Czeching It Out - A Trip To The Zoo
I love zoos. Animals are great and I love getting the opportunity to see animals that I've not seen before, even if it is in captivity.
As soon as I learned that Prague Zoo has polar bears, I was sold. It's unlikely that I'll ever get the chance to see one in the wild, so I figured it'd be cool to visit.
Getting from where I stayed in Smichov, to the zoo, took a lot less time that I anticipated considering it's right on the outskirts; a long tram journey past AC Sparta Praha stadium, past the ice hockey rink, then onto a bus. The trams are crazy in Prague... like at one point, the tram basically went up a spiral road.
A fiver to get into the zoo is an absolute steal considering the average cost of entry to a British zoo is around £20 and to be honest, it did make me a little concerned as to how the animals would be kept, but it turns out they all seemed really happy.
Wandering around for a bit, seeing common zoo animals like Red Pandas and Macaws before finally finding the Polar Bears. 3 of them, all seemingly loving life.
It was then time for a break. I needed food and a beverage. To my surprise, they were selling draught Kozel... IN THE ZOO. A couple of hot dogs and pints and I was ready to wander.
The hot dogs in the Czech Republic are certainly noteworthy. I am a massive hot dog fan and I was impressed... instead of slitting the bun, the buns are hollowed out, warmed up the the ketchup, mustard and hot dog goes inside. It was brilliant and delicious, but probably not nutritious.
One of the best parts about the zoo was the bat cave... a dark hallway with the bats freely flying around your head, you find yourself running the "don't shit on me" gauntlet. Two bats, on the smoke detector, arguing. Cute.
I was quite lucky to experience feeding time for a tiger. There were lots of big cats here, kept fairly separately which is great because usually tigers are all kept in one enclosure so you can never see anything.
The zoo is massive, and it's not all on one level. It centres around a mountain that has yet more animals up on top, which is great.
Definitely a zoo to check out.
More Kozel before heading back to Smichov.
Stay tuned for part 4...
Nate
As soon as I learned that Prague Zoo has polar bears, I was sold. It's unlikely that I'll ever get the chance to see one in the wild, so I figured it'd be cool to visit.
Getting from where I stayed in Smichov, to the zoo, took a lot less time that I anticipated considering it's right on the outskirts; a long tram journey past AC Sparta Praha stadium, past the ice hockey rink, then onto a bus. The trams are crazy in Prague... like at one point, the tram basically went up a spiral road.
A fiver to get into the zoo is an absolute steal considering the average cost of entry to a British zoo is around £20 and to be honest, it did make me a little concerned as to how the animals would be kept, but it turns out they all seemed really happy.
Wandering around for a bit, seeing common zoo animals like Red Pandas and Macaws before finally finding the Polar Bears. 3 of them, all seemingly loving life.
It was then time for a break. I needed food and a beverage. To my surprise, they were selling draught Kozel... IN THE ZOO. A couple of hot dogs and pints and I was ready to wander.
The hot dogs in the Czech Republic are certainly noteworthy. I am a massive hot dog fan and I was impressed... instead of slitting the bun, the buns are hollowed out, warmed up the the ketchup, mustard and hot dog goes inside. It was brilliant and delicious, but probably not nutritious.
One of the best parts about the zoo was the bat cave... a dark hallway with the bats freely flying around your head, you find yourself running the "don't shit on me" gauntlet. Two bats, on the smoke detector, arguing. Cute.
I was quite lucky to experience feeding time for a tiger. There were lots of big cats here, kept fairly separately which is great because usually tigers are all kept in one enclosure so you can never see anything.
The zoo is massive, and it's not all on one level. It centres around a mountain that has yet more animals up on top, which is great.
Definitely a zoo to check out.
More Kozel before heading back to Smichov.
Stay tuned for part 4...
Nate
Definitely the best way to see a red panda. We spent a day climbing a foggy, soggy, leech-infested jungle hill in Sikkim and we managed to *hear* a red panda a couple of times. Mind you, there was HIT beer (8%) afterwards, even if there was no Kozel.
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