The Shell Zoo

While cleaning up the kitchen this morning, I saw a familiar face peek in the window.  Tracey had come by to invite Selah and I to the zoo.  Not knowing anything about it but certain that it was a rare opportunity since it's located on the Shell military base, we accepted and were ready in no time. 

We drove the less than two miles to the base, were allowed entry, and crossed over the airstrip--making sure to look both ways and up in the sky!!  We then passed through the housing complex composed mostly of rundown buildings and next we meandered down a dirt/rock road which led deeper into the jungle.  Once we parked the car, we stopped at the small hut to surrender our entrance payment of $3 and off we tromped down the path which paralleled a small winding stream.

Over the next half mile or so we encountered about seven huts constructed to depict the different native tribes found in the Ecuadorian jungle.  Each hut was extremely small, made roughly of the same raw materials of sticks and leaves, and reminded me greatly of how spoiled I am even in my cement block house.

The stream we followed eventually became a short waterfall in one spot and then a larger one in another.

 

 

We eventually did see some animals--much, much fewer than you would expect. 

Some were in cages...

 

 

And some were not. 

 

This monkey took off with a piece of unsupervised sandpaper when no one was looking and later tried to harass a few visitors including yours truly. 

 

Tracey's brother, Zack, tried to shake hands with this monkey but he was less than friendly to a perfect stranger.  I don't honestly think these monkeys were part of the zoo; they simply live where the zoo happens to be situated.

 

One of my favorite parts about the zoo, however, was the fact that we were able to get right down to the Pastaza River's edge.  Here is flows fairly strong but is rather shallow in comparison to what it will be in high rainy season.  (We've heard that that annual rainfall here is something like 24 feet.  Yes, you read that right. 24 feet of rain falls here annually.)  In the distance is Banos (said ban-yos), hidden by the clouds, where I took those great pictures on our move here.

 

My other favorite picture is a little hard to see.  In the photo below down the middle appears little pieces of green.  Each of those pieces are tiny bits of leaf which are each being carried on the back of an ant.  This line of ants stretched more than five feet long.  When I looked in the grass from where they came, it looked like the grass was wiggling. 

 

Though we did not see much wild life in cages, we did see a good deal of 'wild life' native to here.  Thanks for reading!  Blessings, kim