it's a zoo out there::part one

We went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago and I've been dying to share some pictures. What zoo? you ask. The North Carolina Zoo. It's so great! If you live within 3 or 4 hours it is well worth the trip. We got up super early, made it there by 9am when they opened, and had a great day. There are two parts to the zoo, an Africa side and a North America side. We started our day in Africa hoping to catch some early morning action. The lions, much to my dismay, were already snoozing and didn't seem to have any intention of getting up while we were there. So, on to the apes we went. The chimps and gorillas are always entertaining and fascinating. The giant silver back gorilla named Nkosi was amazing with his piercing stare and playful antics. The chimps, well, they're always so funny. There's always a couple of jokesters in there. They are such a hoot! A couple of them had handfuls of monkey chow that they were being stingy with even while they played. Several of the others found green beans to munch on while they seemed to study us through the glass while we studied them. It was a fun way to start the day!

Next, we went through a building that used to be an indoor monkey habitat but now housed flowers and banana trees and coffee plants. Right after that was the baboons. There were two new babies that chased and played. There were also some very menacing older baboons that weren't too keen on the lady with the camera, hence the intimidating stares I captured.

Elephants were next. Oh, we've never been so close to them. They were quite majestic up close like that. Okay, dirty and stinky, but still quite majestic. There were some rhinos in there too but they were being antisocial.

Then on to the lovely and beautiful giraffes and zebras. So there were a few ostriches thrown in there for fun. The giraffes chased them around for a while as the zebras seemed unimpressed. After all of the running the ostriches stared at us for a while, no doubt trying to make me insecure about my short and inadequate eyelashes.

So that is Africa for you. The zoo is a natural habitat one so there is plenty of walking in between each exhibit. There are plenty of beautiful trees and flowers to enjoy while strolling along.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures! Happy Tuesday xo ANG