March of the Penguins!
01-Feb-08
Hello everyone,
A few weeks ago I went to Asahiyama zoo In Asahikawa. It is the largest zoo in Japan based on last year visiting numbers. Normally i am not a fan of the zoo because it is sad to see the animals locked up. But I made an exception this year when I got the chance to see the March of the Penguins.
During the winter months in Hokkaido, they have a special event where the penguins that live there go on a walk. This is very rare experience as for most of the year they are in their pen, so as you can imagine there is a lot of people lining up to see them.
This was also the case when we got there 30 minutes early and in -5 to -10 weather. The path marked off for the penguins had almost been filled up, but luckly we saw a opening and moved in. Then we waited and waited and waited and people were surrounding us and i was starting to get cold. But then finally they arrived and they were so cute! It was strange to see them so close up and when they walked by you could almost touch them, but i thought that might get me in trouble haha…. so i didn’t.
After the penguins had passed we walked around the zoo and so other animals that were on display. The polar bear looked very sad to me and it made me sad to be at the zoo. Though the tiger made me happy that there was some glass between me and it. But the picture i like the most in a werid way is the last one of the baby penguin as it hided from me.
If you are in Hokkaido in the winter, you really should check out the penguin march. Asahikawa is about a hour or so by train from Sapporo.
