Nabubwaya Chambers is a Kenyan mom living in Texas, USA with her husband and their 18-month old son Lema. Nabubwaya loves sharing her motherhood experiences with us here and this week, she lets us know how a family trip to the zoo went. Read on.
“The other day, we took Lema to see some of the animals he has been learning about over the last few months. It turned out to be a trip to the zoo for all of us since we saw animals and birds we had never seen or heard of at all.
Some of the animals I had never seen before were ring-tailed lemurs, endangered wolves, North American river otter, ocelot, coati mundis, cougar, mountain lion, American black bear, capuchin monkeys, mule deer, and coyote.
The birds were bald eagle, guanaco, common rhea, and emu. Our eyes almost popped out of our sockets when we saw a giant guinea pig. It was beyond huge that one could have thought our eyes would pop! Baba Lema and I were both so excited to see those animals and to spend time at the zoo.
Lema also got to feed a tortoise and lots of ducks. His father and I got a kick from seeing his reaction every time he would see a different animal. The reactions ranged from excitement to non-expressive looks sometimes.
These animals were behind a fence in an environment that was set up to appear as natural as it is in the wild as possible. There was absolutely no way anyone could come close to these animals. I could clearly see questions running through Lema’s mind. I wished I could figure out what he thought about.
Comparing Nairobi National Park and the Alamogordo Zoo
Having gone to the Nairobi National Park and seen all the fantastic animals I saw at the Alamogordo zoo, I would say that both zoos have unique ways of trying to recreate natural environments for the animals and birds. The ones in Nairobi seem to be in a more natural and open environment and there is clear visibility. Yes they are behind a protected fence, but one gets the sense that they are in a more natural and less restrictive environment. Also, they seem more lively in Nairobi than the ones we saw at the Alamogordo zoo. Perhaps it was the time of the day that we visited and the heat that made them look so lethargic. We were there in the afternoon and it was really hot in the ranges of 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit.
All in all, our son had so much fun away from what he was used to. I figured a new environment could be helpful for all of us, once in a while. I don’t know about others but I know it works wonders for me. I’m usually rejuvenated by breaks from time to time. There is more to life than we may think there is. New territories wait to be explored so go out and just do it.
Have a lovely day!”
Click here to read past entries of Nabubwaya’s motherhood experiences from Texas.
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