Kidscorner

Saturday 31 March 2012

With a tour guide around Orana park

Orana park is a zoo with 8o hectares of ground about 10 minutes drive from the airport in Christchurch. It is a open range sanctuary where endangered animals have lots of space to walk around. A young friend is a volunteer at Oranapark and works very hard every Saturday and also looks after the giraffes. First we had a lunch on a beautiful spot and then we got a VIP treatment and we learned a lot of facts from our young tourguide.
The lions doze of in the warm autumn sun. The right one is a male. It looks like a female but the male gets castrated, we were told to make them less dominant. The male then looses its manes but they grow into very big animals.
Girlfriend of Gregory Peck. Forgot the name of this Ostrich. Our friend knows the names of all the animals.

I thought that Gregory Peck followed us because he liked us but we learned that he checked us out if we didn't get too close to his girl friend

The cheetah is one of the fastest in the world and can run up to 120 km an hour. The word Cheetah comes from an Indian word meaning 'spotted one'.
 
 Our friend paints the sign and gets a haircut at the same time ;)

My friend took this picture from a lot of big trout in the lake. Look how clear the water is.
The rhino walks around with her young one. Orana Park is part of an international White Rhino breeding program. Our friend has touched the coarse skin of the Rhino. This isn't dangerous he said as the Rhino couldn't see him and because of the thick skin he doesn't feel it either.
My friend and Nathalie. He has fed Nathalie for months when she hurt her tong on the fence. She is all good now.
 
Nathalie or the old girl as our friend calls her She is the oldest giraffe in Orana park. Thanks for the wonderfull day we had.

15 comments:

  1. The ducks and trout image is really good - I don’t think I've seen an image like that before - splendid.

    Stewart M - Australia

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  2. Wat een mooie dierentuin met zoveel ruimte. Ziet er heel natuurlijk uit. Leuk dat ze ook kinderen mee laten helpen met de verzorging van dieren.

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  3. Hi Marja .. what a lovely tour - and how great to have an open air park for the animals .. and great for the local children - let alone the fresh air walk around ..

    Your guide sounds like he is in his element .. cheers Hilary

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  4. If an animal must be in a zoo then this certainly looks to be a good one! That is a very cute photo of your friend getting a haircut. :) Also, love how he is feeding the giraffe and glad the giraffe is better now. I can see how gracefully the creature has aged through its fuzzy face and long slender neck.

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  5. Hi stewart Yep I love the image too
    Great shot

    De dieren habben inderdaad een enorme ruimte zo we moeten soms goed ijken om ze te zien

    He loves it Hillary and it is amazing what he knows

    Yeh a cute funny picture. Nathalie looks still very handsome doesn't she

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  6. It looks like a female but the male gets castrated...

    Poor guy, metaphorically I feel his pain.

    Awesome pictures! I have taken tons of photographs at the local zoo here but we don't go anymore since my daughter now finds it "boring."

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  7. Terrific pictures, Marja. The white rhinos are hugely moving. I was awed to see a mother and youngster.

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  8. As a child I was very happy to go a zoo and that's still the case! This must be a great opportunity for kids to see very interesting animals and learn about them. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. My God what a wonderful place. Colours, Nature… and HEAT! We had snow yesterday again… :-(

    Isn't this old giraffe very cute? But tell me, how come she hurt herself on the fence? It seems to me that the fence should be made in such a way that giraffes can't hurt themselves on it…

    Anyway you're right: what a wonderful day it was… with the haircut.

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  10. Looks like the kind of place I'd like to visit.

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  11. I had n idea there was a zoo there. Sounds as if you had the perfect tour guide.

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  12. Such lovely photos...great post. Thank you for sharing.

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  13. Hi Marja! Hope you’re having a Happy Easter! Sorry for the absence, but things are ever more difficult here...

    It looks great down there...

    Blogtrotter Two is now somewhere in the Virgin Islands... Enjoy and have a great week ahead!!!

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  14. Great place for a visit!Thank you,Marja for your nice photos!
    Happy Easter!

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  15. I love the zoo and visit the San Diego Zoo in Calif when I go to visit my dad. Nice photos and thanks for sharing.

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Thank you!!