Kobe Trip Part 8: Kobe Oji Zoo

[Introduction]

I traveled to Kobe in early March. In Kobe, major tourist spots such as bay area, Kitano Ijinkan-gai and Chinatown were concentrated, which was convenient for tourists. In this article, I will write about Kobe Oji Zoo as part of Day 3.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1: Fly to Kobe with Skymark
* Day 1: Chinatown and Former Foreign Settlement etc.
* Day 1: Meriken Park and Harborland
* Day 1: Meriken Park and Harborland (Light-up)
* Day 2: Kitano Ijinkan-gai
* Day 2: Ikuta Shrine, Nunobiki Herb Gardens etc.
* Day 2: Kobe Great Bridge (Light-up)
* Day 3: Kobe Oji Zoo [This article]
* Day 3: Kobe Animal Kingdom
* Day 3: Chinatown and Old Foreign Settlement (Light-up)
* Day 4: Himeji Castle
* Day 4: Akashi Kaikyo Bridge
* Day 4: Sannomiya

[Travel Date]
2018.03.08 – 11

[Main Part]

Breakfast at Kobe Motomachi Tokyu Rei Hotel

The third day of my Kobe trip started. To begin with, I will have breakfast at Kobe Motomachi Tokyu Rei Hotel where I stayed.

As I mentioned in the previous day’s article, breakfast was served at a guest lounge on the 2nd floor with a buffet style.

Although I had one more day for my trip, I will check out “Kobe Motomachi Tokyu Rei Hotel” to move to another hotel.

Then, I moved to “Kobe Sannomiya Tokyu Rei Hotel”, the same hotel group.

Originally, I planed to stay at “Kobe Sannomiya Tokyu Rei Hotel” in Sannomiya (三宮), the central area of Kobe. However, the hotel was fully booked during some of my itineraries, so I booked “Kobe Motomachi Tokyu Rei Hotel” instead for the first two nights.

To recap “Kobe Motomachi Tokyu Rei Hotel”, it turned out my decision was good. The hotel was located within walking distance of Bay Area, which I visited on the first day. In addition, the hotel was adjacent to Chinatown (南京町) and I could easily find places to eat.

Kobe Oji Zoo (神戸市立王子動物園)

On the third day of my Kobe trip, I considered extending my visit to Mt. Rokko if the weather was fine. Unfortunately, however, the weather forecast said it would be cloudy with rain, so alternatively I decided to go around zoos.

There are two zoos in Kobe, “Kobe Oji Zoo (神戸市立王子動物園)” and “Kobe Animal Kingdom (神戸どうぶつ王国)”. In the morning, I visited “Kobe Oji Zoo (神戸市立王子動物園)”.

“Kobe Oji Zoo (神戸市立王子動物園)” is a a municipal zoo in Kobe and was opened in 1951. The zoo has about 130 species of animals.

I will walk around the zoo referring to the map.

To begin with, elephants.

I heard they were “Asian Elephant”.

Zoom-in.

I saw a female lion.

She yawned.

A jaguar. Generally speaking, we rarely have chances to see it in our lives, right?

This was “Tantan (旦旦)”, a female giant panda.

She walked around actively more than I expected.

I just happened to see a feeding time.

She looked into my camera, didn’t she?

It started to rain around this time, which was earlier than I expected. I had to hold an umbrella in one hand, so I took photos only when I thought it was a good chance. Here are some snaps.

Kangaroos.

Zebra.

Crocodile.

Tortoise.

Iguana.

Cat.

Prairie dog.

It was eating its food with relish.

Very cute.

Ring-tailed Coati.

Koala.

Koala is said to spend most of days on sleeping, but when I visited the zoo, it stayed awake.

Red Panda.

On the contrary to Koala, I had an impression that Red Panda always moved around, so I had had difficulties in taking their photos so far, but this Red Panda was relatively calm.

It seems he/she liked his/her tail.

Chinese Pony.

Sheep.

All of them were very calm.

I recalled “The Silence of the Lambs” 🙂

Finally, two capybaras that were standing side-by-side.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about Kobe Oji Zoo as part of Day 3.

As I mentioned in the article, the zoo has about 130 species of animals from major animals such as elephants and lions to rare ones including jaguar. Actually, “Kobe Oji Zoo (神戸市立王子動物園)” is the only zoo in Japan where visitors are able to see giant panda and koala at the same time. The zoo is not so far from Sannomiya (三宮), the central area of Kobe, so if you are interested in the zoo, why don’t you visit it 🙂

In the next article, I will write about Kobe Animal Kingdom as part of Day 3.

[Map]

1 Kobe Motomachi Tokyu Rei Hotel
2 Kobe Sannomiya Tokyu Rei Hotel
3 Kobe Oji Zoo

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