Gibbon

A glorious sunny day today, and we took lunch to Orana Park, a wildlife park on the outskirts of Christchurch.  As soon as we arrived we heard the gibbons in full voice, much more active sometimes.

There was a lot of animal activity generally, and quite a few staff about, but few visitors.  The young rhino was running around tormenting its elders and a young waterbuck was also active.  The male came across the the moat to drink.  A couple of Tasmanian devils were out and about, and a couple more visible in their dens.  Four otters careered around their enclosure, entertaining us if no one else.

We went to look at the gorilla enclosure that is being built, and were surprised to see that it looked totally finished, with information boards erected as well as outside landscaping.  So interesting to hear on the news when we got home that 3 male gorillas have been living there for a few weeks and that today was the official opening day.  If we'd gone tomorrow instead of today, we would have seen the new arrivals in their state of the art accommodation.  This also explained why there seemed to be so many more cars than visitors at the park today.

I will look through the rest of my pics later, but the expression of the face of this swinging gibbon appealed, so that is the one I've chosen to post.