September 9, 2015

A visit at the Opel Zoo in Kronberg

This zoo was established through an initiative of Georg von Opel in 1955 and is the home of nearly 1,400 animals and around 200 species originating from all over the world. It is one of the few places that still has African elephants. 

Visitors are greeted by a statue of the founder at the entrance.

The first huge enclosure is set up to resemble the African savannah. Its inhabitants are giraffes, zebras, gnus and antelopes.

And there I found my highlight already: the giraffes. I fell in love with them instantly and spent quite some time watching them. 

This was also the place where I made my favorite picture of today's visit - two young giraffes cuddled up.

There are "feeding nets" with hay set up for the the giraffes - but also fresh branches with green leafs for them to nibble on. 

There were two small giraffes. I could witness one of them interact with its mother. 

Pictures of the younger giraffes...

... and the others.

The funniest pics of the day have to be these two, because this giraffe seems to be playing it cool with what looks like a cigarette.

In the same enclosure are gnus or wildebeests, as they are also called...

... and also zebras.

A family of dwarf mongoose live in a neigboring pen. They are related to the meerkats and it shows.

Following one of the two round tours I came to the elephants. 

An moose resting in the shade.

And a naughty deer. 

Someone was feeding the smaller deer some treats - you can see the look of eagerness on this one's face.

The emu pen is next.

Next to the path sat an animal that was not exactly part of the zoo but nevertheless beautiful.

All over the place are also small birds, mostly sparrows. 

And there was also this big colorful bird. 

In an aviary were all kinds of water fowl - including a black stork.

Smaller birds were taking advantage of the duck feeder.

Coming out of the aviary I came across the probably ugliest inhabitant - and it was quite stinky, too.

From a vantage point up on a hill there is a terrific view of Frankfurt's skyline.

The llamas looked really fluffy and cuddly. 

Coming around a corner I saw this...

... which turned out to be a very sleepy red panda. 

Nearly back at my starting point the last animals I saw were these two camels.

Last but not least pictures of two more statues and an interesting fountain.