North Carolina zoo

The North Carolina zoo is located just outside of Asheboro, on the south-east side of town. The zoo near Asheboro is 75 miles away from Concord Mills, north of Charlotte. It is easy to get there, by taking I-85 north up to exit 96, then US-64 east. There are brown signs from the interstate to guide you all the way to the zoo. On a regular day without too much traffic it takes 1h15 to get there.    There are two parking lots for the two main entrances, North America Plaza and Africa entrance. One trail connects the two entrances along which all the exhibitions and animals are. It is roughly 2.5 miles from one entrance to the other, so visiting the zoo requires hiking at least 5 miles.    The zoo is divided into two parts, the North America part with animals from this region, and the Africa part with animals from that region. Apparently other regions don’t count or don’t have any animals.    I went to the zoo at the end of January, on a very sunny day. During winter, the Africa entrance is closed, and one or two animals are hibernating, hidden somewhere. In 2007, some renovation was under way for some cages, so I could not see any lions, rhinoceroses or elephants. Some other animals are also just not present in the zoo like the tiger.    Most of the big and common animals are outside, in fenced cages. A thick glass pane protects the visitor from the animals, but the glass is usually dirty and displays a lot of annoying light reflections, which makes it difficult for photography. Smaller and exotic animals are inside pavilions. Fishes, snakes, spiders, small birds are inside small cages among their natural habitat which sometimes can be made of exotic plants or cacti from the desert.    The forest aviary contains a lot of exotic plants and exotic birds that roam freely inside the pavilion. The inside resounds with bird songs. It’s also hot and humid inside to keep the living conditions of the plants. In winter, when you come from the outside, you can expect your glasses or camera to be covered with fog for a few minutes.    The park is at the same time a zoo and a natural museum of plants. The animals are kept with their natural environment, like bamboos, palm trees, cacti. Between exhibits, the trail goes through North Carolina’s natural piedmont forests, with a cypress swamp at one end.    There are a few animals that are worth the visit. The bobcat in the North America section and the ocelot in the Africa section look similar, like two big cats. I liked the polar bear, the flamingos, the wart hogs, the birds in the aviary and the ducks for their display of colors. When I was at the flamingo exhibit taking pictures, a couple of visitors arrived. - Oh look, those two flamingos have only one leg! How sad. - I can’t believe it! You are from Florida and you don’t know about flamingos? They are perched on one leg and tucked the other one inside their feathers, on the other side. - Oh right. I didn’t know, as you said they were old. I thought they were suffering from arthritis and lost one leg. At least, I’m making life interesting. - Sure you do.    One thing is common to any zoo and was the same here: every animal, from one end to the other, is either eating or sleeping. There are a few exceptions of course. The bobcats were showing off in front of a few young visitors. The wolves were walking around their cage, restless, looking like they were devising something evil. The baboons were playing with each other. The gorillas were meditating, playing with a ball for one, or making faces for another. I found the most activity among the ducks. A brown one was especially unhappy with a white one and was chasing him. The white one was part of a family of three, and the two others were following closely the brown making sure that he wouldn’t touch too much at the white one.    I was brave enough to eat lunch inside the zoo, at the Junction plaza, between North America and Africa. The choice is not important at all, and the food is at the same time expensive and quite awful, even worse than a regular fast food.