Valley of the eagles I started with a visit to the Valley of the Eagles, which is the main attraction (apart from the view) at the top of the Teleferico route from Benalmadena. The show was very good and nicely done, and there were some touches I quite liked. The falconers clearly know the birds very well. Different birds are flown depending on the weather, but there's a nice collection and a successful breeding programme - which provided some of the Spanish red kites which were released in the UK. A pity this isn't better advertised, but it's a nice setting for some interesting birds.
Museo Alborano - Aula del Mar The rest of the day was spent in Malaga, wandering round town and visiting the cathedral, Alcazaba and Picasso museum. I then went to the port to visit this museum which is dedicated to the Alboran Sea, with some nice displays (including two small giant squid), and a small aquarium on the lower floor. The museum also has a pool for rescued sea turtles, currently housing a young loggerhead. A nice end to an amazing trip.
And now I'm back home. I've yet to spend a night in my own bed since the start of March (since then I've mostly been in London when in the UK). Thank you all. Well done if you've managed to read bits of it - I know it's not particularly easy. Very special thanks to those who've managed to keep up with the whole thing. I'd like to thank everyone who's helped or offered support in any way throughout the trip. Be it messages, recommendations, help, guidance... I've been really impressed by the quantity of support that I've had, especially on zoochat. Thank you all very much. Even if it was a couple of questions several months ago, or a place that I didn't manage to get to, thanks. What to do next? I've now got to stick around and work. I should be visiting local zoos shortly though. In the meantime, please let me know the collections for which you'd like to see photos or full reviews, or a justification of the opinions/experiences I've outlined here. I doubt I'll have much free time so try and get in soon if you can. The initial plan was to keep it to a few brief updates every few days. Given the relative obscurity of so many of the collections, this developed into a few lines (or more) per zoo. Because of the quantity of zoos, and the length of the trip, I felt these might be easier to read or to keep on top of than longer accounts. As a result, I've tried to limit mention of personal (non-zoological) experiences, and even zoo experiences are generally brief. But we're now 223 posts into the thread, and I can't imagine how tough it must have been to read in chunks. Next time (I've no idea when), I'd like to know what kind of format is preferred, so I'll ask in advance. Remember your opinions. Thanks again everyone!
don't worry what others want: you'll get twenty different conflicting opinions on what you should do! It's not easy writing when you're on the road, so just do it however suits you best.
Thanks. We'll see how things look next time, but I was struggling this trip to balance a minimalistic approach with trying to mention something new.
Well it seems like you had an amazing trip Devilfish, do you have a total number of zoos visited? Surely a "number of zoos visited in one trip" record? Thanks for keeping us up-to-date, its been great reading about your adventure, and I think I'm looking forward to your next one almost as much as you must be. I think the format was great, if people want more specific details they can always ask. For example, they might want to know what four wolf subspecies were at Lobo Park?
I wonder if Twitter can be incorporated into Zoochat? That way you can do live Tweets and Twit pics to your thread. I see that Europe has drastically reduced the cost or roaming phone charges.
Thanks. I think it'll be quite a while before the next one. Holiday time will soon be hard to come across, and my bank account seriously needs to recover. I've not really counted - I was asked recently by a zoo's biologist and a quick rough count revealed that I had hit 80, which was a surprise. I'm not sure whether it can count as one trip though. I'm not a big fan of lists but I'll probably work it out at some point. Come to think about it, I think there were five subspecies at Lobo Park. Alaskan tundra wolf (C. l. tundrarum), Iberian, European, Timber and Arctic. They also have an Iberian red fox which I didn't see. I joined the tour late so didn't see the timber wolves. Actually, they have a number of domestic dogs about, so maybe it's six subspecies?
I imagine you'll be proud that I rented a portable wifi hotspot for my first ten days in Spain. Maybe a little less proud that I lugged my laptop along. Or that I don't have a twitter account.
Wow, 80 zoos! Jealous here. Five wolf subspecies (+ dogs) is also amazing, that must be a record there too!
Left my tablet in the UK (more difficult to fill out paperwork and update this thread ). Smartphone was in my pocket.
Final count Wow. I listed them, and the final count is 100 different zoological collections. Eight of them were visited more than once. A nice round number. I'm very impressed. Until I counted recently, I estimated that I was nearing 60. I guess that worked out well then.
I only stumbled across this thread yesterday so I only read about your Spain travels. I was wondering why on earth it was in the Asia thread. What other countries did you visit?
I started with three weeks in Egypt (work), then about eight weeks visiting Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam & Thailand (fun), I came back to London for a few days before a weekend in Istanbul, Turkey (a friend's wedding), then I had a few more days in London before flying to Spain for just over two weeks (family holiday).
Oh very very cool. You still at uni? My brother sent me a souvenir cap from there earlier this week, which has nothing to do with this thread.
No, this was all in the gap between finishing university and my first full-time job. Wear that cap with pride!
Oh wow congrats!! Does the forum know what your profession is? I'll not say much more other than this might be last time until retirement that you get to take an epic trip like this. Cherish those memories!!
