Dusit Zoo

I set out to walk to Dusit Zoo with a good sense of where I needed to end up. Along they way I got slightly lost, needless to say a Tuk Tuk tout found me peering at my map and tried to ‘help’. He told me everything was closed, the Zoo, the Temples, everything because it was a Bhuddist holiday. This is an old scam which I wasn’t falling for.

I walked on towards the Royal throne building, close to which I found the Zoo. It’s a very old fashion and under-funded Zoo. Their aviary for example still has the old cramped, rusty cages that Zoos used 20 years ago. It doesn’t have a vast collection of wild and exotic animals, but there are improvements being made. They’ve already upgraded their African Savanna to a more modern and casual enclosure layout. Surrounding it with lots of natural vegetation and so hiding the harsh lines of wire or cables that keep the animals in.

The African Savanna is stocked with 3 Zebras, a couple of Giraffes and some Ostriches. And that’s about it.

One thing I did like about their exhibits is the way you can climb up a stairway that goes behind and above them. You get a great view of the enclosure from there. Another difference is in the Flamenco enclosure. They don’t crop their wings, instead they cover the entire enclosure with green netting, elevated high enough to have ‘air’ space above the birds, but not high enough to allow them to fly significant distances.

All around the Zoo are many little seating/picnic areas. The Thais love their food and no matter where you go there’ll always be picnicking facilities backed up by street vendors. The Zoo also has a restaurant which looked very nice and upscale but wasn’t open. I couldn’t stand too long near a picnic area or I got eaten by ants. I’m convinced the Thai people have a natural anti-body to both ants and mosquitoes as they never seem to bother them.

The best part for me was seeing 2 white Tiger cubs. They’re pretty close to full size, but you can tell they are still kittenish they way they play with each other. But the Sun Bears were also so cute I spent a lot of time at their enclosure. One was particularly active and cute, and very photogenic.