WE MEET NAMASTE, THE BENGAL TIGER

At 2:10 PM Saturday I read in the tourist brochure that the Hilo zoo had petting zoo hours from 1:30-2:30 pm and that they feed the Bengal tiger at 3:30 pm. I realized that we wouldn't make it for the petting zoo but we had plenty of time for the feeding. This zoo is just a little south of town and is free. Besides being a zoological garden it is also a botanical garden. This is the first thing we saw after entering the zoo.

I was totally fascinated by the colors in this sealing wax palm.

I was even more amazed to learn that rhododendrons can grow and thrive in Hawaii, especially in humid Hilo.

This is an Egyptian Royal Ibis. They are now extinct in Egypt.

Jim spotted this wild poinsettia tree on our stroll toward the tiger pen.

Here is what we came to see.


Namaste has a really nice large enclosure with a big moat-like pond filled with water lillies. It was a really hot day and he had no problem getting right into the water, unlike other kitties that I know.


What a truly magnificent creature! We watched him for quite some time prior to the feeding. The zoo keeper told us that they had been negotiating for a mate for him, but the negotiations dragged on so long that he is too old to mate now. Namaste used to have a gibbon in his enclosure to keep him company. Unfortunately, he ate the gibbon so now he is alone.


When it was feeding time, the zoo worker went to his night cage area and dumped at least three chicken carcasses into it, then rattled her keys. He came up from his lower area, knowing there was food. A bunch of us were close enough to see REALLY large canines crunching through the chicken bones. Like any cat, he licked up the dropped bits off the floor. There are some chickens hanging out in Namaste's enclosure. We asked the keeper why he didn't eat them. She said he had tried before but didn't appear to like the feathers.

On our way to the monkey enclosure we saw this magnificent plant.
We saw exotic donkeys who are descended from donkeys brought over from Africa to transport coffee in the 1800s. I have never seen donkeys with such elaborate markings. Other than that, though, they acted exactly like other donkeys as they concentrated on eating their hay.


The grounds of this zoo are really lovely. Here's an example of some of the other beautiful plants.


Bromeliads are common in the Hilo area but I still can't get used to seeing so many, and climbing up trees like this.

Hand in hand with the bromeliads are orchids. They are everywhere.

The Hilo zoo is small but well worth the trip. There are wonderful parrots, monkeys, secretary birds, pheasants, monarch butterflies, and of course, Namaste, the magnificent Bengal tiger.

Next, a(nother) perfect day.

Audrey