Another article about the Pyongyang Zoo : Zookeeper reveals never-before-seen photos of North Korea's zoo
It actually looks really impressive. Odd, certainly, and not necessarily good, but it looks like a zoo that would be very interesting to visit!
the article also appears to be stupid also one of the captions of one the photos say: " a species of what appear to be cranes are seen inside the aviary." most obviously cranes and and most obviously red crowned cranes.
Do keep in mind that what is "most obvious" to members of this forum isn't exactly obvious to the writer of the article. I was impressed that it was identified as a crane, rather than just a "large bird".
Brings back memories of Cholmondely, whom Gerald Durrell bought in West Africa. I can't remember if he weaned him off smoking (maybe this wasn't mentioned), but he certainly wrote about Cholmondely smoking when he arrived.
I actually saw a documentary following tourists there (I think they were with a basketball team-including Dennis Rodman-, Kim loves basketball). They went to the dolphinarium and watched the show, which surprised me the most since I would never expect something of that level in a country that can't even feed it's people. Seeing pictures of the zoo really interested me. I wish we could know all the species they keep, and that it wasn't in North Korea, because it looks fairly interesting and I don't want to be killed just to go to a zoo.
Certainly not impossible. I know someone who's REALLY into roller coasters, and is in a roller coaster riding club where they count how many roller coasters they've been on and rank them (Similar to zoo chat). Their AMERICAN friends made trips to North Korea just to ride roller coasters. They made it out alive, so it's not impossible. (Don't being any thing Western or religious, like a bible, you will be publicly executed- they still do that.)
Actually western tourists regularly visit under controlled conditions and although it tends to be a stressful trip it's basically safe. I don't think a westerner has been executed in a long time. I would be more worried about the minute possibility of ten years hard labour on trumped up charges to make some diplomatic point.
yes, as FunkyGibbon says, a lot of tourists visit North Korea and it is actually relatively easy to do so - and certainly safe so there's not really any chance of being killed...
That doesn't look like a bad zoo from photos but I think it may have been portrayed to look good. Several times the author states certain cages aren't up to scratch but there's no sign of them in the pictures. The giraffe, lion and bear enclosures look very good as do the aviaries and aquarium. Just a shame there's no species list.
When you look for more pictures of this zoo on google, you see the horrible big cat cages he speaks of, and more, with less of the considerably nicer things seen in the images in the article above. It is also important to keep in mind that if the article was bad mouthing the zoo and/or North Korea, our Russian friend may lose connections there. This is true, and particularly true from those coming from China. However, being an American I would not feel safe in a country of such political instability which has a common theme of hating America. Not many American tourists have been detained, but too many have been detained for me to feel safe. It is also worth noting that certain behaviors could anger North Koreans, such as taking a camera out, something I would most certainly do (I am not sure how much this would apply to being in the zoo, but I do know that certain landmarks are not to have pictures taken of them for being sacred or private). Again if I weren't American, this would likely be very different.
This is an older article but it shows some of the cages, which apparently also contain domestic dogs. http://www.businessinsider.com/what-animals-are-in-kim-jong-uns-zoo-2013-9 And from Google Images, to save you the search: Tigers http://i2.cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/160825095323-01-north-korea-zoo-super-169.jpg Bears (mixed species?) http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016...ly_opened_Pyongyang_Ce-m-48_1471962766927.jpg Feed the Elephants http://i2.cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/160825101122-02-north-korea-zoo-super-169.jpg
Stockholm is in Sweden, not Russia I don't have any plans on going to North Korea, but your second paragraph is a bit rich coming from an American with your country's recent history of imprisoning people on imagined charges with no trial. Not to mention your government's current political stance on foreigners. And as for your third paragraph - visiting the country requires you to be accompanied by "guides" and you are made well-aware of what you are allowed and not allowed to do. It sounds like you are just generally paranoid. Have you ever been anywhere outside the uSA? (Genuine question).
You are correct, I am both paranoid, and I have never left the country. I have no experience traveling with other countries, so I will stop talking about doing so. I will just abide by homeland security's warning not to travel to North Korea being an American citizen. And you got me at Stockholm, silly mistake, this is why I'm not into geography. (I feel stupid now) (I'm just waiting for Un's dynasty to fall apart and hopefully find a North Korea that I can feel safe in)
