What normal Canadian family could do in beautiful winter day when outside is -20 C? Exactly, they could visit a Zoo ๐ .
We’ve never been in Zoo Granby before, especially in winter. A little bit cold, but interesting experience ๐ . Our friends invited us to visit this place in advance. Of course as hungry as we are to all kind of adventures, we agreed and were not disappointed.
Zoo Granby.
The Zoo is located in one hour driving distance from Montreal, close to Bromont. It is one of Quebec’s major tourist attractions. The zoo was founded in 1953 and contains animals from Africa, Asia and South America.
Animals in winter.
We couldn’t believe with that low temperature you could see any animal in the zoo, but there were many of them to see. First of all warm climate zone animals were put in the heated indoor pavilions and pools. Looks like animals don’t feel very bad there. The proof could be a birth of baby hippopotamus Coumba who was born on March 6, 2017, few days before our visit.
Some animals feel very comfortable when outside is extreme cold. One of them our favorites of this visit – Amur Tiger and Red Panda.
Africa.
We arrived a little bit late. Our friends were already waiting for us so we skipped the pavilion with elephants and giraffes in hope we will see them at the end. We headed directly to Africa. Obviously all African animals were inside, including Crocodiles.
In the next pavilion we met many different representatives of Africa. The Jaguar was very calm.
But don’t be fooled by his calmness. He is very serious predator and can hunt pretty big animals, including humans.
South America.
From Africa we moved to the South America. Among South African animals there was aquarium with the famous piranha.
Children quickly realized that it was a perfect time to run away (or drive away) from this dangerous place.
But, unfortunately, it was easy to say. We were surrounded …
Luckily a big Camel was passing by and we of course took the ride as far as possible from the danger.
Asia.
Camel was kind enough to bring us to Asia. There we’ve met a little fluffy Red Panda.
This little creature showed us a hidden trail to the king of Asia – Amur Tiger. This big predator enjoyed the beautiful sunny day with the temperature just below 20 C.
Another Tiger was guarding the area, but he didn’t mind that we pass to our next destination.
On our way we witnessed the birth of young dinosaur. It was a little bit scary, so we rushed as fast as possible to Australia.
Australia.
In Australia we ended up in a canyon with interesting art. Who could draw such pictures?
Enjoying mysterious drawings we suddenly reached the big rock wall. The only way out of there was to climb.
Finally after the long and difficult climbing we could get to another side of the wall. There we were pleased to find a gas station.
Close to the gas station there was abandoned car. Yes, this is exactly what we need now. We have so much to see, but the day comes to the end.
But Maxim didn’t want to drive a car. He decided to ride … a Canguru.
Oceania.
In a car and Canguru we finally reached the Ocean. The beautiful coral reef was welcoming us.
And we had a lot of fun playing with Ray. They are so friendly and playful.
Our day came to the end and unfortunately we didn’t meet elephants with giraffes, but we couldn’t miss the gift shop ๐
Advice notes:
- Winter is not a bad season to visit the zoo and the benefit is a better price and not as crowded as in summer.
- Be prepared to spend a lot of time outside. This means – worm cloths are important.
- In the central part of the zoo there is a food zone where you can find all you need and avoid carrying the snack with you. But we prefer to make our sandwiches at home because we want to know what is really inside ๐
- Try to arrive as early as possible. During the winter season the zoo works from 10 AM till 4 PM and you will probably need all this time till the last minute. We arrived a little bit later and unfortunately missed elephants and giraffes ๐ .
- Don’t forget your photo/video camera. There is a lot to shoot even in winter ๐
- Follow the map and don’t miss anything. We were happy to discover ocean pavilion where we spent a lot of time playing with Cownose Ray.