Today being the big kid that I am…I went to the zoo. The other day on my trek through Osaka I came across spa world and noticed on my map that it was near Osaka zoo, so I made it a mission to go there. It was a really sunny day and I had to wear a hat so I could see without squinting. I got the train to Tennoji station and arrived there at about 11. The zoo itself is enclosed in a park which is quite large and I hoped I was on the right side of it for the zoo. I stopped in at a McDonalds and ordered a chicken burger and fries. Luckily the meals in this McDonalds were numbered and I could just ask for a number 11 "Ju-Ichi Ban" And made a gesture with my arms to make sure I got the meal. I crossed to the park and sat on some steps eating my McDonalds instantly attracting the attention of a swarm of pigeons but I was hungry so they were out of luck. I did notice that even in this small section of the park there were several homeless people. I was later told that this is where hey seem to congregate. When I finished y food I paid 500 yen to get in to the park and zoo and the gate opened up into a huge fountain and grassed area where kids were running about and people reading were reading books on the grass in the shade. It seemed a little like a utopia and the homeless would live on the outskirt just out of reach of the unobtainable. It was a nice place and the weather helped a great deal. There was a main fountain and several stone monuments that had little streams running in and around them. I followed the signs for the zoo and walked there through the park over bridges and past statues until I reached the other end of the park and the entrance to the zoo. I was greeted at the entrance by a huge polar bear cut-out and the soundtrack of the super Mario games which I found a little strange. I used my ticket to get thorough and was surprised to see how many people were actually there. It was a Saturday and as with any holiday I seemed to have lost track of what day it was, as it the moment it doesn't really matter.

The Mario music was coming from a clown or should I say children's entertainer who was juggling balls and spinning plates for a crowd of children in a semicircle at his feet. The park entrance opens into the middle of the zoo and a right turn takes you to the safari area and a left for every other type of animal. I went right and the first stop was flamingos….flamingos don't do anything, so I moved on.

Next was to be the hippo and after staring into the enclosure for a minute or so you could just see a brown shape at the back under the water and a nose would pop up briefly every few minutes. I moved to the next enclose which was also a hippo but this view allowed you to see under water. Again at the back you could just make out the brown mass of a hippo. It seemed that the two enclosures were separated by a metal gate and both hippos were at the gate trying to get to each other. This also rendered them pretty much invisible to everybody. If they had opened the gate I'm sure you would have 2 happier hippos and you would see a lot more of them. I moved on to the rhino….he wasn't there. And then the hyenas who weren't there either. At this point I was a bit disappointed as it seems the best the zoo could come up with was a flamingo and the arse end of acouple of hippos. Disgruntled I began to move on when I saw a small bunch of children rush at the hyena enclosure glass as it seem they had decided to get up. From this point on the zoo did a much better job and I saw lions and tigers and bears…..(fill in the blank) The zoo also had all manner of big cats and zebras, giraffes etc. I took many photos and spent some time at the tiger enclosure. I noticed on my travels a water fountain. This fountain was a huge koala bear who would pee when you pressed a button and little kids seemed to love It and constantly made the koala pee and filled bottles from it and washed there hands. It was a little surreal. I bought myself an ice-cream as I got to the penguins and the end of the first half of the zoo. This finished with wolves and a cute red panda that popped his head from around the wall just as I was taking a photo. The second half had a nocturnal enclosure with bats and possums etc and a large Avery with a stream running through. As well as a few bears and an elephant or two. My favourite animal at the zoo was the polar bear. When I have seen them before they are usually moping around or pacing but this one was very energetic. He had made a toy out of a log which he would hold with his mouth and then launch with his paw. Chasing after it and repeating the process. He was basically play fetch with himself. He also took some impressive dives into the water after the log and then would backstroke with the log back to shore. His other toy was a yellow plastic tube which he could get his head into. This was achieved by standing out of the water with the tube in his teeth and then diving in and allowing his head to go through the tube as he dived. This allowed for his mouth to just poke out the other end and he would try to pick up the log with it nearly drowning himself in the processes. Unfazed he repeated this for about 20 minutes. At about this time the battery on my camera died and I continued the rest of my tour with out taking pictures. This included the elephant and the monkeys. I had been at the zoo for several hours and had seen nearly all the animals. I took another go at the hippo which could still not be seen and I also tried the rhino again. I managed to spot the shy rhino who would pop his head out from behind a rock and then hide again when he realised people were watching. Now having successfully seeing all the animals the zoo had to offer took my leave. And headed home.