Day Four: 9th January 2018 :
I am not the greatest lover of zoos... There is always
something there that feels wrong or an inhabitant that appears 'unhappy' with its
surroundings and despite the hype I expected Tenerife’s star attraction to
undoubtedly tick some of those less savory boxes.
I am also generally uncomfortable with the idea of Killer
Whales and dolphins in captivity but quite how this ethically differs from
keeping any larger animal such as elephants, tigers and larger primates I am
not quite sure so I was in several confused minds on agreeing to go there with
the family.
Suffice to say, it is good sometimes to be proved wrong and
from the outside at least it was, in my humble opinion, animal showcasing at
its best with clean, airy, naturally vegetated enclosures and active, engaged animals wherever
you looked. There was good multilingual interpretation
with strong conservation messages throughout and I know that this sounds like
some sort of official review but it isn’t, I was just impressed by the whole
package including and sorry if I upset my fellow cetacean loving friends, the Killers
and Bottlenoses.
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| Lowland Gorilla relaxing in the early morning sun |
I am not well travelled and had never seen a King Penguin
before (and am unlikely to in the wild either) or a Sloth or a Nicobar Pigeon or
any other primate. I saw more parrot species that I have even heard of
including most of the magnificent Macaws and the enigmatic inquisitive New
Zealand Keas and watched Capybaras swimming underwater with Amazonian fish
while Giant Anteaters sucked dinner from tubes in fake termite mounds.
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| King Penguin |
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| Gentoos |
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| Underwater Capybaras! |
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| Red-headed Cockatoo |
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| Hyacinth Macaw |
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| Dozing Croc amongst the Water Hyacinths in a pool full of Guppies |
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| Golden Lion Tamarin |
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| The Sea Bass tank... |
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| Grooming time for the Sloth |
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| The stunning reef aquarium |
However, it was the simplest life form in the zoo that
captivated me beyond all reason and our last area to visit was the
Jellyfisharium (my name for it by the way) with enormous cylindrical tanks from
floor to ceiling within which a multitude of single species Jellies circulated
on the current in a tentacled pulsating dance, gently illuminated in shades of
blue, green, pink and white.
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| I called this one the Blue Fly Agaric |
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| Like a tank of green alien lifeforms |
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| Moonies |
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| ummm... well... we had a name for this one too... |
Soothing background music played and if they had
given us individual headphones I could have stayed all day and watched them bob
by...
I did add two to my island list on the inside with three
Moorhens around the Koi pool and several smart Spanish Sparrows mumping like
sparras do best while a Canary serenaded me from above and kept and eye on a low
Kestrel and a pair of Grey Wagtails flicked around with the Tigers.
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| Moorhen |
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| Spanish Sparrow |
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| Kestrel |
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| Canary - it's above you! |
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| Grey Wagtail |
Monarch butterflies cruised around in the sunshine but it
took a while to get a picture and two Emperor Dragonflies patrolled the
Crocodile lagoon...
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| Monarch |
Back at Bajamar I finally got to grips with the CICC that
likes to sing from the date palm opposite the front door before finishing off with a fine seafood meal
down in town at Cofradia de Bajamar opposite those amazing waves!
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| Canary Island Chiffchaff |
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