As Monday 16th February dawned cold, but fine and sunny, Sybille suggested that we should take advantage of the weather on my day-off, and pay our first visit of 2015 to Prague Zoo. Here is an illustrated account of our most enjoyable day out.
The ferry boat waiting at Pobabe © Ricky Yates
Prague Zoo lies directly opposite from where we live in Podbaba, on the other side of the Vltava River. As there is no immediate bridge, the only way to get there is by ferry. So we walked down to the Podbaba bus stop and took the bus, two stops to Podbabe from where the ferry departs.
Approaching Podhorí © Ricky Yates
Here we are, approaching the arrival and departure point of the ferry at Podhorí, on the other side of the river. I love the sticker that declares that this small boat is part of the Prague Integrated Transport System 🙂
The main entrance to Prague Zoo © Ricky Yates
There is a half-hourly bus service from Podhorí to the zoo entrance, but as it would have been a twenty minute wait, we decided to walk instead. Upon arrival at the zoo entrance, we paid our admission fee, (CZK 200 for Sybille and CZK 150 for me, as being between aged 60 and 69, I am deemed to be ‘senior’ 🙂 ), and then set off to explore. My apologies that I took the photograph above, as we were leaving in the late afternoon, hence the metal gates across the entrance!
Here are a variety of creatures that we met during our visit.
Bactrian Camel © Ricky Yates
Small desert creatures © Sybille Yates
 Cassowary © Sybille Yates |
 Bird with a dangerous beak! © Ricky Yates |
 Flamingoes © Ricky Yates |
 Great Grey Owl © Sybille Yates |
Trying to be camouflaged 🙂 © Sybille Yates
Tiger © Sybille Yates
Zámek Troja © Ricky Yates
Rather than retracing our steps, we decided to walk home, first passing by Zámek Troja.
Footbridge over the Vltava River © Ricky Yates
Then crossing an untamed section of the Vltava on this footbridge…..
Bridge over the Vltava navigation channel © Ricky Yates
…..followed by crossing the nearby parallel navigation channel on this bridge…..
Stromovka Park © Ricky Yates
……before walking back home through Stromovka Park, just as the sun was beginning to set.
Really striking photos on this post, Ricky and Sybille; nicely done! The animals all seem to be preening in the sun, and the eyes on that tiger are arresting. Looks like you had an active day; that’s quite a walk to the zoo and then into Stromovka Park, which is absolutely one of my favorite places to walk in the city. Also, how do you like living in the Podbaba area? We are considering a move up to Prague 6 or 7.
Glad you enjoyed the photos, Em. Sybille kindly let me use some of hers – she has the better camera 🙂 The glorious weather certainly seemed to be appreciated by the animals & birds as well as by us. Other than the initial short bus hop & the ferry crossing, we deliberately chose to walk the rest of the way to enjoy the sunshine & to keep fit. Having lost so much weight on her pilgrimage, Sybille is very keen not to put it back on!
As the flat comes with the job, we have no choice as to where we live. But it’s only 15 minutes on the tram to Church, easy access to the Šárka Valley & Stromovka Park, & there are several inexpensive bar-restaurants close by. So overall, we’re pretty happy living in Podbaba.
Oh, that took me back, Ricky! 🙂 I have many happy memories of the time you and Sybille took me to Prague Zoo, though our expedition was rather less strenuous. Lovely photos.
I know you enjoyed Prague Zoo when you were here in 2010 & 2011, Perpetua, so I’m very pleased to be able to revive those happy memories. Being a bright, sunny day helped with photo taking and several of those featured here are by Sybille, who has the better camera.
Hi Ricky,
I’m delighted to see you had a great visit to Prague Zoo, My wife and daughter visited it on one of our trips to Prague and they thought it was better than some of the others we had visited as regards visibility of animals and the ability to get close to them. I’m always delighted to see zoos get a good press as for so long it was politically incorrect to be a ‘zoo fan’. Sadly it has taken the near extinction of many animals to bring about the renewal of interest in zoos and their conservation role. Long may we have zoos and safari/wildlife parks to allow us see so many of our fellow creatures in the flesh. Thank you Ricky.
Hi Sean – I used not to be a great fan of zoos but Prague Zoo has changed my view completely. As you rightly point out, the role they now play in the conservation of nearly extinct species has become exceedingly important.
[…] I wrote in an earlier post, three weeks ago on Monday 16th February, we made a round trip to Prague Zoo. A week later on […]
It’s been years since I’ve been in the Zoo itself… but my grandma lives nearby, so this is an area of Prague I’m well acquainted with – sometimes, we would have walked over those bridges through Stromovka and all the way to one of the railway stations! And the botanical garden is a fairly frequent destination.
You should visit the Zoo again Hana. There always seem to be new things to see & fortunately, the complex has now fully recovered from the flood damage of June 2013.
There have just always been new places to visit instead… various châteaus like Bucovice and Buchlovice, we’ve been to the smaller zoo in Ohrada months before they brought in marmots… (There was some disappointment when I found out they planned to! But they also have many other interesting animals.)
I understand what you mean, Hana. But we do enjoy visiting old favourites as well as discovering new places.