Lord Ipsqueeck's Adventures: A wintery day at the Antwerp Zoo

 Past sunday it was cold, very cold... but dry!

 

So we dressed up nice and warm, hopped on the tram and went for an afternoon at the Antwerp Zoo.

 

Which was ooooh so calm with this cold weather! So we started in the small monkey building, because there it was nice and warm inside, excellent to start the day after the cold trip to the zoo itself.

 

To give an idea, just go look at my pictures of the Flemish garden all the way back in august, compared to the lovely snowy landscape it has now...

 

One thing one can admire while it is so calm though, is the architecture of the zoo buildings, some which are over 100 years old, while some like the birdhouse are modernised, but you can still see the walls of the original old building at the back of the cages.

 

 

The Zoo also has an artificially recreated cave system that can be explored behind the valley of the great apes, and which has a slide hidden in the dark.  Which I of course needed to try out once I found it.

 

This cavesystem brings you to the buffalo savannah, where there are also a lot of big birds, including a section they roam freely, so better watch out not to get any poo-poo on your clothes!

 

 

 

Our next stop was the Egyptian Temple, home to the inside eating and sleeping space for both the elephants and the giraffes.  And as it was so calm, we could get really, really close to the elephants who where having a snack! 

 

The newest inhabitants of the zoo, the pigmy hippotamus'ses, where relaxing in the water in their residence as well.

 

While the beaver rats didn't care as much at all about the temperatures, happily strolling outside. 

 

And it still was nice and cold...

 

In the reptile house I found myself eye-to-eye with a fascinating lizard.  Well, it required some bending to get to eye level, but you catch my drift!

 

After passing some more lizards, including the Komodo dragon, we went to the next section of the building.

 

And that is an open area of giant tortoises and lizards, and they can be found really close at times for sure!

 

There was also a single lion that apparently had drewn the short straw, as she was outside while all the others lounged in their building.

  

And I got to meet an actual flemish television celebrity, Jos de Koffervis.  He became popular due to a documentary series detailing the life of the animals behind the screens here on television, and he was enjoying his big aquarium for sure. 

 

 

The last remnants of the Magical Oceans light festival could still be seen in the Zoo, the event had ended the weekend before and was still in the process of deconstruction.  Next year we'll visit this, but due to circumstances hadn't made it for the 2025 edition. 

  

 

 

And then it was time to round off with a quick snack to get the temperatures up again, some french fries for me, and onion soup for mommy and daddy. 

 

And thus a stroll to get a fresh nose came to an end, enjoyable if chilly but it is great fun to have the place nearly completely to ourselves though!

 

Until next time and the next adventure!