Perth Zoo has many other attractions apart from the Australian Bushwalk that we covered in last week’s post! The zoo’s purpose as stated in its guide is “to inspire and act for wildlife conservation” . The conservation section on their web page gives more information.
“Perth Zoo is dedicated to saving wildlife and introduces the community to the wonder of animal species from around the world. We participate in a global community that breeds animals for wildlife conservation and we raise funds to support our work. Research at Perth Zoo directly supports efforts to conserve wildlife in their natural habitat and also supports our commitment to the good health of Perth Zoo’s animals.”
One aspect we’ve always liked about the zoo is the way they try to recreate the animals’ natural habitat as much as possible. Broadly speaking, apart from the Australian Bushwalk, there is an Australian Wetlands area, an African Savannah and an Asian Rainforest section. Since we were on the run anyway, chasing after our little granddaughter La Petite, I’ll give you a whistle stop tour of these enclosures and some of their residents!
Off we go through the “wetlands”!
We spent a long time in the Penguin enclosure as La Petite was fascinated by the water and wanted to have a splash (not a good idea) so moving right along we came across a fine looking water bird!
Australian Wetlands Perth Zoo
Next we ventured into crocodile country!
After our walk through the Australian Bushwalk, which you can read more about here and a quick snack from the quaintly named Meerkats Cafe, we headed off to one of my particular favourites, the African Savannah. Apart from the zebras, who must have been having a snooze somewhere, we saw most of the local residents.
One of La Petite’s favourite books contains a rhyme about a yellow giraffe, so we spent quite a bit of time at the giraffe enclosure!
We lingered watching the giraffes a while so missed the African Painted Dog and the Meerkat enclosure but we did spy the Galapagos Tortoise who is rather magnificent!
Educational programmes are an important part of Perth Zoo’s work and schools can book for lessons in the Discovery and Learning Rooms. This poster is at one of the entrances to the Asian Rainforest.
Entrance to the Asian Rainforest Perth Zoo
We paused briefly with the Orangutans who have a wonderful enclosure to swing around in!
Then we had a rest in the viewing area for the elephant enclosure. The elephants at Perth Zoo are all Asian ones – we are in the Asian Rainforest now!
We have always loved seeing Tricia the elephant who is now the matriarch of the Perth Zoo Herd. We first saw her in 1990 and she is still going strong. She didn’t appear to be in her enclosure on our most recent visit but we had a real treat on one of our previous visits when she walked right past us being led along by her trainers for her daily constitutional round the zoo!
Tricia the elephant on her daily walk round Perth Zoo
Tricia is one of the icons of the zoo and will shortly celebrate her 58th birthday on 24th January 2015! Here you can read up more about the party for her 57th birthday last year. One of Tricia’s favourite activities is painting – apparently elephants are natural artists who will pick up sticks with their trunks in the wild and create doodles in the mud. The zoo sells the elephants’ work to help raise funds for conservation as in the wild the elephants are under threat from habitat destruction and poaching.
And that just about concludes our tour of Perth Zoo though there is plenty more to see – I certainly haven’t been able to include everything! If you are going to be in Perth a while becoming a “Zoo Friend” is an excellent idea. You get unlimited free Zoo entry for a year (except for ticketed events) and a 10% discount at Perth Zoo’s cafes and shop. The shop is a great place to find presents and souvenirs.
Due to time constraints we missed out on seeing the tigers who are an important part of the Asian Rainforest area. We did however see them on our last visit when the tiger spied La Petite through the glass (thank goodness!) and made a beeline for her. It was incredible how it instinctively went for the most vulnerable member of our party. We took a couple of photos but didn’t capture the moment he/she bared his teeth at her – it was quite scary even from behind the glass and terrified poor La Petite! We weren’t therefore in a hurry to go back there this time and will make sure it is not mealtime if we do!
Talking of food we were feeling rather hungry ourselves by this point and headed off for a late lunch at the Windsor Hotel South Perth. More to come on South Perth’s Heritage Trail next week!
For more interesting and diverse walks around the world head over to Restless Jo and join her for her weekly Monday Walk!
Copyright © 2015 Rosemary Thomas Le Chic En Rose. All rights reserved
Le Chic En Rose 
I was reminded by your comment on the lions having a lazy day that in South Africa they told us they’re called lions because they’re always lyin around. Gotta love seeing the animals, especially with little ones in tow.
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I like that lions “lyin around” very appropriate as that’s what they always seem to be doing! Did you go to a safari park in South Africa I understand they’re amazing places to visit? I think the females get sent out to hunt in the wild to get the males their food so the male lions are especially lazy! I have always loved zoos and wildlife parks any excuse to visit! 🙂
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We went to viyani safari lodge in South Africa. I have posts about it. They are absolutely amazing. We will likely go again because it was our favorite trip above all others.
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I will check those posts out I’d be very interested to read them! 😃
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In Singapore Zoo, they really tried to recreate the animals’ natural habitat by not allowing people to walk near the enclosure, but by using a monorail and seeing them from the air. It was a fascinating experience. It was voted one of the best zoo in the world with one of the New York zoo I think 🙂
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Monsieur le Chic has been to Singapore Zoo too Gin and says it’s an amazing place! Although I’ve been to Singapore once years ago, I’ve never been to the zoo there. Monsieur Le Chic was staying there for work one time and went on a zoo tour at night – he said it was an incredible experience! He’d love to go back there again and take me too next time! So I can well believe it was voted one of the best zoos in the world – great that you have been able to visit it too! 🙂
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It was a unique experience ! One of my favourite zoo 🙂 But I haven’t been to Australia yet… maybe I would change my mind 😉
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Hopefully you will be able to visit Australia one day and then you can decide which zoo is your favourite! I would love to see Singapore Zoo too! 🙂
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Singapore Zoo is amazing. I’m not a huge fan of zoos, preferring wildlife parks where the animals seem to have more space, but I do think zoos are necessary for conservation, but some are pretty poor. I think Singapore is my favourite though Berlin has a pretty good one too.
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Yes Jude I realise there are many debates about zoos and the lack of space for animals there. Wildlife parks do of course have more space and inevitably some zoos are far worse than others. I’ve not been to Singapore Zoo but my husband has and he says it is fantastic! We have been to Berlin Zoo but I was disappointed that the giant panda had died the previous year so did not enjoy it as much as I could have. One to go back to some day! 🙂
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You got some fantastic pictures Rosemary, think the African Savannah would probably be my favourite too but it all looks stunning. I love the idea of the elephant taking a daily constitutional through the zoo – what a treat to see that, not something you find everywhere!!
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Thanks Joy I did take rather a lot of photos it was hard selecting which ones to use! I love the African Village in the Savannah section it looks very realistic the way they’ve set it out but the whole zoo is wonderful 🙂 I know it’s so lovely that Tricia goes on her daily walks and this was the first time we came across her on one of her promenades – it was an amazing experience when she walked by as she was taking up rather a lot of room on the path so there was barely room to pass each other! She was the most beautiful elephant so calm and laid back as she sauntered by – she’s quite a local celebrity here! 🙂
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I really enjoyed the tour of the zoo! Great photos of these fantastic animals. Thank you for sharing, Rosemay!
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You’re very welcome Amy am so glad you enjoyed the tour and liked the photos- I did take rather a lot! Have a lovely weekend 🙂
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So many interesting animals at the same place! I love them all! Who needs to travel to Africa on safari when you can just go to the zoo? I really enjoyed the trip to the zoo with you. Thanks for bringing me, Rosemary. 🙂
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Thanks Hanne am so glad you enjoyed the tour I think Perth Zoo is a great place and you do feel you could be in the animals’ habitat it’s very well set up 😃 Have a great weekend too 😃
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Wonderful walk around the zoo! I also like the African animals 🙂 I did not know elephants painted, it would be interesting to see its paintings. Thanks for sharing Rosemary!
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Thanks Laia am glad you enjoyed the walk with me! I was fascinated as well to learn that the elephants do paintings and that this is quite common in the wild too (though obviously they don’t use paints and brushes in the wild!). There is some information about it on the Perth Zoo website 🙂 I haven’t seen any of the elephants’ paintings myself but apparently Tricia the elephant is a very good artist! 🙂 Hope your travels are going well and have a lovely weekend 🙂
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The animal lovers among us will love you, Rosemay 🙂 Thank you so much for your follow up! Sorry I’m a little late getting here but I got snowed under this week (not literally, I’m glad to say, though it’s sure cold enough 🙂 ) Have a lovely weekend!
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You’re very welcome Jo 🙂 I have been rather snowed under myself this week with various things so know the feeling but definitely not literally either – it was very hot earlier in the week (reached 44 on Monday) but has cooled down to more pleasant temperatures now. I even had to wear a cardigan at the Hopman Cup tennis the other night as it dropped down below 20 – weird how once you’ve acclimatised to a warmer climate this feels cold!! Have a lovely weekend too and look forward to joining in your next Monday Walk 🙂
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Looks a great zoo! Thanks for sharing with us 🙂
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Thanks Debbie! It is a lovely zoo and am so glad you enjoyed the tour! Thanks so much too for following my blog and I will head over to yours now lovely to meet via the blogging world! 🙂
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A very interesting tour of the zoo. And this is such a good idea: “The zoo sells the elephants’ work to help raise funds for conservation.” I’d quite like an elephant painting on my wall!
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Thanks Elizabeth! I’m not sure what the elephants work actually looks like but it’s such a great idea to sell their work to raise funds for conservation. Thanks for visiting here and I will head over to your site for a visit too! 🙂
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Good to see the rest of the zoo, thank you for taking us all around it. I’m hoping my son gets relocated to Perth so I can start exploring that city and maybe I shall get to the zoo myself 😉
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Thanks Jude if you ever come to Perth Zoo there is even more to see – I just couldn’t cover everything or we may have had zoo overload! Perth is a beautiful city (and a few hours less flying time to Europe too than the eastern seaboard which does make the long flight a bit more manageable!). Hopefully you will be able to see the zoo for yourself one day and make up your mind then! 🙂
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Hopefully! I’ll give you a call if I do 🙂
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Definitely Jude let me know if you’re ever coming to Perth! 🙂
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