Besides it didn't need to take an even like that to have that happen but the intrigue and my sheer confusion built till Christmas day. I even had applied for a Tuesday off in late January but could only tell the boss I needed the day off but not why! However when I opened my Christmas card and I spotted a great photo we took of a Meerkat at Taronga Zoo I knew something good was round the corner.
Unbeknowinlgy to me upon our arrival in Auckland back in June during one of our often brochure grabs at the Tourist info centre I had remarked that Auckland Zoo conducted behind the scenes tours and how cool that was. So Anja hid any brochures from the Zoo and any time for the next six months when I suggested we visit the Zoo she somehow took me off on another tangent.
My present was to be a Primate tour giving me the chance to feed some lemurs as well as cotton top tamarins in a small group. The sheer uniqueness of this present knocked me off my feet and I started to count the sleeps till my day on January 29th arrived that I would take this tour. It was a bonus that January 28th was Auckland anniversary day so we gave ourselves a four day weekend which was to be rounded off with my first visit to Auckland Zoo.
We arrived bright and early awaiting for the Zoo to open at 9.30am and with school back we only had the pram convoy to contend with on what weather wise was to be a truly spectacular day. Anja went and purchased her normal admission ticket and we entered together for me to be ushered to the information area. To our delight the only other person booked on the tour was an older lady from Aberdeen, Scotland (where my great grandparents hail from) so Anja was able to come along at no extra charge as well as the Aberdeen ladies husband and grandchildren.
So we gleefully walked hand in hand listen to the tour guide who was a lady with a fountain of knowledge and not too shy to offer it gave us a rundown of this zoo. We were fortunate to come across some staff getting the first glimpses of some baby meerkats making their first time out into the open and this was just the start of a magnificent day.
The Meerkat-Babies
We headed to the back of the lemur enclosure to see some of the zoo keepers areas and then we got our first plastic gloves for the day ready to feed these friendly creatures. Upon entering the enclosure it was obvious we were expected and they don't do the tour daily so as not to make the lemurs complacent. After being reminded not to walk on their tails we crouched down as they came to us and knew what we had!
Seemed like the Lemurs were quite hungry...
... no more food?
She has food.... he might, too!
Their paws were so cold and they were so trusting and it was truly a mid blowing experience and to share that with Anja was extra special. We were told to feed them the raisins one at a time and hide the rest in your other hand but they knew that trick! Luckily our tour guide took plenty of photos during these moments but in your mind it is easy to recount how lucky you were to be in this environment.
Yeah - Lemurs!!!
Hungry!!!!
That's it - I am full - I am done!
Sadly it was time to leave and bid our new friends good bye but once we were out of supplies I think the friendship was over...at least for them. Still though we continued to walk through the Zoo with our guide who was never short for a word and we arrived at the spider monkeys. One of the best things of these tours is that the keepers understand how you are and the spider monkey keeper held off feeding till we arrived. So the normal would be at a zoo to try to catch a glimpse of them but we had the fortune of the whole gang coming to us! We even caught glimpses of the babies and this view was another thing to make this day and my Christmas present even more special to me.
Spidermonkey Mum and Baby
We made it to the cotton top tamarins after fetching their truly disgusting feed of worms (still alive). Again on came the plastic gloves but no complaints there for this one. These guys are so small but also very attentive to anyone feeding them and again we found this quite a lot of fun.
Cotton Top Tamarin
These guys were quite hungry, too!
Yum, worms!
Bah!
The tour was meant to take about ninety minutes but after two and a half hours our guide had to go and we really found this to be a great experience. We even scored a CD of photos documenting the day and apart from the slight confusion upon trying to pick this up we spent the rest of the day seeing what Auckland Zoo had to offer.
One happy visitor!
They were enduring a slight upgrade but after making our way around this zoo it stacked up well against what we had seen already but after enduring our tour we knew it was time to go home and let soak in what was truly a remarkable day. Makes my task of thinking up something unique for Anja's birthday all that more challenging but well worth it!
Jason
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