On our first day in New Orleans, we decided to take the ferry from the Algiers Ferry Terminal on the West Bank of the city to downtown. We arrived at the same parking area we had used three years ago and maybe the same super friendly man greeted us. He told us the ferry wasn't running but there would be a shuttle bus to the city for $1 each. We waited with several others and soon the bus arrived.
At the terminal building bus stop there is a wonderful sculpture of Louis Armstrong.
Soon we were in the city and headed up Canal Street to Starbucks, one of the only reliable wifi spots we have.
After coffee we grabbed a St Charles Street Streetcar out to University District, where the Audubon Zoo is located. The streetcar was filled to capacity and made so many stops that it must have taken an hour for what otherwise might have been a 15 minute trip!
We got off the trolley quite a few blocks again from zoo and so did a bit of walking to get there. The above house is just one of many very interesting places we saw.
This sign was in front of the house shown below.
One could really take photos of every other house on a street. They are all so very interesting; some very small and some very large.
Marty found that the peacock sculpture by the front steps of one house just too interesting to pass up.
After some walking we arrived at the zoo. The above shot was taken on the way out. At that time, around 4 pm, it was considerably less crowded than when we entered, three hours earlier. The zoo is 58 acres and was created in 1930s and redesigned in the 1980s.
The first creatures one sees upon entering the zoo are flamingos. These fascinating birds have such an amazing color and they all appeared to be standing on just one leg!
One of the lovely fountains and pools was this with elephants and hippos. It was a challenge to get this shot without other people, all the moms with children were trying to get their kid's photos with this as the background.
This is the back side of a structure in a garden area. It was peaceful and lovely.
In front of the building were these wonderful oaks; a wonderful open space in the zoo.
The above is a pano of the building shown in the third photo up and the trees in the photo above this.
On the other side of the trees was the sea lions exhibiton and a lovely elevated pool with a pair of white pelicans. The female is shown below.
The zoo is really wonderful; we agreed it might be one of the top zoos in the country. Certainly it is one of the very best we have ever seen.
The general plan is by areas exhibiting animals from similar environments together in large open spaces. There are very few "bars" and "cages" in this zoo! People walk on paved paths making it handicapped accessible and in some areas on elevated walkways over swamps and other bodies of water.
The above is not a one-legged bird, it's just standing on one leg and was surrouded by turtles.
Unfortunately we didn't identify all the different birds and critters. We belive this bird might be a stork of some kind (and we may also be wrong).
I alligator area we spotted this one in the green plants covering the water. It was just interesting as it gradually came up to the surface and was still quite covered with these little green water plants.
These two birds did not seem to be teathered so we are not sure why they didn't attempt to fly off unless their wings were clipped.
This spider monkey was very happy to just hang by his tail and pull on the plants below. The monkey habitats were really wonderful; they were very open and uncrowded allowing zoo visitors to see them is much nicer environments.
Two more exotic birds, we didn't get their names either. But one has to like the colors on the heads.
Marty's favorite exhibiton area was the Audubon Aviary. This was a space with doors leading into an entrance area and then doors into the main part of the aviary. The exit was the same double-doored to prevent birds from escaping.
The bird above didn't look very spectacular until it came into the sunlight and then it was dazzling.
The brilliant red bird is an Ibis (Scarlet). There were others including several Sacred Ibis, however, they were more hidden in the bushes and so we didn't get shots of them. There was a breeding pair of the Scarlet Ibis and we saw them working on a nest high up in a tree. There were many bird nests in the trees which was very interesting.
This was one of Marty's favorite birds. There were two or three pairs of them and they didn't stay still for very long so capturing their images was a challenge.
After three and a half hours we headed out the exit doors; tired but happy and so very glad that we had made the effort to visit this wonderful zoo. Anyone coming to New Orleans should put it on their list of places to see.
In case just the zoo isn't enough, there is a train ride through the zoo and also this huge rope course somewhat in the middle where saw all sorts of young and old "hanging" out. We're pretty sure this wasn't an Audubon concession, but who knows, it might have been.
Our almost last photo was in front of the day was in front of the wonderful elephant/hippo pool and sculptures.
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