What I Learnt From Our 1st Visit To The Zoo

Last weekend, my son got blessed with his first ever trip to a Zoo. We were out for some work and suddenly the idea of visiting the zoo clicked us from nowhere. Summers are just setting in, at Hyderabad and thus we thought that no other month other than February could be cooler to visit the zoo. So, the trip was absolutely unplanned and still we managed to make the most of it! Sharing with you some pics and my learning from the wonderful trip we had!

For starters, I had a temporary ID card of Pratap of SRCM’s children centre in my diaper bag. I immediately pinned it to his t-shirt (in case something unforeseen happened and …. you know what!). The ID card had his name, address, my phone number and his age written on it.  Also, we didn’t carry his hat/cap to protect him against the scorching heat of the sun. So, the next good thing we did was to buy him a cap. I still can’t believe that we got a sidey cap worth Rs.60 for Rs.30 (the relief of Pratap getting protected of the heat was immense and the bargain amazed me endlessly!)

Unfortunately we weren’t carrying his stroller with us because, before starting from home, we had no intention of visiting any place which required a lot of walking. So, the step we took to neutralize this out was- buying a ticket to a battery operated vehicle. It was a 40 min long ride to the main parts of the zoo, covering most of the animals there. This is how good it was…

Since photography was fortunately allowed inside the Zoo, I managed to click some pics with my mobile camera while trying to manage the diaper bag, my scarf and my mobile itself! Here you go…

Here’s Pratap trying to spot the leopard…Can you?

This one’s the smallest variety of bear…..

Enjoying elephants from a distance…

As tall as a giraffe can be…

We took another ride through the zoo in a toy train meant mainly for kids. It was a totally joyful experience for me and Pratap for no reason sat in the train totally dumbstruck! At the end of the journey he enjoyed posing at the driver’s cabin though!

And, finally after the fun and frolic and the sight seeing, we settled down for some refreshments at the not-so-great cafe inside the Zoo. I didn’t intend to feed my sweetie pie any locally prepared stuff from there and so opted to buy him a mango juice pack which seemed to bring a lot of relief to his tired self.

The best part of the same, though, was that we could see Emus and deer at a distance and that made dining there a pretty unique experience.
Later, my little one enjoyed being on the road, playing with other kids there, going about touching artificial animal statues and felt pretty much at home!

So that’s how we spent our day at the Zoo with my son’s first ever trip there and I must say, that I have a handful of learning now that I am back from the place. When you visit the zoo with your kids the next time, do keep these things in your head:

• Carry a stroller with you in case you wish to visit each and every corner of the zoo by walk.
• Carry a hat/cap for your kid and loads of baby sunscreen to smear on his tiny hands,legs and face.
• Stock up on loads of water. Carry bottles, sipper cups, tanks of water if you can, especially while visiting during summers.
• Do not cover your toddler too much. Let his clothing be light and cooling.
• Stock up on food items as well because zoos (I suppose) do not have very great arrangements when it comes to refreshments.
• Don’t forget to carry your SLR with you. You don’t want to miss any memories in the making!

Did I forget anything? Would you like to add something? Please let me know in the comments section below! Happy outing with your kids!