Wanderung 20

Australian Walkabout

May - June 2009

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009, The Taronga Western Plains Zoo near Dubbo

Bob:

One major attraction in Dubbo is the Taronga Zoo (the other is the old gaol or jail), so we hiked 4 kilometers over there after breakfast at the hotel. The riverside walk was very pleasant, but I truly started to feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz when she says, "Gee Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." The trees were all different from the type of deciduous forest I was used to in Virginia. The leaves were shaped differently and came in different shades of green, the branches stuck out more like trees on the African savannah than Virginia trees, and the bark was both oddly mottled and peeling off in long strips on many of the trees.

The birds were also different, very different. Flocks of colorful parrots squawked in the trees and flew up from the ground on either side of the trail. I almost stepped on some by accident and they flew away squawking loudly. Brilliant white cockatoos with yellow crests also perched in the trees and occasionally flew by, screeching loudly in a way that reminded me of a peacock's ungodly scream. Some kind of white-winged bird with pink underbellies were also wheeling around in flocks, and even the crow-like birds weren't crows but instead had brilliant white patches on their wings and tail. A medium-sized colorful bird with a really big beak gave a cry that sounded almost human, and I finally figured out that those were kookaburras (American: kingfisher), a bird that I had thought only existed in a children's song about Australia. Coupled with the emu that I had seen running up a driveway to a house the day before looking for all the world like a weird, scrawny businessman coming home for the day while toting a briefcase in either hand, I was already feeling like I was in the Land of Oz even before we got to the zoo.

Monika:

Since the room of course did not have a refrigerator we decided to pay $7 for breakfast. It was continental, but a nice variety of cereals, toast with different jams, OJ and coffee. Thus fortified we decided to do the tourist attraction Dubbo is known for, the Taronga or Western Plains Zoo. Our hotel was on the way to the zoo and the river walk was just past the hotel. It was only 3KM to the zoo, a small amount for a seasoned Volksmarcher. The walk surprised us by the variety and strangeness of the birds that we saw. The little green parakeets were like our sparrows sitting in the grass and on the path and then suddenly flying away when we got too close in a glorious array of green and red colors - the males have the really green feathers with red on the body that is visible only when flying. Squawking made us look up and there were white cockatoos with yellow crests fighting among the tree tops. And then we saw a beautiful parrot like bird with a pink breast and wings, I later learned that it is call a Galah.

So with bird watching and trying to take pictures of rather uncooperative birds, it took us longer than it should have to get to the zoo. By now it was lunchtime and we decided to have our lunch right then and there. Neville had introduced us to a specialty of Australia called a sausage roll: think of minced meat in a croissant. Very yummy and I avoided asking for the fat count. After we each finished one and not eating too neatly, we suddenly saw one of the larger pastry flakes moving by itself across the table. Looking closer, we saw a very small but industrious ant carrying away a very large pastry flake. Every now and then it had to reshoulder its burden but it made steady progress. I was rather amazed.


 

Bob:

The Taronga Western Plains Zoo was, however, well worth the walk. It is layed out on a rather extensive piece of land that allows for large, naturalistic habitats for many of the large, rare animals from Africa as well as native Australian species. Passing by some camels, gnus (I think) and bongos, we hustled over to the hippopotamus pools in time to catch the last part of the zoo keeper's talk. He was a young, blond, and very earnest man who talked about the decline of the hippos in the Congo and the knock-on effects of that decline on the local ecology including the fish populations in the lakes.

From the hippos we continued over to the elephant park where we caught the entire presentation of two African elephants, one of whom was named Yum-Yum, a name taken from Gilbert and Sullivan's "Mikado". Each elephant was bonded to a keeper as well as having a place in the social structure of the African and Asian elephants kept at the zoo, a structure necessary to social herd animals. The keepers put each elephant through its paces, and the narrator explained that this activity was necessary for their mental health as well as to ensure their cooperation when they had to be tested or treated by veterinarians and so forth.

Monika:

Well with all this wildlife watching we finally did manage to get to the zoo. The zoo is situated on an old army base, so there is plenty of land. They have brought in mainly creatures from the other continents that thrive in a similar climate to that of Dubbo. There are different areas for the different animals. You can drive a car around, hire a bicycle, or do what we did, walk the six km around the zoo. The zoo also has different feedings with naturalist talks scheduled throughout the day. We had already missed the morning talks, but were in time for the hippo feeding and then the elephant talk.

Bob:

We wanted to see the feeding of the Siamang Apes next, so we headed that way on the network of walking trails connecting the major exhibit areas. Long before we arrived we heard the loud hooting and other vocalizations of the male and female pair. That was spectacularly loud, in part due to the inflatable chin sacks that worked something like the bladder on a set of Scottish bagpipes to blow a lot of air through the vocal cords and produce a very loud tone. When we arrived we were just in time to observe the elaborate posturing and aerial gymnastic feats that the male, in particular, was doing to show off to the female (and possibly for the human audience gathered around; I'm just not sure of that). A cat's cradle of ropes had been strung from about 6 telephone poles stuck in the ground, and that basically formed a playground or exercise yard for them to show off their amazing dexterity with death-defying acrobatic stunts.

Taking a peek at the lions and tigers at the upper end of the park, we started to work our way back down the eastern side. The American Elk (European Wapiti) were represented by a healthy looking stag and doe.

Monika:

Finally we walked over to the Siamang Monkeys. The zoo had a bonded pair, that had produced already several young ones. The pair live on two islands within a lagoon and the keepers try to keep human contact to a minimum. So when it is feeding time the two are lured to the smaller island that is close to the people. There they postured with loud noises to make sure that everyone knew this was their territory. They were rewarded with fruit and bananas. The keeper then lowered the cables that connected the two islands and went over to the larger island to hide food in various places so that the monkeys would be mentally engaged in finding it. Meanwhile, we enjoyed the acrobatics of the pair on the small island. Only after the keeper had paddled back to the mainland, did the she reconnect the cables between the islands and the male went over and started looking for some of the food. I thought this was rather cleverly arranged.

Bob:

By this time we had been walking several hours and were really getting tired. We watched the maned wolf wake up from his nap when a flock of birds started screeching just outside the fence of his enclosure, which gave us the opportunity to get some decent pictures of him. We skipped the Buffalo exhibit in favor of the Galapagos Tortoise exhibit. The tortoises moved slowly enough that even I could get decent pictures! One was in a sunny spot near the wall, and I'm afraid I took so many pictures that he got disturbed and walked off for a bit. Next door was an exhibit on ratite birds where I learned that although the three species were very similar, the emu was native to Australia, the ostrich was native to South American , and the rhea was native to Africa.

Monika:

We kept walking around looking at the different grazing animals from the different continents until we finally got to the kangaroos who were mainly asleep. But we did learn that there are two kinds, the smaller grey kangaroo and the larger red one. We watched the maned wolf and finally ended up watching two Galapagos turtles eat and walk. It made you realize that walking with four legs when your body is rather heavy can be a difficult affair, you have to keep track of which leg to move next. Ponderous, definitely comes to mind.

Bob:

We ended up the day rather footsore and weary at the cafe beside a small lagoon with monkey islands on it. Monika had a cheap cup of coffee while I tried to take pictures of the Spider Monkeys directly across the lagoon from us and the ring-tailed lemurs on an adjacent island.

Monika:

Well about this time we were also feeling pretty ponderous and slow in moving our feet. So we decided to have a coffee break at a coffee house by a lake were there was one island with spider monkeys and the other with lemurs with pretty ringed tails. In the water were beautiful black swans together with ducks and other water birds. Just the right atmosphere to rest up for the walk home.

Bob:

But that was pretty much the end of the day as I had just enough energy to walk the 4 kilometers back to our hotel, do a bit of shopping for dinner, and then return to our room for the rest of the evening. After a quick and simple dinner we put our feet up while we worked on the computer and read a bit and then turned in for the night.

Monika:

Walking home we saw a flock of Gallah birds on a watering trough for cattle. We were also stared at by a lone (wild) kangaroo, and finally took some pictures of the beautiful aboriginal art that decorated the pillars of the bridge next to the motel. We certainly were no longer in Kansas.


 

Copyright 2009 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt
Index
Prolog Map of Australian Walkabout Epilog

May 2009
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3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
June 2009
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1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30

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