There is only one close to proper zoo in Finland - Korkeasaari Zoo. It is situated on a island that takes about 20 minutes by boat to get to, with the boat leaving from the harbor market in the center of Helsinki.
While not quite a world class zoo in terms of animas on display, it is kind of cool because it is spread across the island and the enclosures are big, with not too many animals in them. They have space to play, and get out of sight if they choose.
Unfortunately, we didn't see the escaped boa, so I didn't get to practice my snake wrangling.
And, there is a lot of natural trees around as well as space between most exhibits. I can recommend it for a day trip from Helsinki, though be prepared to pay for food if eating there, as it is "captured audience" prices. But, you can easily pack your own food and take it there.
They have some lions (asleep), tigers (3 young ones too), snakes, some smaller monkeys, small kangaroos, emus, owls, an otter, various deers, frogs and birds, as well as some baby meerkats, marmots, camels and a few other randoms, including bears.
It is possible to eat lunch next to the bear enclosure and watch them wander, play and eat. It is quite nice and at one point, my wife forgot where we were and them got surprised there was a bear a couple meters from her - on the other side of the glass of course.
There were a couple things that annoyed me there though;
Even on the quiet areas.
They let their children act more like animals than the actual animals.
Not all, but there were more than a few.
A couple things to remember:
the Finnish weather is variable, so it is worth packing accordingly, as on an island, it gets windy.
Check the feeding schedules for the day you will be there.
Remember on hit days, the animas will hide away in the shade.
Get to the boat early enough, as if very busy, it only goes every one hour. The boat is cheap and very easy to take ad the trip is smooth.
Other lessons learned today.
I booked the wrong train, to the right place. Rather than the normal mostly express, fast train, I booked a cheaper, slow train that stops a lot.
Ad is filled with alcoholics and the odd drug addict.
That was my wife's face for the majority of the trip.
And her hands demonstrating what she will do to my neck.
The rest are from the zoo.
They are taken on an Olympus EM-1, with a 12-40, or a 40-150 lens. They have been cropped in Lightroom, but most have minimal editing.
We were lucky to see the tigers feeding on a deer hit by a police car. These young ones are only 11 months old and won't be full size for another year. It was throwing the deer around like a toy. A delicious toy.
And the bears are always a treat because,
Everyone loves the bear.
You'd assume that this next sign goes without signage necessary, but its existence suggests otherwise.
I am still on my phone so ordering is difficult, but I have tried and added some formatting at least.
And the photos themselves are not too shabby at all!
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
