We left L'Estartit and drove about 4 hours south to Valencia. Dan started his conference in the afternoon and I mostly hung out and worked on the blog (back when I was updating on time).
July 8th
Dan had to work so I wandered off to the Bioparc (not Zoo, Bioparc). I walked as it was about 3 km away, but it was hot. I think it was about 39ºC/102ºF. I stopped at a gas station to get a bottle of water. The cashier's daughter (niece? small female person) was "helping" him make change. It was very cute.
Random round about art.
The Bioparc!
You cross over a city park before getting into the Bioparc proper.
I went to a video about the Bioparc first. I thought this would be a good idea, but waiting for the movie to start was unpleasant. There were lots of people waiting in a stuffy hallway and being grumpy about not being in the air conditioned theater.
The movie was mostly about how zoos/bioparcs have changed from displays of wild animals to conservation projects and development of husbandry projects. It also stressed how much human impact has affected animal extinctions. The Valencia Bioparc focuses mostly on African animals.
The Bioparc is designed to have "more natural" environments with multiple species in the same enclosures. It is also designed in many locations to let visitors be in the enclosures, as you will see with the lemurs, or "hidden" from the animals.
The Bioparc is designed to have "more natural" environments with multiple species in the same enclosures. It is also designed in many locations to let visitors be in the enclosures, as you will see with the lemurs, or "hidden" from the animals.
This is an African Tantalus. It's s type of stork. This one looks mopey.
Flamingoes!
Some sort of fish. Carp maybe?
Ah, the lemur tree is ripe with fruit!
(Ring-tailed Lemurs)
This lemur tree's fruit is escaping.
Leap!
(Top: Black and White Ruffed Lemur. Leaping: Red Ruffed Lemur)
Red-bellied Lemur.
Black and White Ruffed Lemur.
Ring-tails sleeping in the grass.
A view of part of the Madagascar enclosure. The tree in the center is the lemur tree.
Onto Equatorial Africa!
A pelican and some kind of deer like animal. Possibly a Western Sitatunga.
Red Buffalo chilling in the shade. They'd be cooler if they stopped cuddling.
Red Buffalo and Red River Hogs in the shade. I might have been nap time.
An Eastern Bongo. It doesn't look like a drum at all!
Black Leopard (it was behind glass, don't worry moms).
Regular Leopard (also behind glass).
This enclosure was for some sort of ape I believe.
The log viewing tunnel. You could look out into different enclosures from here.
The log tunnel from the outside.
A little gorilla trying to climb the rock wall.
It may have been trying to escape, but never got much farther than this.
He fell off the wall a few times and then came to cuddle with, presumably, mom.
So these two idiots were waving their arms and beating their chests at this guy, who was just relaxing in the corner. He had had enough of their nonsense, got up, and slammed his hands and one foot into the glass. The girl freaked out. Serves her right in my opinion.
Elephants! It was lunch time.
Hippopotamus!
Not going to lie, I didn't realize it was in there at first. I thought it was a weird rock. And then I realized the weird rock had a tail.
African Spurred Tortoise.
Elephant playing in the water.
Elephant enjoying lunch.
Part of the Savannah enclosure.
Lunch time for the Giraffes!
These are Rothschild's Giraffes also known as Baringo Giraffes.
I really like giraffes.
These are Dik-Diks. They are super tiny deer like animals.
And super cute.
Meerkats hiding in the shade.
The modern city peeking into the Bioparc.
Not all giraffe spots (blotches?) are the same.
Each sub-species of giraffe has a unique pattern/coloration.
Each giraffe's pattern is unique. It's like our fingerprints.
Also giraffes do make noise.
They bellow, moo, snort, hiss, and make sounds outside of our hearing range.
A shedding Dromedary.
But they made up. Big cat headbutts!
And now it's nap time. The male lion was asleep in the shade in a corner.
Rock Hyraxes. They just hang out, on rock faces, like it's no big deal.
Zebras.
Zebra babies! (They're between the adults.)
Thompson's Gazelles.
This guy seems to have a amputated right wing, but seemed to be enjoying the sun regardless.
I am not sure what kind of bird it is.
Ostriches. And the zebras have wandered over.
A Crowned Crane holding court.
Having made my rounds, and being hungry, I got lunch at the Bioparc restaurant.
Surprisingly it was not bad and not horribly expensive.
Walking back over the bridge that takes you out of the Bioparc I saw some ducks and turtles.
I walked back to the hotel and proceeded to sit in front of the air conditioner and do mostly nothing until Dan finished up for the day.
We went out to dinner with a co-worker of his. In Spain they don't eat dinner before 22:00 (10 pm). This can be slightly problematic if you need to be up at 06:00 for work the next day.
This concludes my adventure for the day.
