A Visit to the Zoo in Stoeckheim.

Six of us went to the zoo yesterday, and ate Currywurst, drank beer, and had a really good time celebrating Monika's birthday. Her real birthday is in January, but she thinks it more fun to wait for summer and have a trip out in the fresh air with friends to celebrate. The zoo is not large, and has a collection of mostly small animals, monkeys, parrots, rabbits, pigs and goats, although we also saw some large friendly camels, a not so friendly tiger and a rather irritable large horse, who kicked his fence while his friends the ponies stood idly by and watched.  Interesting wooden sculptures and benches can be found  placed around the zoo, and to the left, you can see Monika and me with a very wooden man, his wooden hatted wife and  little wooden  son. With a plan of the zoo at hand, we wandered around and looked at  the animals, accompanied by what felt like the entire population of Braunschweig's young schoolchildren, all of whom had been let lose for the morning. 

Monika bought a bag of animal food, and suddenly became the best friend of the goats and camels. The lowest photo shows her feeding two of the bigger goats, the poor babies were pushed to one side and didn't get a look in.   The goats are kept in a pen where children can wander freely and stroke the animals,  although this is not possible with the tigers!

Squirrel monkey.

The little squirrel monkey above seemed just as interested in us as we were in him, but we were not allowed to feed him or his friends, so he and his companions clung to the fence and squealed a protest as we walked past.   The morning was overcast and cool, but by lunchtime,   as we arrived at the cafe,  the sun began to shine on our party, and a good time was had by all.  Thank you Monika for a lovely morning.

Monika feeds the adult goats.