The One With The Zoo (3/30/2013)

This week is school vacation.  So I decided to travel out of the village to the city of Mbeya to meet up with Sarah, another WorldTeach volunteer.  We have been relaxing, enjoying the running water (and it is hot!!) and electricity as well as the luxury of not having to cook for ourselves. 

I had heard that there was a zoo in Mbeya (let me remind you that, although Mbeya is the third largest city in the country, it is really no more than a large town by American standards).  A zoo… in Africa… I have been waiting for months to check it out.  So yesterday Sarah and I set out to find the zoo.  A few hours, four busses, and a few wrong stops later we made it to our destination.  But as we walked up my heart sank… the gate was closed and the only person inside was a woman mowing the grass.  So we stood at the gate looking in and looking at each other.  And then the woman mowing the grass saw us and walked over to the gate.  She welcomed us in and we asked if they were open.  She said no but that we could come in anyway.  We stood there for a minute, realized that she was serious, and started our tour around the place. 

After looking in a few of the cages we turned around and saw an Emu, right behind us, not in a cage or anything.  Then I looked around a little more and realized that about half of the cage doors were open.  So we spent the next half an hour walking around with the animals and looking at other animals before we finally decided to head back to the hotel. 

Nothing is ever what I expect that it is going to be here in Africa, but that is partly why I love it so much!

Me with the Porcupines