Today we went to the zoo. We like visiting zoos and yet it’s something we haven’t done yet this year, probably feeling that we’re already doing “proper” wildlife watching and so zoos play second-fiddle. I was lured in by Giant Pandas, which I’ve never even seen at a zoo and certainly not in the wild. We recently read the blog of someone who went to look for wild pandas (planning our next year’s itinerary maybe) and it seems to involve crashing through dense undergrowth in freezing cold Chinese forests and then returning to a freezing cold lodge every night. The pandas were beautiful and peaceful, and strangely anthropomorphic in the way they were sitting on their bums with their legs out in front of them like a toddler to eat their bamboo supper and apparently smiling with contentment.
Adelaide Zoo was also a great opportunity to reflect on what we have and haven’t seen on our trip around the world. It’s very satisfying to wander past the enclosures saying “hello lion, saw you in the Kruger”, “hi koalas, saw you in Victoria”, “g’day meerkats, spotted you in the Karoo.” Just sticking to the mammals, we’d probably seen half those on show at Adelaide Zoo in their natural environment.
There was a Red Panda there too, to remind us of our unsuccessful hunt in the Himalayas. I’ve a strong suspicion that Red Pandas have pretty much disappeared from the main hiking circuits, and it’s another animal that probably needs an expedition to faraway China to see for sure.
In the Australia section there were Bilbies that we missed in the far west, and Potoroos that we didn’t see on Tasmania. There were Hairy-nosed Wombats as well, which we stopped to look for yesterday afternoon on our way south from Flinders but failed to see. We’re going to go out again tomorrow morning for another go – the place is a good ninety minutes drive from Adelaide, so we’ll have to get up early.
And just to prove that the wildlife watching never stops, as we crossed the bridge over the River Torrens which flows right through the middle of Adelaide but still looks like a country brook, we spotted movement in the water that didn’t look duck-like. It wasn’t, it was the Australian Water Rat, a critter much bigger than a normal rat who lives in the water and catches crayfish for his supper.
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