River Safari - and the world's cutest dugong

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I am trying not to be so critical anymore about things which I otherwise would drive me nuts. Like zoos and places like the River Safari. It is a simply amazing experience, BUT as we spend millions and millions on these places why can we not look after the real thing? Wetlands are beautiful, magical liminal... filled with life... why can we not safeguard them but spend so much of money on making fake places with animals we have raided from around the world? Anyhow, I thought i'd leave the questions at the door and just enjoy what the River Safari had to offer... and here we are...


Breakfast at Jap burger chain... Moss Burger

Wagyu beef burgers....

Taking the bus to the River Safari


My bag's fabric!

Mississippi turtle...looked like a dinosaur 


There were lots of amazing fish! It was completely stunning!

Fisharous

Spot the croc

How gorgeous is that?

There were hugs tanks made with the state-of-the-art plexiglass


The entire zoo was constructed around one of the
arms of the Macritchie Catchment area

Ghiral from the Ganges

Softshelled turtle that looked like a willie

Feasts on corpses left in the Ganges
Reintroduced to help clean up the river many have not survived due to the pollution


Dreamtime fishing

Oisin contemplates the big blue

Chinese salamanders

Scarlet ibis flying around!

Golden pheasant

Oh the panda bear enclosure...

The pandas themselves...were completely bored

In the background Jia Jia, the female bear...

...can you see her...

If not you can watch her on CC-TV

There you go


There were more people in the merchandising area than the panda bear enclosure


Buy a bear



Some gifts were completely random...bears surfing on the memo note

Panda bear paw glove

T shirts

Chocolate

Panda bear cafe

Called Mama Panda

Le menu

Panda pau

Panda coke cup

I often wonder where the wood that covers these places comes from

Birds actually fly free


This is a made up animal which is cuteness multiplied by 1000...
A Jaguarundi

Giant otters that can change their paws into flippers

I could have stayed here all day

Phiranas!!!

We all agreed they looked like old men

Fish with whiskers

The flooded Amazon Forest exhibit...

There must be around 7 dugongs in there, including this monster dugong


There was also the cutest baby dugong in the world

Cleaning the glass from the inside
I'd love to work here said Ghin

The top of the exhibit

Bus ride home....


We all had a swim after that. Actually they had a swim I just sat by the pool and collapsed! :-)

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