Lyon Zoo

Lyon Zoo

Friday 19th October 2012

I have a very special visitor with me in Lyon for a long weekend. We have had a lot of plans and things to do. On Friday, we went to the zoo because it was a working day and all the kids were at school, which meant we could see the animals more easily.

We started the day quite late and en route to the zoo, we had some delays thanks to me - I realized that I had forgotten the memory card for the camera. By then, it was too late to go home, so when we got to Bellecour, we went in search of a store that sells technology bits and pieces. We went down Rue de la République and immediately found Fnac. A few moments later I had found what I needed.

Lyon Zoo is situated in Tête d’Or park

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We continued down Rue de la République, from where we were able to take the metro from Cordeliers to Masséna to the Tête d’Or park.

For the sake of our stomachs, we bought food from Monoprix to eat in the park - it is a fairly expensive store. I think the English equivalent would be Waitrose or Marks & Spencers. Afterwards, we took the metro and finally we were well on our way to the park.

Tête d’Or park

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By now, it was quite late in the afternoon. We sat on a bench and ate some of the snacks we had bought while watching the deer under a gray sky. It was a little like Richmond Park which is next door to where I lived in London. But in Richmond Park, deer are free to wander around (there are things attached to the gates so they can not escape the park) but here deer are controlled by being placed in an area that is encircled by a ditch. The public are protected from falling into the ditch by a small stone wall which I am certain would not be acceptable in England with all the regulations of your safety.

The most amazing thing about the Lyon Zoo is the fact that it is completely free of charge to enter, and despite there being no charge to enter it, the zoo is great. It was the third zoo I have visited in the last six months with my boyfriend (we love animals! ). The other zoos we visited were The London Zoo and Ilse of Wight Zoo in South England. There were many aspects I liked here at Lyon zoo in comparison to the others I have visited. The price was only one aspect.

The zoo here cannot rival that of the size of London zoo. But Lyon zoo has a wider range of species, although certain animals were hidden away - it was dinner time for them so you could see the excitement in certain animals as they waited for their keepers.

The zones for the animals are quite big, especially for the safari animals, where there are a lot of animals in the same space, lions being an exception (for obvious reasons) and elephants. Looking at the pink flamingos we could see lemurs in the middle of the zone, swinging from tree to tree. At first it was quite odd because we normally only see them in the cages.

Another aspect of the zoo which I liked a lot - with the exception of the big cats - was that they live in groups, which is not the case at London or the Isle of Wight zoos, where the male animals are often seperated from their female counterparts, so the animals are often alone. The zoo here appeared to be better socially for the animals and they did not appear to be stressed.

In saying this, the big cat appeared to be quite lonely, and in need of a partner and although there was another cat there, they were separated by glass panels. The cat was located next to the mongoose and Indian porcupine pens. They are separated by a glass panel. After circling the enclosure for some time, the cat was drawn to the mongooses and decided to practice the technique of jumping on the prey. Once the cat forgot that the glass existed so his jump was blocked by the panel! It was quite funny to see.

The lions were also in a bad mood. The lion desperately needed the affection of the lioness. She seemed quite indifferent, perhaps annoyed by his antics.

There were other animals like monkeys, elephants, a panther, zebras, giraffes and many more. Thanks to the fact that the zoo is free, you can go any day and time, except nights, if even for five minutes, and it is very easy to return to see the animals again and again, unlike London zoo, where you can end up paying twenty-five pounds sterling to enter, and sometimes the animals are hiding anyway.

As for the rest of the Tête d'Or park, I have a lot more to discover. I had plans to go there next week but it was not possible due to the weather conditions and an Arctic wind.

Enfants du Rhône Gate at the park

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