Scenes from a Rural Niagara Zoo

There's a zoo in Stevensville, Ontario, not far from Niagara Falls. It's called Zooz. The other day my parents and I took my daughter and I was pleasantly surprised by our day. Usually I come away from public family places exhausted and not wanting to see another human for a week, but this time I left not dreading going back next year! That's a compliment. We even had the rehearsal and sound check of a Guns N Roses cover band as the soundtrack to our time at the playground near closing time (they have concerts on weekends as well). The singer didn't sound much like Axl Rose but the music was solid and made me want to do this in the sand. 

Now, I'm not sure I like the idea of caged animals unless they're being protected, but they've done a nice job creating marshes and lakes, have metal sculptures juxtaposed nicely against the foliage, and they do a hippo and giraffe feeding. Apparently the hippos spray 'urine and feces' on each other and will do the same to spectators as well. Funny how no one walks away after they tell you that. 

He, or she (I didn't see that 'part') looks sad but hopefully isn't. At one point, this pensive baboon who looked so much like an old man, actually unnerved me a bit by looking right at me. I suddenly felt self-conscious taking photos.

A pile of lemurs which looked like little freaky-eyed pandas

Every zoo needs a water park. Actually, when you have kids with you, and it's freaking hot, it does.

 

 

A rare sighting of Coca-Cola in its natural habitat

 

Giraffes are such unusual and fascinating creatures. They had a male and a female named Noah and Rainbow. If I had to name them I might have gone with Mr. Furley and Tori Spelling.

 

 

 

Comments

[Lauren]

I really love the way you were able to capture such a candid shot of the coca cola beast.
I think that zoos should be designed to be more like playgrounds for animals.
The Cape May Zoo in NJ is pretty cool with it's habitat creation. The animals have the option of not being exposed if they don't want to. They are less stressed and I feel they take much into consideration.
They also forgot to warn that the tigers like to pee on people. I watched a little girl get sprayed when I was younger.

[corine]

Wow, my zoo pictures never turn out like this. I looks like you were close enough to that giraffe to hug it.

[Melissa]

What a very fun zoo!!!

Also, a little off topic but I really love your shop (especially the Liana dress) and was wondering if you might be interested in advertising/sponsoring on my blog. If this sounds potentially interesting to you, please email me at (omydarlingblog-at-gmail-dot-com) and I'll pass along more info about my stats and what advertising opportunities it would include. If not, sorry to be a pest and thanks for your time!

[Denise @ Swelle]

Lauren - I approached it with caution!

Corine - I just got a nice telephoto lens but the giraffes were pretty close!

Melissa - You can contact me via my email link under my profile pic for business questions. Thanks!

Denise ♥