Taking It All In: The Zoo

My friends Jenn and Shawn are getting ready to leave West Africa, and she wrote this back in February:

 

We thought about coming up with a bucket list of things to do/see/try before leaving Senegal in June.  But after realizing that 1. We've done almost everything we've wanted to do here, and 2. A Bucket List felt too "final" and "official", we decided to come with a "Do it again, enjoy it now, experience it for the first, maybe last time, take it all in" list.  That name was obviously too long, so we're calling it the "take it all in" list.

 

I really like that idea.  And when I like ideas, I steal them. ;)  So you'll be seeing a number of "Taking It All In" posts here in the remaining two months.  (Two months?  Really?  Gulp.)

 

The other week, Benedicte and I paid the local zoo a little visit.  It was fun just to be outside, to walk around, to take lots of pictures...

 

The Gators -

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look, it's a baby gator!  A gatorette.  Or...actually a "hatchling", if you want to get technical.

 

The Birds -

 

 

 

 

 

Do their expressions ever change?!  They look perpetually grim.  Unamused.  (Which apparently isn't a word.)  But I must say, their eyelashes are to die for.

 

The Big Cats -

 

 

 

 

Dans la jungle, terrible jungle, le lion est mort ce soir...

 

 

...Or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Monkeys -

 

 

 

The Camel -

 

 

 

Yawn!!!
 

 

The Deer(ish?)  - 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was right before she licked my camera lens.  I spared you all that shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She was so cute and friendly, but I was having a really hard time getting a good full-face shot. But those other ones were still cute, so...that's my excuse for putting all of them (or almost all of them) up.

 

The Miscellaneous - 

 

 

 

Laughing hyenas have always creeped me out.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

This picture just makes me laugh.

 

The Take-It-All-Inners -