MY WONDERFUL VISIT TO THE ONLY SURVIVING ZOO IN THE SOUTH EASTERN PART OF NIGERIA

Hey guys, this is my first time posting up something like this...lol

Let me share with you all my experience at the zoo (Imo State Zoo, Old Nekede, Owerri, Imo-Nigeria.

From left, it's Myself, Florida and @tony-duke before we left home!

Let's roll!

So I decided to visit the only surviving zoo in the South Eastern part of Nigeria known as Imo State Zoo, located Old Nekede, in the capital of the State known as Owerri. My visit was fun, twas also a fulfilled one but not 100% as they did not meet my requirement since the zoo is known as the only surviving zoo in the South Eastern part of the country, I was expecting a but much. But not that bad as some of the Animals are gone due to lack of professional zoo keeper or manager!

So here is my experience.

I went with my friends, Florida and @tony-duke. On the entrance, we paid 300 NGN to the zoo receptionist of which we were given tickets and we got in. There was someone there who will have to take us round if we chose to.. So I gave him 200 NGN and he started taking us round!

First we visited the African Rock Python's cage, which in their native language (Igbo Language) is called Oke Ogba. There were two pythons in separate cages but in same house, one is big and the other is small!

See photo below...

Next was the hyena. We saw two species of hyenas, the stripe hyena and the spotted hyena

The stripe hyena were two in number so as the spotted hyena. But the stripe hyena looked small in size while the spotted hyena were big in size. See photos below...

The stripe hyena

The spotted hyena

On the way to see the crocodile, a Horse was spotted and a foreign Antelope also. The foreign antelope was just one in the cage, when I asked the zoo attendant showing us round on why it's just one left, in his reply he said the foreign Antelope do starve themselves to death when they are under captivity.. Woah... Obviously, I never knew that! See picture of the Horse and the Antelope below...

A horse

Foreign Antelope

Now to the Crocodile arena. On approaching the area, I noticed an instruction saying 'do not throw stones or sticks on the animals, and offenders will be prosecuted' obviously, it's something no sane human should do.. They are living things too. So we saw the Crocodiles.. They were about six in numbers in that particular cage. We also saw the African Dwarf Crocodile and the Nile Crocodile as you can see in the picture below...

The African Dwarf Crocodile

The Nile Crocodile

Next was the Monkey's cage and its likes... That's the Olive Baboon (known as Adaka Enwe in the native language), and a Mangabey (known as Enwe Orjii in the native language). See pictures below....

The Mangabey

Olive Baboon

Now to the most anticipated moment.. Visit to the Lion's Den. We were happy when the little boy told us we were heading to the place where the Lions are kept, adding that there are two Lions in the Den with names as currie lol.. I was like currie?? But that's the name and that's how it's been and the native name as Odum.

On getting there we felt disappointed as the male lion was in the inner cage while the female lion was left to roam into the main/spacious Den so we couldn't see the male Lion the way we wanted and we couldn't get to see them in their active mode (something I would've loved). But twas an experience still!

See photo of the Lion's Den and the female Lion (Lioness) below...

Next was the Ostriches. We saw types of them.. Big, and small. This obviously wasn't something new to me but I still took pictures and watched the little boy feed one of them. See pictures below...

We saw the Pocupine also.. It was good seeing such a beautiful animal as I've heard alot about the animal. Something like... It's one of the best surviving animal in the wild. The Pocupine got alot of interesting things about it and I couldn't just bear not taking a picture. See picture below...

Opposite the Pocupine's cage were the Eagles'. We saw two types of eagles namely, The African Fish Eagle and The Golden Eagle.

The African Fish Eagle ('Ugo' as known in the native language) were two in numbers but were put in separate cages as you can see in the picture below, while the Golden Eagle was put in a separate cage also. I heard a lot about the Golden Eagle which, I've never got hear before. I heard about how it doesn't lay eggs under captivity and it's egg is a golden egg, and it always lay the eggs at the peak of the mountain!

See pictures below....

The African Fish Eagle

The Golden Eagle

Inside same building but different cage, was the African Civet Cat (known as Edi Abali in the native language). I heard its a cat and decided to go close but not until I read its a Carnivorous animal.. Lol. I held my cool as I watched the cage, I saw some bones without flesh.. Obviously the cat must have dealt with the flesh and left the bones. It was my first time seeing such Animal.

See picture below...

We also got to see the Fox. Yeah, that wasn't the first time.. So no. Much surprises but it was cool anyway. The Fox is a beautiful Animal and was small in size of which I didn't like. See picture of it below...

It was time to go to the Museum and I was excited because I was told it's a small place but full of surprises. I was eager to get in and see what they've got to offer.. But we had to stop by the way and see the Patas Monkey and the Turtle because they were situated on the road path to the museum.

The Patas Monkey is known as Utobo Enwe in their native language while the turtle is known as Mbe. The Patas Monkey is an interesting animal as it seems aggressive and troublesome.. Lol. While on the other hand, I was disappointed for not being able to see the monkey as it already dug a hole and went in...so we couldn't see it. But Turtle isn't something new to us though.

See photo of the the Pantas Monkey and photo of the Cage where the Turtle is kept.

Pantas Monkey

The Turtle's Cage

Now to the Museum... The much anticipated place in the zoo I was eager to see.

On reaching there, I couldn't help but go sad because we seemed to be late already as it was about 5pm Nigeria time and the Museum keepers must have closed for the day and the place were locked that there was no entrance, not even the zoo attendant was with the key.

But I still got to look a little into one of the rooms to get a glance and I was also able to take a pic of an area where I saw a lion's body and body of some other animals.

See picture below...

So guys this is my experience from the visit to the only surviving zoo in the South Eastern part of Nigeria, Imo State Zoo that's Located in the state's capital, Owerri.

Myself, Florida and @tony-duke in the cut

Even though I was disappointed at some point, it was still fun in the end! I must commend them for keeping the zoo alive. I equally urge them to get some well trained zoo managers/keepers so as to sustain the growth of the zoo!

Thanks for taking your time to read my post, I hope you like what you've read!

I remain @prechi

All images were taken with my Infinix zero 4 plus!