Though I’ve written about Seoul Grand Park twice before, there’s still more there than I’ve had a chance to see. My friend Meghan (a new English teacher living in Suwon) came up to Seoul wanting to see a zoo, and I knew of no better one 🙂

After taking a tram several hundred meters (800 won one-way, about 80 cents), we found the entrance to the zoo. Admission to the zoo was an absolute steal at 3,000 won (about $3). The lovely tiger (above) was waiting to welcome us at the entrance

Simple to read signs in Korean and English direct you to the animal(s) you want to see, along with a distance.

An audio guide if interested in a more guided tour. We didn’t take a close look, although I enjoyed the gorilla advertising it.

Without really looking at the map, our path naturally took us to the flamingos first:

While an excellent map / guide was available in English (complete with walking paths to see your favorite animals), looking at the map almost felt overwhelming – 27 different pavilions / buildings that housed animals were mentioned – not including the other sights of Seoul Grand Park and the common items on any amusement park map (bathrooms, restaurants, etc.). Undaunted, we proceeded essentially on the path of least resistance, which led us to giraffes:

How to keep giraffes cool? Why, give them 20 foot tall umbrellas, of course!

My friend Meghan (posing) with a kangaroo (not posing) during a feeding / petting session. The zookeepers gave us each a couple slices of bread, and although only open for an hour each day certainly got the kangaroos all the bread they needed.

Next stop: the Insectarium – a surprisingly fascinating place even though very little was in English. Bugs, apparently, speak for themselves.

The first main room inside the Insectarium. The panel of buttons lights up the wooden photo frame, although there wasn’t an easy way to tell which button lit up which picture without reading the Korean.

The macro setting work nicely, although I didn’t catch the particular name of this bug.

Black crickets – assembled on top of a lettuce leaf – no telling how often that has to be changed…

Anthropomorphic insect-looking creatures? Check. Not pictured was a bee with his hand – yes, his hand – in a honey jar…

A chance to peer at many varieties of insects through a magnifying glass.

The poor rhinoceros looked a little bored… Being so far away from the humans might have had something to do with it – his shady spot was quite distant from the viewing point us humans used.

Speaking of rhinos… Is this a rest area for the rhinos or the humans coming to see the rhinos? It’s actually a pretty nice play area for the kids (not pictured are some nondescript snack stands):

Slide down inside the elephant’s trunk, then climb the rope back up on top of the trunk or to its side.

Climb up the dinosaur or walk inside – either way a fun place for kids to run around and play while their parents get a snack or drink a few meters away.

One of the larger facilities hosting birds. No birds actually visible in this picture, of course, but the birds in question were both water birds – cranes, pelicans, geese, and whooper swans.

A beautiful bird whose name I didn’t record for posterity.

Some rather random totem poles on the way through the park. An adventurous Korean (not pictured) tried climbing one moments after this picture was taken. Although you might expect security to have jumped all over him, a few stares from some older Koreans (and the insistence of his girlfriend) persuaded to come down before making too much a fool of himself 🙂

Must be fun to just hang out all the time… Two Southern two-toed sloths using some wonderful flexibility to impress the humans coming to see them.

Surprisingly, there were very few signs / rules against feeding the animals; usually it only applied to specific species. The sloths and more than a few of the monkeys knew where to stand / climb, as well as how to reach out (the classic beggar’s cupped hand)

A European Bison – definitely the first time I’ve ever seen one of these before.

The European Brown Bear – complete with ‘oh, look, how cuuuuuute‘ face.

Take a guess which animal would need such a large gap between us and them for safety…

That’s right – you guessed it! Several tigers in one habitat, one of which seemed to enjoy pacing as close to us as he could get – which was still about 20 meters away.

One pet peeve of taking pictures at a zoo are the bars – at times the camera can focus through the bars to make the animal in focus; other times it’ll focus on the bars, making the animal blurry…

In other cases, the lens was small enough to fit through the bars / fence. A caracal resembles the Eurasian Lynx, and can be seen around Africa and Western Asia.

A False gavial – a ‘critically endangered’ reptile similar to a crocodile, but with a thin and long snout.

One of the few signs saying not to feed the animals. It’s only in English; makes me wonder if they’ve had problems with guests from other countries trying to break the rules more than the Koreans….

The sign caught me off-guard – at no point did I even see an ape to justify approaching the glass by turning around and walking backwards.

As the course wound it’s way back to the entrance / exit, I spotted a couple other animals sporting some traditions of their own. The arrow throwing game (called tuho in Korean) involves throwing a rubber tipped arrow through a hole, while the little girl was banging on some drums set up as part of a temporary exhibit.

While exiting Seoul Grand Park, we were treated to an especially high fountain blast or three. An especially wonderful day – but come prepared with your best walking / hiking shoes. Sandals do not prevent one’s feet from getting quite worn out. On the positive side, the zoo was easily the best 3,000 won I’ve spent in quite awhile. I still haven’t seen all of Seoul Grand Park, although I’m more satisfied that I’ve seen a good majority of it. The National Museum of Contemporary Art is also located at the park, as well as a Sky Lift (similar to the lifts at a skiing place), a Dolphin Show, and a North Korean Animals Pavilion…