The Dakar Zoo is one part awesome, two parts depressing. As one of my good friends said, the zoo is like something out of a Curious George cartoon: animals in small, green-barred cages, packed in close together.
It’s sad, especially for the animals who didn’t seem to have even natural ground space on which to roam, confined instead to tile-floored pens. My heart hurt for them.
But I must admit, the zoo did afford us an awesome opportunity to interact closely – really closely – with the animals, and I’m a sucker for any non-human with fur and four legs.
The huge holes in the fenced areas, like the one above, allowed us to get even more up-close-and-personal. Luckily, the elan du cap Josh is feeding above was very docile and let me touch his head while Josh fed him leaves.
The elan du cap is a type of antelope from southern Africa.
Next time we visit the zoo, I’m bringing a purseful of carrots and other goodies for the elan and the other animals. Maybe I can help brighten their day a little.
Oh, and admission to the Dakar zoo was all of $1.50 USD for both of us.
“Yum – thanks for the leaves.”
Rachael Cullins is a twentysomething American girl living in Dakar, Senegal, with her husband and two dogs. She blogs about her adventures in Senegal and travels elsewhere in West Africa. She will reside in Dakar until summer 2013, when she and her family will move to another foreign post as part of her husband’s career with the U.S. government. In addition to West Africa, she has traveled to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy and Costa Rica and plans to continually add to that list.
