Colorado Springs Zoo

Tuesday, June 22;

A zoo is not always a number one tourist spot unless you have children with you. This zoo is different! It gives you a real workout if you do it at a good pace. Me - not so much. I kept stopping to take pictures! There is so much to see, the animals, the flowers and the views way down into the valley below. This zoo is built high up on the side of a mountain looking over Colorado Springs. So much so that you can take a chair lift from the bottom to the top. From that vantage point you can see the more reclusive animals that are hidden from the ground view points, like the snow leopard The cat was barely visible behind a log far at the back of it's area.

If you are walking up the paths, you have the choice of stairs or an elevator to the raised boardwalk leading to the grizzly bear enclosure. More exercise options!

Each large area displays birds and animals of a specific region. We entered the park at the giraffe enclosure. Colorado Springs has a large giraffe herd and is well known for its breeding program. There were two new giraffes there at the time, The resulting growth in the herd allows them to ship to other areas where they are also trying to assure the continued success of the species.

One of the large giraffes left what he was doing and ambled right over in my direction. How close do they get? REALLY CLOSE! Do they eat cameras? Do they lick people? I did not stay to find out! There just happened to be some interesting birds nearby! And then a family of Mir cats. And then the lemurs got my attention.

Trish herded us toward the primate house. Her favourite was the baby silverback gorilla. We watched momma, poppa and baby interact. They are fun. The monkey enclosure was keeping a group of children amused as well.

We continued on through the north west area, moose, mountain lion, porcupine and a grizzley bear. From there we traveled through Asia, the snow lepord and other species that seemed to be more difficult to see, on to Australia. The wallabies were hopping along the path we were walking on.

We left the zoo passing the giraffes once more.

We were heading further up the mountain to Helen Hunt Falls with a brief stop in a normal subdivision except one home owner was an artist. He creates large metal wind vanes that decorate his front yard. They are amazing! We parked so I could take some pictures.

Then on to the falls. Bear and Trish stayed behind while Dan and I walked up the many steps to the top of the falls. It was a nice finish to a pleasant day.