A visit to the Limassol Zoo in Cyprus
The Limassol Zoo is located right on the seafront inside the municipal gardens. If you have never been to a zoo in your life, then this is a great place to visit. Otherwise, give it a miss. On the contrary, if you have an hour to spend and didn’t know what to do, you could as well spend it in the zoo rather than getting burnt sitting on the beachside.
Cyprus is one of the hottest tourist destinations in Europe and it is a shame that there is no proper zoo in this country. Yes, i agree that the sun and the beaches are what that bring people here, but an full fledged amusement park (not just water parks) and a zoo would go a long way in attracting the complete family to vacation here. This is a very small zoo, just 1.5 acres in area and it would take less than an hour to see all the exhibits in this zoo. I had been here more than 5 years back and i remember seeing a lion there. Even the official municipal garden website mentions about 9 lions being born in the zoo, but i didn’t see any when i went there yesterday or maybe they were all sleeping inside their dens away from public view for the 2 hours i was there.
I had been wanted to go to the zoo again for a long time now, primarily for taking photographs and yesterday, i got the opportunity as Vidhya had some girls-only party to attend at her friend’s place. The entry fee for this zoo is a paltry 80 cents, approx 2 USD. Don’t expect big enclosures for the animals. Almost all of them barring the moufflons, camels and zebras are kept in cages. The last zoo i had been to was more than 4 years back in Thailand not considering the trip to what was called as a zoo in Al-Ain close to Dubai.
I spent a lot of time photographing birds and trying out different shots. The Indian Bengal Tiger was HUGE, but the cage was not very conducive for photography. The Cyprus Mouflon was majestic and i don’t know when i am going to get an opportunity to photograph one in the wild. The moufflon is supposed to be a very shy creature living in the dense mountains of the troodos/pafos region in Cyprus. I have been lucky enough to see one in the wild, but it was too quick for me to capture on photo. There are supposed to be around 3000 wild mouflons. This is another jeep trip to the mountains i have been planning for a long time now.
Some of the photos i took at the limassol zoo are below. Almost all of them are grainy, as i had forgotten to switch back the ISO from 1600 when i had taken photos of the moon the night before and this is not the first time such a thing is happening!
Cyprus is one of the hottest tourist destinations in Europe and it is a shame that there is no proper zoo in this country. Yes, i agree that the sun and the beaches are what that bring people here, but an full fledged amusement park (not just water parks) and a zoo would go a long way in attracting the complete family to vacation here. This is a very small zoo, just 1.5 acres in area and it would take less than an hour to see all the exhibits in this zoo. I had been here more than 5 years back and i remember seeing a lion there. Even the official municipal garden website mentions about 9 lions being born in the zoo, but i didn’t see any when i went there yesterday or maybe they were all sleeping inside their dens away from public view for the 2 hours i was there.
I had been wanted to go to the zoo again for a long time now, primarily for taking photographs and yesterday, i got the opportunity as Vidhya had some girls-only party to attend at her friend’s place. The entry fee for this zoo is a paltry 80 cents, approx 2 USD. Don’t expect big enclosures for the animals. Almost all of them barring the moufflons, camels and zebras are kept in cages. The last zoo i had been to was more than 4 years back in Thailand not considering the trip to what was called as a zoo in Al-Ain close to Dubai.
I spent a lot of time photographing birds and trying out different shots. The Indian Bengal Tiger was HUGE, but the cage was not very conducive for photography. The Cyprus Mouflon was majestic and i don’t know when i am going to get an opportunity to photograph one in the wild. The moufflon is supposed to be a very shy creature living in the dense mountains of the troodos/pafos region in Cyprus. I have been lucky enough to see one in the wild, but it was too quick for me to capture on photo. There are supposed to be around 3000 wild mouflons. This is another jeep trip to the mountains i have been planning for a long time now.
Some of the photos i took at the limassol zoo are below. Almost all of them are grainy, as i had forgotten to switch back the ISO from 1600 when i had taken photos of the moon the night before and this is not the first time such a thing is happening!
Time for an artistic snap. In the snap below, you can see the cage in the eyes of the tiger!
There was also a science centre/museum at the zoo where they had lot of stuffed birds and animals. Played around with manual focus and different exposures to get some photographs.
Technorati Tags: birds animals cyprus zoo limassol zoo bird photography
We were at the zoo in Sept.What tiny place! Cages that are reminiscent of our Auckland zoo in the 1950’s.
its being upgraded finally:
http://www.cyprusupdates.com/2011/01/the-new-limassol-zoo-no-bars-no-cages/