Okinawa Zoo

Hayden had a field trip to the zoo so the girls and I went along to help out. It was our first trip to the zoo and we had a great time. There is also a discovery museum with all sorts of hands on learning that the kids loved! I'm not exactly sure why we haven't been sooner but I have heard a lot of people complain that the exhibits and enclosures for the animals are just too small. I was impressed with the zoo being cleaner and more modern than many of the other places we have been here. I do agree that some of the animals enclosures were small but while I was driving home from the zoo and thinking about it I came to the conclusion that we are taking our western mentality to the zoo. EVERYTHING here is small, from cars, to houses, to yards and food portions- it's all small. So why would they then give the Tiger a big living space? Clearly they believe that you don't need that much space to survive and be happy and the zoo is no different. They could probably have several families living in the space allotted to the tiger whereas one American family would feel cramped! This is just my observation. Even the museum is space conscious, it has one level above ground but then extends leave levels underground, so it looks really small on the outside! Anyway, we really enjoyed the zoo.

Hayden: "My favorite part were the Habu snakes!" (This is the dangerous, poisonous snake said to live all over the island including our backyard bushes. They hibernate in the winter so we let the kids in the bushes and trees right now but not in the summer!) I think Hayden should have said his favorite part was when the chimpanzee got angry and threw a fist full of dirt right at Hayden! He jumped a mile!


Danica: "My favorite was seeing the mommy kangaroo with a baby in her tummy!" She brought her kid tough digital camera and had a good time taking pictures of the animals!


Alyssa: "Ahhhhh- Ehhhhhh- Oooooo-" said while pointing at the crocodiles (they really were cool looking.)

Tracey: "My favorite was the giant anteater! I didn't realize I had never seen one in real life until I came face to face with it and saw it's long pointed nose and watched in vacuum up the ants... can it come live in my kitchen to catch ants and crumbs?"

Hayden said his favorite part of the day was the discovery museum, it reminded me of all the good times we had going to the children's museum the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. I think all the kids loved it there and we will definitely get a pass so we can go back often!