Berlin Zoo with Shane, Whitney and Pat

After the morning walking tour a group of us decided that we would pay the famous Berlin Zoo a visit.  We managed to find the nearest metro station by Check Point Charlie and bought tickets which was a bit of a struggle. After we all successfully had tickets in hand we boarded the metro and headed to the zoo. Not paying much attention when we exited the metro we missed the large giraffe telling us to head left. We headed right, wandering around a bit before turning around and managing to find the zoo.  I had gotten a small 10% card from the hostel so I was pretty excited. Finding the zoo entrance, we joined in the line of people queuing to get inside. The line moved quite quickly and we paid the €13 to get inside.

 Out first view was of the beautiful rhinos which were happily moving about their exhibit. Rhinos always look a little weird to me. Like big grey chunks were squashed together to create it.  I was very excited to see Tapir's at this zoo as I had learned they had them. I have been doing my research when visiting large cities that have zoos to see if they have any Tapirs.

We found this beautiful Baird's Tapir, having a little siesta.  He wasn't alone in his enclosure. He had a little fox friend who was also having a siesta. Nap time for these buddies. I had never seen a Baird's Tapir before so I was quite happy.

Though I wanted to spend more time with the fox and the tapir we moved along, checking out this chunky hippo. After the hippo we came across a South American Tapir, sometimes called the Brazilian or Lowland Tapir. You can tell them apart from the Baird's Tapir but the bump on the top of their pretty heads.

We moved along from the tapirs and I waved them goodbye. Finding more rhinos that looked like they had been ironed out compared to the first one we had come across. Evolution and the difference in animals of the same species is really cool.

I went to the zoo with my fellow Top Deck companions Shane, Pat and Whitney. They were a lot of fun to hang out with. Whitney was from New Zealand and Shane and Pat from Australia. Pat was brave and petted the emu a few times. I would not have done it. I was daring once and petted a burro at the Vancouver Zoo but I dislike emus. I don't think anyones favourite animal is the emu. If you are reading this and your favourite animal is the emu, please comment and tell me why?

We saw this really cool woof before all stopping to get ice cream. I got a Bum Bum cause of reasons! My Bum Bum was delicious. Highly recommend finding a Bum Bum if you're in Germany. Eat all the Bum Bum.

Berlin Zoo was famous for one of it's Polar Bears, Knut. Knut was born at the Berlin Zoo but was rejected by his mother at birth, and  raised by zookeepers. He was the first polar bear cub to survive past infancy at the Berlin Zoo in more than 30 years. I picked up a few postcards at the giftshop of the cutey but now am reading that he died in 2011 at the age of four which is very sad.

The Berlin Zoo is actually in a large park that has a river running across it. To access parts of the zoo you must go across this river and into the other side where there are Savannah animals.

I enjoyed a quick bite to eat of a sausage/hot dog thing. Was very tasty. Meat sticks are good generally. We had our nibbles before heading into the big cat house where they had lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars. I felt that the bars across the exhibits made it very hard to take photos so that was a bit sad. Otherwise it was pretty cool to see all of the big cats.

This cat I believe is related to Grumpy Cat. No smiles to be found.

Besides the Tapirs and all the pretty kitties, my favourite exhibit was the Sloths. I stood and watched these cuties slowly move from branch to branch. I want to hold one and give it a cuddle. Look at that face! Look at that nose!

Next we moved onto the monkeys, apes, gorillas section of the zoo which most people define as the Primate section. I must say I prefer gorillas to chimpanzees and baboons.. I'm not a big fan of baboons and chimpanzees because I find them a bit too creepy.

We reached the elephant and giraffes which both had really large enclosures. I think their Zoo Tycoon rating would be pretty high.

We all decided we were all pretty much Zoo'd out but Pat still wanted to see the aquarium so we parted ways and headed back to the Metro to find our way home which I must say was quite complex and when I saw Pat later we were all proud that he was able to do it on his own.