Zoo Trip #38: Bristol Zoo

I hadn't been to Bristol Zoo since my membership expired in 2012. There were two young lion cubs born to Shiva and Kamil there at the time that I always made a point of seeing, so I was fascinated by the two young lions that now inhabited the lion enclosure, but it turned out that Shiva had subsequently had another litter, on 9 November 2012. Shiva subsequently moved on to another zoo and Kamil sadly passed on, and so the two young males that I hadn't seen before, Kamran and Ketan, now have the place to themselves.

They seem to be born performers, having play fights and coming right up the glass to wherever the onlookers were to show off, delighting the crowds. It was a privilege to be up so close to these magnificent beasts, separated by just a few millimeters of glass, suitably toughened, one hopes.

Other highlights were the fur seals, also sparring and grooming each other, and the mountain gorillas. The baby gorilla I had seen two years ago was clearly growing up well. I spotted a young penguin too, and had a close encounter with a python, though health and safety supposedly stopped me from handling it, as I would have liked.

Before heading for home, I stopped at the Floating Harbour near Baltic Wharf for an enjoyable stroll along the waterside in the evening light, in the hope of missing the traffic getting out of Bristol, but this sadly wasn't to be.

12.10.2014 (1906 hr)

Blip #1396
Consecutive Blip #000
Day #1650
LOTD #631

Alternatives:
Young Lion
Avocet
Leaves And Hotwells

Bristol Zoo, 30 September 2014 (Flickr album)
Bristol Floating Harbour, 30 September 2014 (Flickr album)

Lenses: Pentax 18-55 mm (Blip), Pentax 55-300 mm

Zoo Trip series

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Kate Bush - Wow (1978)
From the album Lionheart

One year ago: Royal Galas