Edinburgh Zoo has re-opened again! Back at the start of January the Zoo decided to shut the doors once again, while the new restrictions didn’t force it, the ‘stay home’ guidance meant there would be fewer visitors than there even were already, so it does seem like the most logical thing to do. However this past week the zoo announced their re-opening plans for weekends only, with the first weekend for members only – I jumped and booked my time slot immediately! Not much has changed since my last visits in November, the one-way system is still in place with just the few indoor enclosures closed (Budongo Trail and Koalas), and the need to book a time slot for entry still in place. This post is panda-heavy, I took almost 200 photos of just the pandas, and not so many of the other animals – but I still had a great day and saw almost all of the animals at the zoo. It’s also really been something to look forward to, hopefully I can make another visit again soon!
Yang Guang
The zoo opens at 10AM, I headed straight for the pandas when we made it inside, and hadn’t realised that the pandas don’t technically open until 10:30AM – the main path gate was open however so I headed on up and was able to watch Yang Guang (the male) as his enclosure is before the second set of gates (which were closed). It was around 10:20AM and there was no-one else there so we (my sister and mum also came with me) could enjoy watching Yang Guang eat by ourselves. It was a very sunny morning, so there were a lot of reflections on his glass window unfortunately, but I still got some nice pictures of his back! He ate quite happily for those 10 minutes of waiting, then hopped down to have a drink of water. At that point the keeper was opening the gate to Tian Tian’s viewing area, so we headed there, but Yang Guang headed outside at that point. We went up to the outdoor viewing a little later and spotted him relaxing back and enjoying his selection of bamboo outside in the sun – again with his back to the people, but still adorable to watch anyway! The outdoor viewing area is sectioned off with socially distanced spots to watch in, but there really weren’t many other people up there first thing, so I could have plenty of time to stand and watch him. He really spent every second that I saw him eating or heading for another pile of bamboo!
Tian Tian
Tian Tian (the female) was also very much enjoying her bamboo, I’m not sure she stopped eating at all either! I would have loved to see her moving around or going outside, but I’ll settle for watching an activity that isn’t sleeping, I think going up first thing is a good move to catch Tian Tian in action^ She kept her spot on one of the platforms the whole time I saw her, maybe it’s her current favourite, or just all her desired type of bamboo was there. She did a few turns and changed her position to eat whilst lying down, so I have a variety of cute photos of her to look at! I still really want to see her outside in her enclosure, one day it might happen – with the good weather we’re having in Edinburgh I’d hoped it could be today, but maybe next time.
And for a few other species now – the wallabies are always around for some photos, they seemed to be particularly close to the path this time, and this one I got a photo of hopped over the wall and along the path for a distance before heading back into the main grassy area. I think the colours of their fur is just so beautiful! The wildcats were also around on this visit, I only saw the one, who seemed desperate to get through the door into the next door enclosure (it was closed), it was really meowing quite a lot and was quite active walking around – that didn’t stop it stopping to have a good stretch and a wash just like my pet cat at home does though^ And larger on the cat scale, Lucu the male tiger was prowling around his enclosure, this was another occasion when there were no other visitors around so I had my pick of all the viewing spots to grab this amazing picture, it really was a complete ‘right place right time’ photo opportunity! We spent around 2.5 hours in the zoo on our trip, I’d say it was pretty quiet for the first hour or so, then it got noticeably busier especially around the pandas, but we were happy with our visit and didn’t need any longer. I’m not sure what the capacity is, or if it was different this weekend as it’s members only while from March onwards it is members and paid-tickets, but I thought the crowd levels were good. It’s quite easy to be spread out around the park, but of course there were a few ‘hot spots’ around the more popular animals, and the playpark and take-away cafe areas.
