I should have known my mummy had something exciting up her sleeve when she started me on a selection of different tigers. First ‘The tiger who came to tea’ whom she insisted I sit next to and try to drink tea. (Imagine drinking tea next to a tiger! I just about managed to gulp it down.)
Now that was scary enough, but then a few days later she added another tiger stripe to my collection with the Jungle Book’s Sheer Khan. (I happen to look very similar to Mowgli and suffice to say that neither of us slept that night).
Come Sunday – when I was expecting the usual line up of roast chicken, a trip to the park and possibly some Peppa Pig in the late afternoon – we all got into the car nice and early and off we went to the ‘Zoo’.
It was here that I had the pleasure of meeting a real life tiger. I don’t have the words to describe my sentiments (and I am two and rather well spoken) I didn’t know if I was excited, terrified or ecstatic – perhaps all three in equal measure.
Now if you must know I did have a little cry – but only for a minute – because daddy explained about the tiger being a bigger version to Shelly our cat and Shelly lets me pull his tail and touch his toes, so I liked the comparison. It made me giggle actually. And the tiger was sticking his tongue out (or licking his lips). He must have been hungry.
So there we are with a real life tiger in the centre of London and mum says I can’t have HIM over for tea. Unfair much?! I almost lost it here but then I noticed a load of goats and mum said I could go in and stroke and feed them – one even licked my hand when he ate some hay out of it. I wiped the slobber on his wiry coat. He didn’t seem to mind.
There was also a big bird daddy called a ‘turkey’ and said he has the family nose (mummy’s side obvs). I hope I don’t inherit that particular family trait – it was long and bulbous and red and it was swinging from side to side.
By this point I was ready for a snack. Now patience is not my forte. When I want my snack – I want it now and I like to make myself known. What can I say, it gets results. And I’m all about results. So we walked towards the cafe and I was allowed a chocolate muffin – RESULT!
At this point my companion arrived with his accompanying adults. I was too excited to finish eating my food now and wanted to play with my mate but mummy said something about a penguin show starting soon. So off we went (I wanted a good seat). When you are as short as me, you need a good seat in the house to see anything (otherwise you have to squeeze through people’s legs to get to the front and mummy always gets upset with me – so best we try to get there early).
The penguins are very cool and much better in real life. I know Pengi Quin from Baby Jake but the penguins I met today gave me a high five and did little dances for me. It made me giggle and try and do a little dance like them. But I can’t swim yet.
After the penguins we went to see the butterflies. I know all about butterflies. They start as very hungry caterpillars and they eat cheese and cake and leaves and then they go in a cocoon and they turn into butterflies. They were flying everywhere and they were so big and colourful. One even sat on my shoulder. I didn’t like it there. I shouted at my friend – and we managed between us to get rid of this hitchhiker.
Next we went to the Lion Enclosure and although the lions were basically sleeping – we had great fun pretending to be little rangers in the wild and answering the phones and checking out the safari jeep and the lion’s cage (until I heard a roar which delighted and frightened at the same time!).
I had a great day out at London Zoo and we saw loads of different animals – giraffes, gorillas, different fish and the lemurs were all so much fun. I have already made a mental note to return to London Zoo when I am three and the weather is better.
Until the next visit I will continue reading up on animal adventures in my favourite books and play pretend games in the park with my friends.