Friday we went to Okinawa's Zoo! First off 4 yr olds and under are FREE!!! It only cost me 500 yen (about $5.25). They gave us a map in English and we still had no idea which way was what. We walked down this steep hill (turns out it was for no reason) and they had paddle boats that you could ride a huge field (for picnics I guess). No animals down here... Where are the animals? Back up another ridiculously steep hill! At the top of this hill we found rides: a TRAIN, bumper cars, carusel, and pony rides (closed). And then up another steep hill. I'm definitely getting my workout in! So glad I decided to wear tennis shoes!! Finally, the animals!! First exhibit... the Aviary. Those of you who know me know that this did not go over well for me. I decided to suck it up ( I thought this was the only way to the other animals). No birds were flying freely... THANK GOD, although there was only a "flimsy" net between me and my greatest fear.
Finally, past the "winged devils", birds. On to the monkeys. Their cages were very small, but they had to be the cleanest monkey habitats I have ever seen!
Then we saw horses. I really don't know why they have horses at the Zoo. But I don't understand a lot of what the Japanese do. These horses were trained really well. The zookeeper was feeding them while the boys watched. The man brought the "hay" in and the horses was real excited, He gave him one command and the horse stop in his tracks. He gave him another command and the horse stepped back. Then the zookeeper untied the "hay" and gave the horse the last command and the horse walked over to the "hay" and ate.
And down yet another steep hill!! Deer, small cats, Japanese Red Fox, Raccoon Dog, Rooster, actual raccoon, Hippos, Peacocks, Lions, Ostriches, Giraffes (you could feed the Giraffes), Reptiles, Crocodiles, Turtles, Elephants (you could ride the Elephants)! There were animals that we didn't see too. I guess they were sleeping or getting their habitat cleaned. Instead of walking back up the all of those steep hills we were lazy and found an elevator back up.
We then tried to go to the petting zoo, but I guess we picked a bad day because it was closed too. We'll have to make the short trip here again and bring Dad!
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| The boys were so close to the Hippos... we could almost touch them!! |
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| We weren't far enough from the Lions either. |
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| Mom is this the last picture I'm trying to ride the train! |
We got back to the beginning of the Zoo and found their Children's Museum! Again Aiden was FREE and I only had to pay 200 yen. This was great 3 stories of hands on fun! It reminded me a lot of the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock! The boys had a blast here... they didn't want to leave!!
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| The lady spoke (Japanese) into the mic and Konji words showed up. Once the boys scooped them they turned into pictures. |
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| Maze of mirrors |
Check back again... Family adventure to Nago Pineapple Park!!!
Friday we went to Okinawa's Zoo! First off 4 yr olds and under are FREE!!! It only cost me 500 yen (about $5.25). They gave us a map in English and we still had no idea which way was what. We walked down this steep hill (turns out it was for no reason) and they had paddle boats that you could ride a huge field (for picnics I guess). No animals down here... Where are the animals? Back up another ridiculously steep hill! At the top of this hill we found rides: a TRAIN, bumper cars, carusel, and pony rides (closed). And then up another steep hill. I'm definitely getting my workout in! So glad I decided to wear tennis shoes!! Finally, the animals!! First exhibit... the Aviary. Those of you who know me know that this did not go over well for me. I decided to suck it up ( I thought this was the only way to the other animals). No birds were flying freely... THANK GOD, although there was only a "flimsy" net between me and my greatest fear. 
Then we saw horses. I really don't know why they have horses at the Zoo. But I don't understand a lot of what the Japanese do. These horses were trained really well. The zookeeper was feeding them while the boys watched. The man brought the "hay" in and the horses was real excited, He gave him one command and the horse stop in his tracks. He gave him another command and the horse stepped back. Then the zookeeper untied the "hay" and gave the horse the last command and the horse walked over to the "hay" and ate.
And down yet another steep hill!! Deer, small cats, Japanese Red Fox, Raccoon Dog, Rooster, actual raccoon, Hippos, Peacocks, Lions, Ostriches, Giraffes (you could feed the Giraffes), Reptiles, Crocodiles, Turtles, Elephants (you could ride the Elephants)! There were animals that we didn't see too. I guess they were sleeping or getting their habitat cleaned. Instead of walking back up the all of those steep hills we were lazy and found an elevator back up.
We then tried to go to the petting zoo, but I guess we picked a bad day because it was closed too. We'll have to make the short trip here again and bring Dad!
