In memory of Vanessa Yasintha Wambura (August 2003 – August 2023).

Imagine being surrounded by thousands of monkeys in the Jungle. The screams and shouts of various animals piercing in your ears. Now imagine running, away from the noise and falling down, and down, and down. Till you land on a tall giraffe. Now all you hear is the hooves of the giraffe, 1, 2 now 17 giraffes all around you, mixed with the roar of the lions and the hooves of the gazelles and wildebeest hitting the floor of the Savannah. Now you’re running, as fast as the gazelles! Suddenly you fall in water, now you’re swimming, with the polar bears who swim past you without a second glance, next comes the splash of the penguins as their oily bodies dive gracefully in the water. The seals performing graceful turns around you. Your eyes sting so you blink rapidly! Soon a fuzzy image and smell of the farm engulf you, there have goats and rabbits and so many creatures around you. Once again you blink and now you’re surrounded by another species of noisy animals, your classmates…That’s how our journey began!

On Wednesday June 3rd 2015 I embarked on an amazing adventure to the Toronto Zoo. All Grade Sixes from Lester B. Pearson PS and various other students and schools form other parts of Ontario visited the zoo. The Grade 6s from my school filed onto the big yellow bus and after quick rules and instructions and the attendance, we were off! My class was divided in 3 groups of 7. As soon as we got off the bus, we got ourselves sorted out, got our tickets and headed out for snack and washroom break. As soon as we were down eating we went to see the Pandas. I love the pandas, they were big and cute and the way their hands manipulated the bamboo into their mouths was ADORABLE! Afterwards we ventured off to see the Polar Bears, they looked so beautiful, sleeping like little babies. We moved on soon enough though to other animals such as monkeys, orangutans, zebra, hippos, rhinoceroses etc.

After a LONG hike up a huge hill, we stopped for some lunch. YUM! After we were done went to see the falcons, the falcons owners were there and telling people facts. I learned that falcons lay around 4-6 eggs per season. The female falcon protects the eggs while the male falcon goes out to get food. Mothers are very protective and often don’t let the dads go near the falcons. When the male falcon has the food he lets out two shrieks and the female will fly to the male, collect the food then take it back to the nests. How cool! Also, when the first egg hatches it is mostly the biggest falcon who then may eat the younger falcons. After the falcons we went to see this really cool tent. Often scientist will study animals, in order to do that they must live like the animals- or near them- so, they would set up a tent filled with non-perishable items, pots and pans, utensils, cutlery, a laptop, a bed with a net to protect them from insects such as mosquitoes, radios, phones, science equipment, a camera, 2 or more water bottles photographs samples, DNA etc. They would then study the animal and/or the animals or humans around that habitat. I would LOVE to do that!

The Toronto Zoo has over 5,000 animals, representing around 500 hundred species, the zoo itself is large, about 710 acres containing 10 km (6 miles) of trails outdoor… for a long walking around. The staff were nice and very helpful and the zoo was beautiful enriched with wildlife experiences. As I imagined! The workers worked hard (working on a new zoo exhibit). The zoo is 41 years old since it was opened August 15, 1974. The history of the zoo is displayed through the animals and the exhibits and old photographs. Though I visited the zoo before, I loved the exercise that I got and how much fun it was. I rate it 4 stars and a half.

Overall, as the day ended, I loved my wild experience. I would recommend that you go there of course to have fun and see some really neat and unusual species. Thank you!!

Vanessa Wambura.