Have you ever wanted to pet a leopard? What about cuddle a chimp? Or feed a crocodile? Well, if you ever find yourself at Musee Vivant in Burundi, you can do all of those things.
While we were in Bujumbura, Burundi, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law took us and their kids to the local zoo, which features animals from East Africa.
Bujumbura’s zoo, Musee Vivant (“Living Museum”), doesn’t have the red tape or safety precautions of zoos in the States.
Part of that is really fun–nobody at a zoo in the U.S. would allow you to pet a big cat with gigantic fangs.
It also means that you do have to use your own common sense to decide what is or is not a good idea…like maybe if you’re wearing a ponytail, don’t snuggle the baby chimp. If it gets curious and yanks on your hair–well, there goes your scalp and your face.
Fortunately, my nephews don’t have ponytails.
As you can see, there’s a good reason why my sister-in-law calls this “The Petting Zoo of Things That Should Not be Petted.”
The Musee Vivant also offers a cultural element. Our tour guide took us through an exhibit showing recreating a traditional Burundian elder’s home.
There are several of these houses clustered together. One big house would be for the elder, and each of his wives would have a smaller version.
Our three-year-old wasn’t actually that impressed by the animals in the zoo–he’s not much of a predator person and I wasn’t too keen on letting him watch the crocodile hunt down a live guinea pig, anyway. He was more interested in finding sticks and drawing in the dirt with Auntie Joy.
But he did love walking through the houses and trying to climb this gigantic kapok tree with his cousins.
What about you? Which animals would you pet? And would you climb that tree? Let me know in the comments!
The Sint Maarten Zoo just keeps getting better. How, you ask? Well, for starters: water features, gardens, and renegade pigs. Although that last part isn’t quite intentional.
Since I moved to the island of Sint Maarten a year ago, I’ve been to the zoo four times. Today’s visit was definitely the best. The zoo has put a lot of effort into improving the grounds and making it look beautiful.
About four months ago, I was part of a volunteer crew through American University of the Caribbean that helped the zoo clean up some weeds and leaves and such. Every time I’ve done a project like that in the past, the place looks just as weedy a month later. Not so with the zoo. In fact, it was even cleaner than the way we left it after our clean-up day. The areas we weeded had become landscaped paths and nice gardens. It’s always looked nice, but today everything looked excellent.
I brought three kids to the zoo today. One of them, Aloha, had never been before. His reaction to the animals was priceless! He really didn’t have very good luck at first, though. As soon as we walked in, one of the parrots in a cage flew at him and scared him half to death! It wasn’t aggressive, just curious, but he’d never seen such a big parrot before. Then, he was so loud and excited that he bothered a crabby monkey, who flung a fistful of food at him. Of course, this only made him more loud and excited.
There’s a little white cockatoo that says “hello” whenever you walk away from it. Aloha walked past the bird, and it called out, “hello!” He returned the greeting, “hello!” and spun around to find the person who shouted at him– but there was no one there! He was surprised to discover that it was a bird talking to him. I couldn’t help but laugh at the confusion on his face!
The littlest one was quite enthralled with the huge shipwreck playground. It’s the biggest playground on the island, and it’s a really good one. No only does it feel like a real ship, there are also a lot of ladders to climb and tunnels to crawl through.
The zoo recently added another play area, too. This one has trikes, hammocks, and tunnels. It was a good place to stop and eat lunch. Aloha said he was going to live right there forever.
The oldest one was most interested in the iguanas. There are a lot of these lizards at the zoo! The green iguanas that run free all over the island are actually not native to the island. They used to be limited to a private pond, but escaped during a hurricane. They managed to eliminate all of the native iguanas and take over the island.
As you can see, they like to hang out at the zoo!
I gave the kids some bread so they could feed the iguanas. The little one just tossed the bread at them and liked watching them eat, but Aloha and the oldest one enjoyed feeding the lizards by hand.
The oldest one ran into his friend who works at the zoo. His friend’s task for the afternoon was to round up all the intrusive iguanas and put them in the iguana exhibit for the time being. The wild iguanas bother the other animals and eat their food.
Of course, the oldest one thought that iguana wrangling sounded like fun, so he joined the hunt. I took Aloha and the little one to check out the new splash pad. It’s pretty cool! They have a bunch of kiddie pools and some big sprinklers. There weren’t too many kids there, so they had plenty of space to play.
I hadn’t thought to bring dry clothes, so we decided to walk around the zoo again to dry off. Aloha liked the caiman. I liked the rabbits. The little one liked the mules, even though you can’t tell from this photo!
Actually, the little one was more interested in the swing than the animals at this point. Although he was still pretty enthralled with the talking cockatoo.
The most exciting part of the day came just before we left. Somehow, a pig wandered out of the farm animals exhibit. I saw him walk past me, and I wondered if he was supposed to be running free. He didn’t seem to be bothering anyone, so I just watched him root around in the dirt. Before long, I saw the zookeeper searching for something. I asked him if he was looking for a pig and pointed where the pig had gone. He went jogging after the pig, and a minute or two later I saw the pig fly past me the other direction with the zookeeper and his son hot on its heels! Aloha and the little one decided that this was great fun, of course, and so did every other kid in the zoo. Before long, there were seven kids, a zookeeper, and me all chasing down Houdini Pig. Aloha ended up cornering the pig so the zoo keeper could catch it. He was very pleased with the whole episode. After all, it’s not every day that an animal escapes at the zoo and you get to help catch it.
The oldest one was having so much fun that he decided to hang around the zoo after I left with the little kids. He stayed for a few more hours to volunteer, which was pretty cool of him. He’d been very helpful with taking care of the kids during the trip, too.
We were all pretty happy with our afternoon at the zoo! It’s nice that the Sint Maarten Zoo is always making the zoo better and more fun. At $10 for adults and $5 for kids, it’s a pretty affordable treat that includes animals and play time. Both of the younger kids begged to go back again the next day! Perhaps another zoo day will be in our future.
When Central Park was conceived in 1858, it was designed to be filled with all sorts of interesting amusements for everyone. This spirit lives on in the Central Park Zoo, a small animal park filled with creatures you’d never expect to find in New York City.
During my trip to New York City last summer with my family, my parents and I had a single day left in the big city once my sister left town. We could pick one thing to do in the afternoon, so after careful thought, we chose the Central Park Zoo!
We actually got there only an hour before closing time, but we thought it was still a good idea to look around. The tickets were $12 each, which was totally worth it for the hour.
The first thing we saw was this seal. I’m going to wear my emotions on my sleeve here for a bit and tell you that I’m really really sad about how this picture turned out. I had the camera on the wrong setting and forgot to change it back to auto. If it was on the right setting, you would have seen the seal on the rock and the NYC skyline behind him. I tried and waited for another chance at the shot, but the seal got all excited about being watched and decided to swim all over the place instead. As a brief caveat, if any of my readers know how to fix this photo, I would be eternally grateful.
This bear was the star of the zoo. He was an old, mellow bear, and he came right up the the window where all these little kids were pressing their little faces against the glass. One little boy had his hands on the window. The bear lifted his big paw and placed it directly on the little palm on the other side of the glass. It was the most precious moment.
At the center of the Central Park Zoo is a pond surrounding an island. The island is home to snow monkeys, which were cute but less than polite.
The Tropic Zone is the best part of the Central Park Zoo. It’s like a huge tropical enclosed aviary! There are even two floors to it, and an aquarium. It feels so real, like you actually stepped into a jungle or a rain forest. I think that if I lived in New York City, i’d visit the zoo all the time in the winter just so I could get warm and balmy here.
It also has a lot of cool animals, like a iridescent blue poison dart frog and this ring-tailed lemur.
Our hour at the zoo ended much too soon. It’s a pretty small zoo, but we could have entertained ourselves there for hours. If you’re in New York City, be sure to check it out! It’s a nice, inexpensive NYC experience for the whole family.
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P.S. Did you see that I added Pinterest buttons to my photos? Be sure to pin a couple of your favorite images before you head out!
Safari Niagara is probably the coolest zoo I’ve ever been to. The cost of entry gets you a look at hundreds of animals, interesting shows, access to the go-cart course, and even a huge ropes course. It’s a great place to take a huge group of kids. Here’s 14-year-old Theo from the island of Sint Maarten on Safari Niagara and his experience there.
Today we went to Safari Niagara which is a zoo. First we saw a bird show that had owls, hawks, and falcons.
A lady showed us different species of birds.
And then I saw more animals.
I saw tigers, bears, lions, parrots, macaws, foxes, tapirs, and camels.
When we reached, we took a train and saw flamingos.
I think at first we couldn’t look at one bird because a skunk went inside the cage.
By the rhino’s exhibit I rode a buggy whilst watching emus.
Then we ate hot dogs and hamburger and I climbed a huge jungle gym.
Thanks for sharing your journal entry here, Theo! We certainly had a fun time at the park. Be sure to share and leave an encouraging comment for Theo to read!
Kids write the best letters. One of the best parts of tutoring some of the local kids is getting to read the stuff they write! Coach Tom requires the kids to write thank-you notes for everything they receive. You might recall my post about taking the kids to the zoo for the free Endemic Animal Festival. You heard what I thought of the event, but here is what Eric wanted to say about it:
“Dear: Zoo. Thank you for seeing all the animals and playing in the Pirate shap [ship] and sorry for poking the aliegater and for vomating all over the place and for drinks and I had a lot of fun.”
This is one worth pinning and sharing, folks. As Coach Tom says, “You can’t make stuff like this up.”
There is so much to do in Saint Martin/Sint Maarten! Go beyond the beaches and explore some of SXM’s kid-friendly activities. Discover ruins, fly through a rain forest, or feel the whisper of a butterfly’s wings. Make your time on Saint Martin the best family vacation ever!
The Zoo may not be as large or as varied as animal parks in big cities, but it is the perfect size to see with kids in an afternoon. Learn about endemic animals as well as exotic species.
How to get there: Drive to Pond Road in Philipsburg and go north on the Saltpicker’s Roundabout. Turn left at the end of Pond Island and follow the signs.
Loterie Farmhas something for everyone. Located on the grounds of an old sugar plantation, this site is loaded with both history and modern outdoor entertainment. You can take the nature hike, relax by the state-of-the-art pool, or try one of the three zip lines: the kids’ Tarzan zip line, the ropes course zip line, or (for the very adventurous), the extreme course. Keep an eye out– you may see the resident vervet monkeys! The park is closed on Mondays.
How to get there: Go north from Marigot and turn left at the “Pic Paradis” sign. The park is on your right.
Cost: 5 Euros for the hike, 25 Euros for the kids’ zip line, 45 Euros and 65 Euros for the medium and extreme zip lines. Pool chair a towel is 25 Euros up, and is required for pool entrance. The park takes US dollars as well.
Fly Zone Extreme Adventure at Loterie Farm – $70.08
from: Viator Buffalo Wild Wings has a fun kids’ area at the Blue Mall in Cupecoy. I haven’t been there personally, but I hear that it’s a favorite with the expat kids.
How to get there: Blue Mall is located west of Maho in near Cupecoy Beach.
Cost: Price of food
Seaside Nature Parkis a little slice of farmland heaven. You can ride horses on the beach, play on the playground, or feed the animals at the petting zoo. The park also has a playground and a trampoline!
How to get there: From Maho, go through Simpson Bay to Cole BayTurn right just before Daily Extra Supermarket, and take a left at the end of the road (From Philipsburg, turn left when you come down the hill to Cole Bay Go through the one-way street, turn left, and then go right before Daily Extra Supermarket). You have to drive through the GEBE power plant, which seems odd, but you are going the right way!
Cost: $60 for a an hour trail ride on the horses. Petting zoo is $5 per adult and $3 per child. Bags of feed are $1 each.
Feeding the Donkey and Horses in French Cul-de-Sac is a great free activity to do on your way to the beach or Pinel Island.
How to get there: From Marigot, go north until you find the round-a-bout toward Pinel Island in French Cul-de-Sac. Turn left at the school and then follow the road past the school and up the hill to the donkeys and horses.
Cost: Free!
Carousel is our favorite ice cream store. Not only does this place offer delicious ice cream and cotton candy, it also has a full-sized carousel in the back!
How to get there: Located in Simpson Bay
Cost: $3+ for ice cream. Carousel ride is free with purchase on Wednesdays.
Sonesta Kids Zone is a great place to drop off your kids while you relax at the pool. The awesome staff will take care of your kids with games, movies, and fun while you get a break.
How to get there: In Maho. you can’t miss it.
Cost: In order to visit the Kid’s Zone, you have to either stay at Sonesta or purchase an all-inclusive day pass, which is about $90/person for adults.
The Movie Theater is perfect for those days when your beach plans got rained out. Tickets are actually cheaper than most U.S. theaters.
How to get there: Located in Simpson Bay
Cost: $7
Free Outdoor Movie on Mondays at Porto Cupecoy is a fun way to end the day. Just be sure to check the exact time, as they often change it, and ask ahead of time for the title and rating of the movie. Sometimes it’s a family movie, and other times it’s an adult movie. You can buy popcorn and ice cream at Rendezvous.
How to get there: Drive west from Maho and Cupecoy or south from Marigot.
Cost: Free!
Free Kids’ Movie Night at Kim Sha Beach is a good Friday night activity. Adults can also enjoy the food and drink selection at Buccaneer Beach Bar.
How to get there: Coming from the airport, drive through Simpson Bay and turn right after Burger King. Park at Buccaneer Beach Bar.
Cost: Free!
Layla’s Restaurant and Play Ground is one of the few jungle gyms on the island. Enjoy the French Caribbean and let your little monkeys play the day away.
How to get there: Coming from Marigot, go southwest to the “handle” of the island. After Sandyground, you’ll see Layla’s on the right.
Cost: Price of food
Coconut Trees Go Karting is great for older kids and teens. Enjoy some healthy competition and adrenaline!
How to get there: Located in La Savane.
Cost: $15
Feeding Fish in Simpson Bay Lagoon is always fun! You can feed the big tarpon from the Simpson Bay bridge, or you head over the north side of the Causeway and feed the fish by the sunken sailboat.
How to get there: The bridge is the best place, but you can go almost anywhere!
Cost: Free!
Aquamania Playstation is basically a floating playground! It’s a jungle gym on a boat. All the monkey bars, swings, and slides with none of the bruised and scraped knees.
How to get there: In Simpson Bay, park at the beach lot east of the bridge. Walk south on the beach to Aquamania on Kim Sha Beach.
Cost: $10 and up
Port Marigot Fish Market and Farmer’s Market is lots of fun for the whole family. The fish market is a good way to view sea creatures without getting wet. Take your kids around 8 or 9 in the morning to get the best peek at all the fish and lobsters. The open-air farmer’s market is open almost daily to greet visitors fresh off the boat. Find lovely local art, cheap souvenirs, and fresh produce. Oh, and don’t forget to get a fresh coconut with a straw from the coconut man!
How to get there: Located on the waterfront road in Marigot.
Cost: Free!
Ft. Louis
Fort Louis and Fort Amsterdam are two of Saint Martin’s oldest structures. Fort Louis is an easy hike up a few flight of stairs and offers a stunning view of the surrounding area. Fort Amsterdam is a short walk up a slope. In addition to having a beautiful ocean view, this fort is also the site of a pelican nesting ground. Be sure to keep an eye on your little ones– both forts have a steep drop.
How to get there: Fort Louis is located in Marigot. You can’t miss it. Park in town and walk up, or take the back road to park near the top of the hill. For Amsterdam is just southwest of Philipsburg. Approach Divi Little Bay Resort from Philipsburg (or use the Sonesta to make a u-turn if coming from Cole Bay) and make a left into Divi’s road. Park before the gate and let the guards know where you’re going. Walk to the far end of the resort until you hit the fort.
Beaches are, of course, the most popular family activity on Saint Martin. The best beaches for kids are Friar’s Bay, Pinel Island, Simpson Bay Beach, Indigo Bay, and Galion Beach, Kim Sha Beach, Divi Little Bay Beach.
