At The Backroads

SD Zoo Skyfari

San Diego Zoo is nestled in the northeast corner of Balboa Park, a cultural and horticultural oasis right in the middle of the bustling seaport metropolis and in the heart of the paved city. It is right next to downtown San Diego, but it feels a world apart for me since if downtown is dominated by concrete and tall buildings, Balboa Park is dominated by museums, gardens, clubs, theaters, hundred-year old trees, sports facilities, fountains, and a forested like San Diego Zoo. The trees and the plants of San Diego Zoo are also its residents main source of food, such as eucalyptus for koala and bamboo for pandas.

Flamingo Exhibit

When you enter San Diego Zoo, it would be like in a crossroad as where to go. However, facing the entrace is the Flamingo exhibit, that usually people entering would proceed there and observe how the flamingos interact with each other.

Pensive Flamingo

Talking (?) Flamingos

Contortion of a Flamingo

Though San Diego Zoo is not as huge as its sister park, the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park, yet walking the entire 40 hectares of the zoo would also give one a decent exercise. If one is already at the Flamingo exhibit, right next to its boardwalk is the Monkey Trails and Forest Tales Exhibit. It is a naturalistic home to more than 30 species of African and Asian birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, some of the world’s most exotic and endangered wildlife. Connecting to the Monkey Trails is the Gorilla Tropics Exhibit.

A Young Gorilla Playing

Adult Gorilla Watching the Young

From the Gorilla tropics is the Scripps Aviary, which is a young African rainforest complete with waterfalls and freely flying birds. From here, you can connect your walk to the Tiger River (sorry, I could not find my tiger picture), to Ituri Forest. 

Hippopotamus Exhibit at Ituri Forest

Sleeping on Top of Each Other

Guenon At Ituri Forest

Playful Swamp Monkey

At Ituri forest, you can see eye to eye with the river hippos and you can see swamp monkeys play with otters. Once outside the Ituri Forest, you will see the Panda Bear Exhibit.

Giant Panda

Playful Panda

On top of Tree

More of San Diego Zoo to come……..

Continuing from my previous post, The Sky After The Santa Ana, the beautiful sky of Sunday’s sunset and Monday’s sunrise told me that Monday’s sunset would be another pretty sight as more clouds roll in for the coming gloomy days that started Wednesday. Thinking that I mostly post here sunset pictures from the ocean, I decided to take a leisurely afternoon hike at Piedras Pintadas last Monday.

Lake Hodges from Piedras Pintadas Trail, at Sunset

I started the hike enjoying the bunnies that came my way,

the birds who would fly away from the grass where they rest as they hear probably my footsteps, the egrets resting peacefully on the lake,

waterfowls,

grebes,

and interesting dried flowers of native plants.

They seem to be my companions as I follow the trail that winds on the hill and later towards the edge overlooking the lake.

The place may look so far and out from civilization, but the reality is this is still part of the city of San Diego. Piedras Pintadas Trail is right next to Rancho Barnardo Community Park, the northeasternmost community of the city of San Diego, south of Escondido, west of Poway and East of Rancho Sta Fe. This community is one of the big job centers of the city and of the county, which includes high-tech, science and biotech centers. The joy of living in San Diego is that there are so many places that one can escape civilization in an instant! They may look too far hidden from civilization, but they are actually just in the middle of the city. Seeking the peacefulness of nature for me is very energizing and rejuvenating.

Here are some sunset pictures from Piedras Pintadas trail last Monday:

The first set of of pictures follow the flight of the egrets. There was another flock of birds before this, but I missed them

Egrets Flying Over Lake Hodges ( 1)

Egrets Flying Over Lake Hodges ( 2)

Egrets Flying Over Lake Hodges ( 3)

Egrets Flying Over Lake Hodges ( 4)

Here is a picture of just the calm waters of Lake Hodges reflecting the hills and the blazing clouds on the sky 

The next set of pictures follow flock of birds again but this time, the birds were flying over the hills

Birds in Flight, Lake Hodges ( 1)

Birds in Flight, Lake Hodges (2)

By the time the sky turned darker and the blazing hues of sunset grew more intense, I was already at the other side of the hill, but nevertheless, here was the sky over the hill.

Bernardo Hill, dusk (1)

Bernardo Hill (2)

And here is Rancho Bernardo Community Park, approaching night

For this last picture, I had to use flash since it was getting dark where I was and I forgot to bring my tripod . I was just trying my best to steady my hand when I took the other pictures.

For more information on Piedras Pintadas, please click here.