Baltimore Zoo - First stop, Africa!

The Zoo is broken up into three sections and once the tram drops you off the choices are: Polar Bears, African Adventure, or Maryland Nature.  We heard a rumor on the tram that the new baby elephant is only outside for a short period of the morning so we headed into Africa first.

We were greeted by vultures and an amazing display of dancing long-legged birds (sorry...I think I was distracting a 17-month old and didn't get their name).   A little walk down the boardwalk (perfect for corralling little people) brought us right up to these hulking dudes.

Lounging in the summer sun.  

Meanwhile, Gina had a stare down with an Ostrich.  Let's just say that she walked away while he was still unblinking.  Dominated!

The Zebras.

One of the coolest exhibits is the giraffe area.  At first we were locked on the elephants, about to pass the (seemingly) empty giraffe zone.  As we were charging down the hill we saw two staff members waiting by the boulders in the pen - one of them making a clicking noise.

Sure enough, we see the head of one gigantic giraffe appear over the hill at the far end.  It came lumbering slowly - but definitely on a mission for food.  

While the first giraffe was eating another caught wind and came on over to check out the grub.  Disappointed that it's turn hadn't come yet it wandered over to the observation area where we were standing...five feet away.  The zoo lets you pay to feed the giraffe a leafy branch - which we opted not to do - but also has a little zone for watching.  While you can't touch them it was still super close.  We watched both giraffes for quite awhile - they were just so cool.

And finally.  The elephants.  The male even trumpeted at some passing trucks.

And the baby was still out playing.  It came over to the closest area - about ten feet away - when it saw us watching.  Owen was super excited...maybe because all the women were talking in their super-high-pitched-squeaky-baby-voices.  Eh.

And wrapping up Africa, Gina rode the camel.  She's so brave.  

I was happy that all the animals (save the lions) were out and showed off for us (and there were so many others that just didn't make the blog cut).  Being from Africa (duh) I guess the heat didn't bother them as much as it does the humans.  

Tomorrow I'll wrap up the trip with the Maryland nature exhibit, Gina's startling transformation, and our dramatic exit.