So, on Tuesday I set off with a couple of kiwi friends to visit 王子動物園 - Oji zoo in Kobe. I'm quite an excitable person, so I had been looking forward to the outing ever since I discovered there was a zoo so close to home. It was an experience of highs and lows, however. I adore Japan and have the utmost respect for its customs, but there seems to be some work to be done in the way of animal rights.
There was a petting corner, where kids could stroke rabbits. I understand that kids rarely get the chance to have pets out here, given the limitations that are imposed on people who live in apartments, but some of the rabbits seemed terrified.
The sea lions were living in tanks that were less than pristine. There was a plastic bag and a drinks carton floating on the water and the bottom of the tank had a fair amount of mould growing on it. The polar bear was a bit of a sorry sight too, it was pacing up and down in exactly the same pattern for the whole twenty minutes that we were watching it.
That said, most of the animals seemed to be looked after well. My favourite was the red panda.
Click on the photo to see a higher resolution. It's adorable!! There was a giant panda too, for good measure. Not in the same enclosure though, obviously.
I also got a particular kick out of seeing the bats. I love bats.
After the zoo, we headed into Kobe to get lunch at Saizeriya (pizza for 400 yen!) and pondered on what to do next. In our infinite wisdom, we decided to head for the hidden waterfalls near to the Shin-Kobe station just as the sun was setting. We only had a vague idea of where they were and no decent map to guide us.. but maps are for chumps, right? So we set off on the mountain trail as it got darker, snaking our way up secluded streets and watching houses and civilisation disappear.
Before long it was dark. The road narrowed, the (few) street lamps flickered ominously, and reception on our mobile phones dwindled and died. The barriers that separated the narrow road from a sheer drop down the side of the cliff were mere metal poles held in place by wire, themselves leaning over the edge where the wire was sagging. I protested slightly about the importance of continuing this expedition, given that we would probably not even see the waterfalls by this point, but the boys insisted we continue. So we did, until ten minutes later we reached a locked gate that prevented us going any further. Fail. We took a couple of goofy pictures before using our mobile phones as torches to find our way back down the path.
It certainly seemed to be a lot steeper on the way down. It was pitch black too, which was a little disconcerting as by this point the barrier had disappeared completely. We jumped into a patch of mulch to narrowly avoid being mown down by someone driving a car a little too fast up the road, before checking our feet to make sure no unsavoury creature had attached itself to our legs. Then, startled by a rabbit(?) darting across our path, we made haste and eventually turned a corner back onto a road with houses and street lamps.
Which is where we came face to face with a wild boar. Pretty intense end to an otherwise relaxing day.
There was a petting corner, where kids could stroke rabbits. I understand that kids rarely get the chance to have pets out here, given the limitations that are imposed on people who live in apartments, but some of the rabbits seemed terrified.
The sea lions were living in tanks that were less than pristine. There was a plastic bag and a drinks carton floating on the water and the bottom of the tank had a fair amount of mould growing on it. The polar bear was a bit of a sorry sight too, it was pacing up and down in exactly the same pattern for the whole twenty minutes that we were watching it.That said, most of the animals seemed to be looked after well. My favourite was the red panda.
Click on the photo to see a higher resolution. It's adorable!! There was a giant panda too, for good measure. Not in the same enclosure though, obviously.
I also got a particular kick out of seeing the bats. I love bats.
After the zoo, we headed into Kobe to get lunch at Saizeriya (pizza for 400 yen!) and pondered on what to do next. In our infinite wisdom, we decided to head for the hidden waterfalls near to the Shin-Kobe station just as the sun was setting. We only had a vague idea of where they were and no decent map to guide us.. but maps are for chumps, right? So we set off on the mountain trail as it got darker, snaking our way up secluded streets and watching houses and civilisation disappear.
Before long it was dark. The road narrowed, the (few) street lamps flickered ominously, and reception on our mobile phones dwindled and died. The barriers that separated the narrow road from a sheer drop down the side of the cliff were mere metal poles held in place by wire, themselves leaning over the edge where the wire was sagging. I protested slightly about the importance of continuing this expedition, given that we would probably not even see the waterfalls by this point, but the boys insisted we continue. So we did, until ten minutes later we reached a locked gate that prevented us going any further. Fail. We took a couple of goofy pictures before using our mobile phones as torches to find our way back down the path.
It certainly seemed to be a lot steeper on the way down. It was pitch black too, which was a little disconcerting as by this point the barrier had disappeared completely. We jumped into a patch of mulch to narrowly avoid being mown down by someone driving a car a little too fast up the road, before checking our feet to make sure no unsavoury creature had attached itself to our legs. Then, startled by a rabbit(?) darting across our path, we made haste and eventually turned a corner back onto a road with houses and street lamps.
Which is where we came face to face with a wild boar. Pretty intense end to an otherwise relaxing day.
