Masoala in Zurich / Introducing a new toy

A zoo can be a very sad place. All the animals locked up in cages not bigger than a couple of telephone-cells – for those who still remember what a telephone-cell is. The zoo in Zurich had to deal with a considerable loss of visitors probably due to the lack of modernisation of its facilities. So they came up with a completely new idea: Why not build a hall as big as two ice-hockey stadiums and plant rain-forest in there? All the animals that live in such a rain-forest should also live in that hall, and the visitors can walk through the hall on walk-ways and see the animals without glass or metal bars in between. Of course some animals were considered too dangerous for such an exhibition, so no tigers, poisonous snakes and other ‘fierce creatures’ were let in the hall. The whole project is called ‘Masoala’, as is the name of the rain-forest in Madagascar. See some impressions here...

Chameleon catching a fly

Gecko posing for the picture

Unknown bird - there are hundreds of these orange things!!!

Chameleon stalking

With this post I’m also introducing a new toy of mine. Yes, I did it: I bought the brand new Nikon D300. Although it's a rather expensive camera, I think it's worth each penny. It took me some time to get familiar with it, but now, after almost a month, I know what the main menues are - of course I still haven't tested all the 400 or so sub-menues... See sample-pictures here.

Sparrow greeting a snail

Dragon-head flower - can't remember the correct name...

Cherry-tree