Incredible Israel: Gan HaEm Zoo

The Gan HaEm or the Mother's park hosts a zoological park - institute in Haifa. It is a nice half day trip to the zoo when you pack some snacks or a light lunch for the young ones. Some walking freaks can give their morning walks a miss the day they plan a visit to the zoo. Located on the Carmel mountains the terrain is pretty up and down and they have environmentally friendly vehicles that do a pick and drop service within the zoo pick up points at a reasonably lesser cost of around 2 NIS per person (if I remember right). Staying in Dan Panorama, we didn't want to give it a miss, so walked across the street on a weekend.

The chirping birds do the welcome bit into the Zoo.

Followed by some stinky geese, falcons, flamigos and pelicans.

There is an other birds section which houses the rare parrots and parakeets from Africa and around the world.

The petting zoo is a thorough entertainer for the kids ranging from baby porcupines, guinea pigs and bunnies and some goats and sheep.

The reptiles section is made indoors and shows a wide range of slytherins ranging from a sand snake to the amazon anacondas.

They have a small museum built in, which talks about some pre-historic pottery and some studies.

Last but not the least is the hero of the jungle, Mr. Tiger. Oh Boy, I can just go on and on watching these active tigers of Gan HaEm as compared to the lazy leopards, lions and bears.

The day we visited in March 2009, the Otters won the best entertainer award hand down. Flipping over, somersaults in water, cat fights, their feeding time - it was all worth a watch and was very enjoyable.