of, these are flowers like these roses.
The emu couldn't care less about the heat, she was curious to see what visitors have to offer. Unfortunately no one was interested to offer her anything. Bad luck I guess.
Outside the zoo there was this water shower, that was like an oasis in the desert. That water refreshed the air like nothing else.
The huge playground that used to be full other times was empty, except for that boy who ignored the red tape and went in anyway. Due to health reasons, the playground was closed.
Please scroll down to read my other posts about the zoo.
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