Zoo

We visited the zoo at Doué la Fontaine this weekend. We had an early lunch, and it was only a half-hour drive to get there. We had gone prepared for chilly weather, but the sun was shining for the whole afternoon.

We know the La Flèche zoo very well,  but this zoo was a new experience for us. It was " home to 70 species of animals in an amazing primeval setting, teeming with exotic vegetation ..." We were very impressed.


Louis' teacher had written in his exercise book that he would certainly enjoy a visit to this zoo, so we took the hint.



We were particularly taken with the gigantic aviary for South American exotic birds. We were able to walk among the birds. A condor eyed us with suspicion before flapping just over our heads with a wonderful wooshing noise. Parrots were everywhere, and some gorgeous ibises paraded far above us.




It was a very child-friendly environment. There were a lot of paths to explore, and there were life-sized wooden sculptures of most of the animals, almost as good as the real thing for clambering on.

 We were particularly amazed by the Amazonian fruit bats, with their pretty little faces. The monkeys were a great hit of course, more than the lions, which wisely  kept their distance.

There were occasional tables, showing the various groups of families for each species.

 

French was spoken the whole time : the boys were so intrigued by the animals that they hardly noticed that they were asking and replying to questions in French..