Going to the Calgary Zoo is so easy and so much fun! The entrance is located right at the Calgary zoo train station. We had pre purchased tickets but we decided to go on a behind the scenes tour with the giraffes.
This is a huge zoo and we planned a whole day there, from 9-5. We started with the penguin plunge, then walked around Canadian Wilds before crossing the bridge, then walked on the discovery train to the Enmax Conservatory with the butterflies and plants, then walked around the Dorothy Harvie Gardens, Eurasia, had lunch and made our way towards Destination Aftica at the Savana Lodge for our tour behind the scenes with the giraffes. We ended our day with the Prehistoric Park and its animatronics and hoodoos.
What a day we packed! We walked more than 12 km including our walk from our hotel to the train. At the behind the scenes tour, we fed them carrots and we learned a lot about giraffes; they never sleep, they only take short minute naps where they close their eyes. Giraffes eat all day and night, and their tongues are purple so that they are protected against uv rays. They were unaphazed by the infamous 2013 historical floods; the water level went up to their chest and luckily they didn’t catch any bacteria or disease.
We saw animals we hadn’t heard of before like the Rock hyrax, an African herbivore that looks like a mix between a sloth and a groundhog.
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