Posted by Jess and Ella
27 February 2011

Yesterday we went to the Tama Zoological Gardens.  Tama Zoo is about an hour west of Tokyo and it took 4 trains to get there!  The last train had animals that live at the zoo painted on it.




When we got to the zoo, we stopped to take a picture with the big elephant and then planned our day.



We went to see the cranes first and then stopped near the small animal area and got to play with GUINEA PIGS!





After playing for a while (and washing our hands of course!) we went on to the Australian and Asian Animals section.  We saw...
Rhinos

Sleeping Kangaroos

Growling Emus

Sleepy Koalas

Watchful Snow Leopards

A Restless Elephant

Lounging Orangutans

and Tigers Getting a Tan
We took the zoo shuttle back to the entrance to the zoo and bought a few things to add to our picnic lunch.  We ate lunch, refreshed and headed out to the African Animals.  On this side of the zoo we saw...

Lots of Lions - including a Mom and 4 cubs

some smaller elephants

Many Giraffes!

A Savannah with Pelicans, Giraffes, Zebras, Antelope, and Ostrich
After visiting with the Chimpanzees, we headed to the last part of the zoo - the insectarium and butterfly garden.  These are not Momma's favorite places to be, so I did go in some of the areas, but mostly it was just Daddy, Ella and Abby.

caterpillars in their cocoons

Ella says the butterfly garden was hot and a boy had one land right on his finger.


The zoo was pretty big and very hilly - it was quite a hike for the day and we traded off with the girls in the stroller and being carried in the zoo.  Its the best zoo we've been to here yet and the girls really liked it.  I am sure Ella is going to be a veterinarian when she is older.  That girl is crazy about animals.  The only disappointing part of the day is that the zoo has a Lion Bus that takes you through the large lion den and the bus has food on it for the lions.  Its not expensive to do and we've heard great reviews, but unfortunately the bus was not running yesterday.  Hopefully next time!

We stopped throughout the day for some photo opportunities too so thought I would share those here.










Everyone was pretty tired for the ride home...




We stopped for dinner and then headed home.  The girls were in bed pretty early after such a busy day.  And Jay and I were too!

Ella says:
WE HAD FUN LOOKING AT THE BUGS AND BUTTERFLIES.  WHEN WE WENT INSIDE BY THE BUTTERFLIES IT WAS VERY HOT HOT HOT.

Kanpai!
Jess and Ella

Comments (1)

On February 27, 2011 at 8:47 PM , Kelly said...

Fun pictures! The kangaroos look like they are drunken hooligans after a soccer game...the wood in their area kind of looks like bleachers. Love the picture of Ella hanging on to the grasshopper and I could hear the arrrrr in your picture~too funny!