Bio Park

The Nagasaki Bio Park is probably the coolest zoo I've ever been to. To be honest, though, it's not so much a zoo as an animal habitat. The animals are each in a well tended environment. They appear very well cared for. For the most part, they seem uncontained. There were very few cages or rooms. Most of them were in large open spaces and some had free roam of the park.

We went with some friends. We started the trip on the train; our first ride. Roo wasn't terribly interested in having to stay out of the way and sit still, but was infinitely happier than when strapped into the back seat of the car. Then there was a bus ride from Huis Ten Bosch to the Bio Park.

Roo loved the llamas, but there was SO much more to the park.

One of the most interesting aspects of the park is feeding the animals. Each area has food that is suitable for the animals nearby. The capsules are 100¥ each. We fed all of them, some repeatedly.

Roo enjoyed feeding anything she could be some distance from without being too far like the giraffe and hippo. She liked getting right up to the lemurs, kangaroos and kapybara and having them eat out of her hand; they were very gentle. She wasn't terribly fond of the squirrel monkeys that would swoop in and grab the food right from her hands. She also wasn't particularly interested in the animals that she could only throw food to...maybe that's because she can't throw very far.

Owl and I really liked the lemurs. They were like friendly cats with hands. They were very gentle, and would crawl on your shoulders and take food from your hands to eat. It was an amazing experience.