I don’t like Zoos. I have been to the Zoo in Moscow long long time ago when I was a kid, the trees seemed higher, grass was greener and the country that takes 1/6 of all land called USSR. These things are unrelated, but the main thing I remember from my first Zoo experience was concluded in small cells made from concrete and steel where poor animals were kept. Environment far from what these animals used to live in - most of them looked far from happy.
Here in Australia there is no need to go to the Zoo. As I have already written, most of local animals can be spotted almost on the street, moreover, if you were lucky enough, some of them can be found grazing on your backyard. That is, I expected from rural Australia everything but introduction to world smallest monkeys:
These are spices of a kind of Marmoset. Taking pictures of them turned into the nightmare - at first, they are a housemates in a local version of “Big Brother” and therefore occupy large enclosure with glass walls, reflections from which do not make pictures better, at second, they moving across their home as swarm of bees not bothering to stay at one place longer than for a half a second. There were plenty of visitors with much more serious cameras than my archaic Canon A510, but they did not even try to shoot.
This is the Mogo Zoo. From my perspective, this Zoo is situated in the middle of nowhere. It happened so where I grew up all amenities were concentrated in cities which population was rarely below 1 mil of people and if you weren’t happy enough to be a citizen of one of them, the only entertainment you could find around would most likely be a 30th-style cinema and a local chess club (swimming pool was almost always a luxurious feature!), that is the reason why the last thing I expected to find here, in a place called Mogo, placed right between Batesmans Bay and Moruya, was large Zoo.
Looks exciting, isn’t it?
As a good practice, anyone visiting place like this should apply sunscreen before starting to browse, as spending four and more hours just wandering around it is not unusual practice, and don’t think gentle Australian sun will take a break; anybody without protection has good chances of become fried well-done.
Tamarines are Marmosets’ neighbors.
Again, very naughty creatures. I have been shown a full set of acrobatic tricks while was trying to catch them in my camera’s visor.
Remember TV’s series about meerkats?
These guys live in society of roughly 20 members (I couldn’t count the exact number as they are as restless at Tamarines) live in a little enclosure limited with 70-cm height fence, but they don’t seem upset about the size of their estate at all. Also there is a sign telling visitors to keep hands off fenced area as meerkats, unlike monkeys, bite (monkeys just steal rings and watches).
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