I've made so many wonderful memories in Sydney, but my favorite one by far has to be when I got the great privilege to feed a giraffe named Nyota at Taronga Zoo. She licked my hand and my life is complete.
Photo: up close and personal with Nyota
I was lucky enough to experience this through the Roar and Snore program organized by the Taronga Zoo staff and CEA CAPA. Me and a bunch of other people in the program got to go on a night time tour of the zoo and spend the night there in tents overlooking Sydney Harbor! It's known as "glamping" and it was such a fun time.
We all got to Taronga at around 6PM and from there the zookeepers showed us various sleeping and nocturnal animals such as tree kangaroos, Bongos, Red Pandas and Fennec foxes! We learned a bunch of interesting facts about the animals and got to hear funny stories from the staff. We even got to see sleeping giraffes, which was cool because I've never seen giraffes sitting down. They typically don't sit down in the wild because it leaves them vulnerable to attack by predators.
Photo: the giraffes at Taronga Zoo wake up to the most amazing view every morning
The next morning we got to wake up to an incredible sunrise view of Sydney Harbor and went to visit the giraffes Nyota, Zarafa, and Jiminyu again. Each of us got the opportunity to feed the Nyota, the eldest giraffe, a leaf of lettuce. It was such an amazing experience. Before this trip, I'd never been so up close to a giraffe. I'd always seen them from afar. They're really beautiful animals. I was sad to learn that they're going to become an extinct species during our lifetime.
After the giraffe encounter, we got to see a whole bunch of other animals, many of them endangered. We got the once in a lifetime chance to see a Platypus, one of the most unusual and elusive creatures in the animal kingdom. Platypus are Australian Native species and they can't be found in zoos anywhere else in the world. They are extremely difficult to breed in captivity and only two zoos have been able to do so successfully. Another Native Australian animal that we got to see was the Tasmanian Devil. Their name is pretty misleading though since they're actually adorable.
Photo: one of Taronga's Tazzy Devils caught on the move
We learned that they have a bite that's 4x stronger than a domestic dog and that they are the largest carnivorous marsupial, mostly scavenging from carcasses in the bushland. Unfortunately, their population is dropping rapidly due to a contagious facial cancer. Some other animals we saw include the Sun Bear, Binturong, and of course, Kangaroos and Wallabies, which we got to pet.
I'm usually not a fan of zoos because I feel bad seeing animals caged up, but the Roar and Snore was truly an incredible experience. It was so evident how much the Taronga Zoo staff care about each and every animal. It was amazing to hear about the success of Taronga's breeding programs, learn so much about Australia's wildlife, and have an up close encounter with animals that will soon cease to exist. I know this is an experience I will never forget.
