Fiji Zoo - Viti Levu, Fiji

(clipped from Back of Bourke)

Rating:

Variety of animals: 6

Quality of exhibits: 7

Getting around: 10

Pet-factor: 9

Overall: 8

What to see: opportunity to hold several rare Fijian iguanas, a rope bridge and walk through some fascinating flora

What to miss: there's a back portion that is mainly plants - no critters

* * *

At long last, after driving through enough sugar cane to make even my teeth hurt, we arrived at the zoo. I would like to preface this next series of photos by saying that, while this isn't necessarily the best zoo I've seen, it is most definitely not the worst (Hyderabad, I'm looking at you and your Geocities c. 1996 website...). That being said, this is actually a pretty great zoo. The only real gripe is that it is small, but it does contain a lot of local Fijian wildlife, and I still managed to spend 2 hours there while my driver kindly slept in the car.

The zoo, at first glance, didn't particularly look like a zoo - it was essentially a gate that disappeared into a wad of thick foliage on the side of a large hill. I made a mental note that this was not such a bad idea, and planned on setting up a mundane gate to let people into some uncharted wilderness back home and call it a zoo.

My hopes of swindling the uninformed were dashed when I discovered that there was actually some semblance of structure through the gates (more than just a semblance, really - an elaborate infrastructure of climbing pathways, cages, and gazebos). After paying a reasonable fee, I wandered into the main courtyard where there were a series of small cages and terrariums sitting along the perimeter. No sooner had I taken a few steps than a large lizard was thrust in my face accompanied by the cheerful query 'would you like to hold it?' Of course I would.

Oh yeah - you'd grin like a fool too if you were

covered in banded and crested iguanas.

Iguana is the new black.

Staring contest. I lost.

Admittedly not the largest snake I've held, but

still cool nonetheless. Laugh and I will throw it

at you.

I also got to hand-feed a hawksbill turtle little

pieces of fish. Well, by 'hand-feed' I mean

'threw bits of fish in the water lest I get my

fingers bitten off in a spectacular display of

gore and flying digits.'

A barn owl. I have wanted one ever since I

saw the movie Labyrinth. I have also wanted

my own David Bowie.

Ok, I swear I did nothing to antagonize this

bird - it just wanted to kill me for no reason.

Ok, this one I may have antagonized.

(I didn't).

Half of the zoo snaked along through these

wooden walkways hidden in the trees.

Little-known fact: The neck of a cockatoo

can support up to 17 tons of weight. This is

just how they sleep.

An Indian ringneck parakeet showing

off for the camera with a little balancing

act.

A red-breasted musk parrot.

A slightly larger crested iguana than the one

I was holding earlier. My memory is a little

hazy, but I believe this one was big enough

to crush a 3-bedroom home.

A collared lory - a better name, I suppose, than

calling it a toupee'd lory.

I don't know about you, but I didn't know that

peacocks hung out in trees.

A sweet lily pad pond.

Plant? Flower? Venomous camouflaged

creature? Not about to find out.

I wandered toward the back of the zoo

and there was no one there. In all fairness,

there wasn't a whole lot back there other

than this really cool tree.

See those spiky things? Those are pineapples.

I learned a ton at this zoo - for whatever

reason I've never really thought about it.

Y'know, just a couple of lizards hanging

out on a tree. Ain't no thang.

Like I said - had the zoo nearly to myself.

Ran around like a madman.

...and bounced across the rope bridge

like a fool.

We now return to your regularly-scheduled

angry bird programming.