At the zoo

January 2, 2006 - 11:23 AM by David Brinn

With the kids on Hannuka break from school, we took one day last week and went to the Safari – the sprawling Ramat Gan zoo. Sprawling for Israel anyway.

The main attraction is driving through the ‘safari’ section – a trail of a couple miles where hippos, lions, giraffes, ostriches, and other assorted animals wander around and, except for the the lions, can mingle with the humans and their vehicles.

The secondary attraction, but a very close second, is the zoo, which is a friendly, more down home version of the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem. The kids had a great time, and so did the adults, especially at the gorilla station.

However, despite signs everywhere ordering the patrons not to feed any animals anything, some Neanderthals still felt compelled to send bananas and assorted junk food over the fences. The big male gorilla nonchalantly grabbed whatever came his way like Johnny Damon in centerfield with his new team, which shall remain nameless.

The Neanderthal was quickly shouted down by the rest of us, and the rest of the visit was as pleasant as could be – we saw a just-born giraffe, watched the penguins being fed lunch, and our youngest enjoyed a pony ride.

And, despite taking 20 minutes or so to pass through the entrance gate, it wasn’t even that crowded. Just proves that you can go out during Hannuka, and not be crushed by the crowds.

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