Monday was a random Edinburgh holiday so Heather and I were both off work and able to hang out with her old friends who were in town for two days only. And their choice of thing to do? The Edinburgh Zoo.
It may not have been the most obvious tourist attraction and the entry fee seems fairly steep at around 11 quid but all six of us were completely entertained from when we arrived at lunchtime (in lots of time for the 2.15pm Penguin Parade) through to closing time. We all got a free souvenir too as one of the visitors had picked up a leaflet with a free penguin offer earlier in the weekend so even Heather and I now have a little 3inch high penguin now.
I don't think we'd actually been to the zoo since we first dated and Heather and I both really enjoyed the day but also felt a bit weird about some of the animals. The big cats, the polar bear and the rhinos all look a bit cramped and not that excited to be in the zoo and, if we're honest, we'd happily go to look at the penguins (who have a nice and reasonably fair sized space with weather much like their home in the Falklands), the various birds (plentiful space), the grazing animals (various cool looking deer-ish variants, mostly from Africa) and the smaller creatures. But we know that a lot of people set a lot of stock by the huge animals on show. It's a shame as I really don't think lions or rhinos want to spend their days in the UK being screamed at by small children. But maybe 95% of the animals look ok with their set up and 100% of them look healthy and well cared for so we're pretty sure the keepers would be broadly with us on the ideal living conditions front.
Which reminds me...
The zoo is full of animals and, on any average visit, tons of small children which makes two elements of any visit super mystifying:
1) The zoo is not a non smoking zone. It had never occured to me that they would let anyone chug away on cigarettes past wildlife as it never occured to me that anyone would want to. It was only when the crowd was gathering for the Penguin Parade that I got to see just how many of the crowd were puffing away. And that included those with very small children. It was pretty disgusting and I was annoyed that all the tannoy announcements about safety and behaviour (for humans) didn't include an "and if you insist of giving yourself and your loved ones cancer and respiratory diseases please do not do this in the Penguin Parade area". I think I may write the zoo a letter. The sight of a huge overflowing ashtray near the koala enclosure (which is indoors and therefore a smoke free zone) was really too too depressing.
2) All the animals live on fruits, vegetables and lean meats (depending on the critter involved) but if you're a human coming to visit the food is genuinely shocking. Fried food, trash, candy, crisps and little else are for sale all over the site and we were unable to find anything else. There aren't even little snack bags of carrots or grapes or similar - and even McDonalds sell those! The contrast with the animals really could not have been starker and we were in a fair state of shock since there is a strand of zoo marketing that aims itself firmly at middle class folks who they invite to lavish functions in the mansion house. On a normal visit though visitors are greeted by sweaty school dinner lady types serving crap in brightly painted echoey chambers of greasy doom. Or you could get the healthy choice: an ice cream. Why they don't have better food and drink I don't know since it's the perfect place to sell healthy stuff already with a little "eat like a chimp" type angle. The new Bonobo house actually has a smoothie bar (though closed when we went through) so that must be progresss but how they can justify all the junk food booths and dodgy cafes I do not know. Clearly another item for my "what are you thinking?!" letter to them...
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