Of all the Zoos I have ever visited, Africam Safari is my favorite by far. This zoo is located in the outskirts of Puebla, Mexico and it is the biggest Zoo in the country by far, making it definitely a must visit place if you ever come to central Mexico.
I am not a big fan of Zoos because most of the times they treat the animals in a terrible way, and the animals are not happy because they are enclosed, but Africam Safari is different.
The facilities are gigantic, which allows the animals to roam free and be wild, while the visitors get to watch them in a sort of natural environment and the animals enjoy a lot of space to run and be happy. The visit involves two different parts, one by car and the other one by foot, and obviously the part by car is my favorite... you can see the animals at your own pace and from the safety of your car, and at the same time you can see them very up-close and watch how they behave with one another, it's like seeing a Naitonal Geographic documentary, but live and full color.
De todos los zoológicos a los que he ido, Africam Safari es mi favorito. Las instalaciones son gigantescas, por lo que los animales tienen mucho espacio en dónde vivir y estar muy bien cuidados. Me gusta que el paseo sea en coche, porque vas a tu ritmo, no puedes tocar a los animales y es como si estuvieras en el cine, viendo una película de animales salvajes.
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But as I said, not all the visit consists of driving by with your car and getting to see the animals two meters away from you, there's a part of the tour where you have to get on foot so you can see the crocodiles, hippopotamus, flamingos, ground tortoises, chimpanzees, snakes, and birds.
Pero no todo es en coche, hay una zona en la que te puedes bajar, para ver a los cocodrilos, los hipopótamos, los flamencos, las tortugas terrestres, los chimpancés, serpientes, mariposas y pájaros.
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In the bird zone, I think it is called an Aviary, there's a guy who handles who gets inside and who leaves, mainly to avoid letting the birds out but also to take care of the birdies inside, and not without reason, because inside and if you want to, you can get a small stick with bird food kind of glued... and once you get the hold of it, you will have hundreds of little birds surrounding you, trying to eat the delicacies in the palm of your hand.
En el aviarío, hay un señor que te vende un palito con comida para ave y es increíble como cientos de periquitos llegan a comérselo a menos de medio metro de ti.
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During this trip, I realized that I hate monkeys (of all types). When we got out of the car to watch the chimpanzees, one of them - that was obviously on the young side - snatched a turtle from the pond that surrounds the enclosed chimp area, and began playing with her, first very friendly but after a while, he started bouncing the turtle on the ground, trying to rip it open with a stick, and after a while, even hitting the turtle against the ground. Me and my sister got very angry and him and went to find a zoo guy to ask if that behavior was normal and if so, why do they allow it so easily and not take care of all the animals. I get that it is the circle of life and they can't mess with the natural order, but at least they could try to avoid this kind of things from happening.
En este viaje al zoologico, me di cuenta que odio a los simios. Cuando nos bajamos a verlos, uno de ellos (se veía que estaba en la adolescencia) tomo a una tortuga del estanque y comenzó a jugar con ella, entrellandola contra la piedra, raspando y tirándola al suelo. Tanto yo como mi hermana y mis primos estábamos muy enojados y fuimos a buscar a uno de los encargados para que hicieran algo al respecto, pero cuando hablamos con el encargado, nos dijo que ya había pasado anteriormente y no podían hacer nada, pero que no nos preocupáramos porque no la iban a matar. Si no por nada dicen que venimos del mono, el humano es la peor especie, es violento, agresivo, egoísta, individualista, clasista, resista, homofobico y muchas muchas cosas más.
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Another situation that really pissed me off was that when we were admiring the snakes in the herpetarium, a kid of around 5-6 years old began throwing stones to a Boa. My cousin, understandably angry told the kid's mother to tell the kid to stop, but only after a couple of minutes, the kid went on an threw stones at the snake again and then my cousin told him directly to stop throwing stones and to stop being a rascal. It was on that moment that the father of the kid arrived to the scene and came to the kids aid with the argument that kids will be kids, and that's when everything went down. My cousin started to shout saying that it is not an excuse to be a kid, control your gremlins or don't bring them to the zoo, after a few seconds of word-fight, they understood they were in the wrong and they left.
It is simply sad to find people like this, especially in my country where people have little respect to animals and they have a small and closed mind.
Otra situación que me enojo mucho, fue cuando estábamos viendo a las serpientes y un niño como de 5 o 6 años, le comenzó a aventar piedras al vidrio de la pecera en donde se encontraba. Mi prima fui enojada le comento a la mamá que no lo dejara hacerlo porque lo estaba asustando, el niño minutos después volvió a lanzar una piedra y otra vez mi prima le dijo que neta no lo hiciera, que era una falta de respeto, en ese momento llego el papá e igual de simio que el que jugaba con la tortuga, comenzó a decir que solo eran niños varias veces. Mi prima aun más enojada que al principio, le comento que no importaba que fueran niños, porque la educación venia de casa. Es triste encontrarte con ese tipo de personas, que tienen una mentalidad muy pequeña y cerrada y gente como esta familia, te encuentras en todo el mundo.
Out of these two uncomfortable moments in the zoo, it was simply impressive, all of it, but the part that really blew me off was when we passed right in front of the lions - gladly it was within the safety of the car. I have to admit that my favorite animals are the lion, and the elefant, mainly because they are majestic and at the same time, they impose and have a great presence.
Fuera de estos momentos desagradables en el zoológico, fue impresionante cuando pasamos por el territorio de los leones y las leonas. Debo decir que mi animal favorito en el leon y el elefante, porque ademas de ser animales majestuosos, son muy imponentes.
The lionesses were simply beautiful. They were all lying down on top of a artificial stone setup, and I was able to take a picture before we had to leave - that's one thing when passing by carnivores, you can't stay long or they might want a piece of you... and the lions on the other hand, were all in the ground just chilling.
Las leonas se veían hermosas, todas estaban acostadas arriba de una piedra en hilera, logre tomarles una foto justo en ese momento. Los leones por otra parte, se encontraban abajo acostados.
There was a moment when one the lioness came close to us and just lied down in front of us and we took the chance to take a picture of her. It was simply beautiful.
Hubo un momento en el que una leona, se acosto arriba del cofre de un coche que estaba de adorno y aprovechamos para tomarle una foto a mis sobrinos, sentados en los asientos con la leona en el cofre.
These are my two nephews being happy after a long Zoo visit, aren't they beautiful?
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There are many animals that are able to coexist in the same place, just like jiraffes, rinos, ostriches, zebras, deers, camels, amont others... and there are some that definitely are not made to live with each other like tigers, chimps, crocs and hippos.
Out of those two isolated events that in no way represent how the animals live in Africam Safari, I highly recommend visiting this place.
Hay algunos animales de diferente especie que pueden convivir juntos, como las jirafas, los rinocerontes, las avestruces, las cebras, los venados, los camellos, entre otros., y otros que definitivamente, solo pueden convivir con su especie, como los leones, los tigres, los simios, los cocodrilos, los hipopótamos, etc. Fuera de esos eventos desafortunados que mencione anteriormente, recomiendo ampliamente este zoológico, así que si algún día se animal a venir a México, ájala lo puedan ir a visitar.
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If you ever come to Mexico and visit Puebla, you should definitely pay Africam Safari a visit.