Around Kunming: The Kunming Zoo - 昆明动物园

One of Several Entrances to the Zoo

This Rabbit Greets Guests at the Entrance

     Our latest adventure was a trip we took yesterday to the Kunming Zoo (昆明动物园) which is neighbors with the 圆通寺 we visited a few days before.  It was about an 8 minute walk from the hotel so Saturday after breakfast we set out on the adventure.  Admission was only 15元 per adult and the boys were once again free (免费).  Now, right before we left Virginia, we took a trip to the National Zoo in Washington D.C. so that's what we still had in our heads when we were thinking about a zoo.  The Kunming Zoo was a completely different world.  After we got back, I did some research (Google) on the zoo and according to the Lonely Planet website, the animals at the Kunming Zoo have better living conditions than most zoos in China.  If that's the case, I don't know how many other zoos we will be visiting in China because we left this place kind of depressed and feeling sorry for the animals.

This is Some Sort of Haunted Dinosaur Adventure.  According to the Sign, it Has Zombies Which Were a Leading Factor in Dinosaurs' Going Extinct.

This is Part of the Zoo that Doesn't Have Any Animals

One of the Many Varieties of Birds on Display

Baby Asian Elephants

     I'm not sure if the pictures do it justice, but most of the animals are in small, concrete cages which are extremely dirty.  Additionally, there seemed to be very few workers at the zoo other than the people taking money and a few people picking up trash.  The zoo is actually more of a public park.  There's a pretty large amusement park with roller coasters, a Ferris wheel, and a splash mountain-type ride to name a few.  The zoo is divided into two districts.  One is the flower/plant district and the other is the animal district.  The flowers weren't in bloom so we spent most of our time in the animal district.  There's actually quite a good variety of animals at the zoo, but their poor living conditions detract from the experience.  Because it is more of a park than a zoo, the visitors are pretty much left to themselves to do whatever they want.  On several occasions, I watched people feeding the various birds and smaller animals popcorn and potato chips.  At the wolf cages, people would pound on the cages and yell at the animals to try to get them to do something for the camera or just to get their attention.  People would also randomly throw food to the elephants, lions, tigers, and bears, all of which looked miserable.

Adult Asian Elephants

This is One of the Bigger Cages.  The Raccoons Have a Bigger Pen than the Siberian Tigers

I'm Pretty Sure This Bear was Begging to be Set Free

Camels in Their Natural Habitat

Of All the Animals, the Monkeys Seemed to be the Happiest.  This is a Huge Monkey Pen.

 



The Peacock Garden

     One of the interesting parts was the peacock garden.  This was a kind-of-fenced-off area with hundreds of peacocks just wandering around.  They had ropes to keep people off the grass, but nothing to keep the people away from the peacocks.  Those birds are suffering no shortage of junk food which is used to entice them for pictures.  Kate tried to get Stephen in a few close-encounter pictures and all the while I kept imagining how the headline, "American Boy Mauled by Angry Peacock" would translate into Chinese.  Luckily, the mass quantities of popcorn keeps all of the birds pretty lethargic so we made it out safely.

"A Photo of the Victims Taken Shortly Before the Peacock Flew into a Popcorn-Induced Rage"

People Feeding Junk Food to the Peacocks

This is a Standard Tank at the Aquarium.
No Plants, Just Rocks and Concrete. This
Tank Didn't Even Have Any Fish.

     Our final stop at the zoo was the aquarium.  It cost Kate and I an additional 10元 a piece, but I couldn't pass up the picture of the shark on the front of the building.  When we first went in, we saw a row of bleachers in front of part of the tanks that were covered by curtains.  When we first came in the zoo, I noticed a sign that mentioned penguin and sea lion shows so I figured one was about to start.  The bleachers were slowly filling up so we grabbed some seats and waited for the show to start.  After a quick announcement in Chinese (which I didn't understand) the show started.  The curtains parted to reveal a large section of empty tank.  More Chinese came over the PA system and after about 3 minutes of talking, two women in bathing suits got in the tank and started swimming back and forth underwater.  The entire time, there was a Chinese narration, but we couldn't understand any of it.  It was a little strange, but I figured it was a warm-up and we'd start seeing some penguins or sea lions soon.  After several laps back and forth, the ladies finally got out and the lights went out.  "Oh, boy, here come the animals!"  When the lights came back on, one of the ladies got back in, this time with SCUBA gear, and continued to swim back and forth.  Still not penguins or sea lions.  Once again, the lights went out, and this time when they came back on, one of the girls was back, and this time she was dressed like a mermaid.  I never got any pictures of this because I was too busy trying to figure out what was going on, but if any of you ever come to visit, I'll be sure to take you to see if for yourself.  The mermaid demonstration was finally over, and this time, when the lights went out, everybody got up and left.  That was the end of the show.  The rest of the aquarium was a series of small dirty tanks with sad fish.  Before this day, I had never seen (or known) a fish could frown.  The sharks advertised out front were nowhere to be found.  The penguin show was a small tank with four penguins huddled in a corner.  They were too embarrassed to look at the visitors.  The sea lion tank looked like it was originally designed to do shows, but the seats were empty and there were just two sea lions swimming around and looking at us with their sad sea lion eyes.  At one point, somebody peeked from behind a curtain on an upper observation deck when one of the sea lions swam up to us.  That's the closest we got to seeing any kind of zoo official monitoring patron-animal interaction.  After that, we called it a day and headed home.

Another Fish Tank in the Aquarium

This Was the Closest We Got to the Sharks Advertised Out Front.

No Happy Feet in This Penguin Exhibit.

Look at Those Sad Eyes.

     Considering the entry fee is only about $5 U.S., we can't say we didn't get our money's worth, but it wasn't much of an educational experience.  According to some on-line posts, the zoo has actually gotten much better over the past 5 years, but Lonely Planet's piece on it, spends more time talking about the scenic views of Kunming it has to offer than the animal experience.  I'm sure we'll be back, though, because Stephen did have a pretty good time, and we still haven't experience the reptile house.  It will be interesting to see if the zoo conditions improve as Kunming becomes more modern.  We'll be sure to keep you posted.  再见！

As Far as Parks Go, the Zoo Wasn't Too Bad.

There is a Sign Nearby That Marks This as an Historical Landmark, but it is Now Used for Photos and is Controlled by a Guy With a Stand and a Camera.

This is an Old Tomb at the Zoo Outside of the Peacock Garden.