Nassau, The Bahamas Ardastra Gardens & Zoo February 8, 2013 Thursday     Friday     Saturday Sunday    Monday Previous Page                                                                   Next Page

Ardastra Gardens and Zoo

Friday - day 2 (continued)

We visited a few of the downtown Nassau shops, then caught a taxi to take us to Ardastra Gardens, Zoo and Conservation Centre. We had timed the visit to allow us to attend a couple of events at the zoo and had a little time to walk through the exhibits. The day was getting pretty humid and the shady walkways were a cool pleasure.

The majority of the animals on display at Ardastra are birds. I thought the most interesting birds were the Trumpeter Hornbills, one of which was working very hard at cracking open a snail right in front of us.

We participated in a Lory Parrot feeding. Lory, Lorikeet and Lory Parrot are all the same bird. A young man had us clean our hands with disinfectant and then took us into a large pen with the lories, giving us thin slices of apple to hold up for the birds. He tried to convince people that it was good luck if a bird pooped on us.

We went through the rest of the small zoo and then went to the Marching Flamingo show, for which Ardastra is famous. The flamingos were originally brought to the zoo for a breeding program, and the zoo staff learned how to use their flock behavior to put on a show. That performance was featured by National Geographic in 1957 and the Marching Flamingos became world famous. The show is a little corny, but several members of the audience are invited to pose with the birds and it was fun.