A couple months ago, I was in Taipei for my cousin’s funeral. Despite the circumstances of the trip, it was nice to see family again after so long. My uncle and his wife were very accommodating and took me out to eat at many of their favorite places and even took me to the Taipei Zoo!
It was raining that day, but still a fun trip. I took a ton of photos and saw animals I never knew about before and of course, pandas! One of the best things about this zoo was that you could use your Metro card to get in and it was only like $60 NT, which is under $2. That’s cheaper than most zoos and it’s also the best one in Taiwan!
The zoo is one of the last stops on the Metro going east, another cool thing about this zoo was all the great mural, sculpture, and landscape art all over. They really know how to make a beautiful and interesting zoo. It’s been a long time since I went to any zoo, and this was my first time going to one in another country.
I loved seeing the very natural surroundings of the zoo, Taiwan is really a tropical island with typhoons and all (and the humidity to go with it). I actually think it was better to walk around in the rain in Taipei because the heat from the sun could be really overbearing.
According to the Taipei Zoo’s website, it’s over 90 years old and actually started as a private zoological garden by a Japanese man:
The history of the Taipei Zoo can be traced back over 90 years. In 1914, when Taiwan was still under Japanese sovereignty, a Japanese man surnamed Oe established a private zoological garden in Yuan-shan in the northern suburbs of Taipei City. The Japanese Government in Taiwan purchased the property the following year and transformed it into a public park. Following World War II in 1946, the Taipei Zoo was formally taken over by the Taipei City Government. In 1970, the amusement park adjacent to the zoo was consolidated into a 5.8-hectare park, providing entertainment and education for several generations of children and adults.
Though a lot of animals were in hiding due to the rain, some were more visible due to all being under the same roofed areas.
Anyways, here are some of my better photos from my visit (starting with some from my Instagram photos), enjoy!
https://instagram.com/p/2-mCfbPMxS/?taken-by=porcupiny
https://instagram.com/p/3AKefSPMwF/?taken-by=porcupiny
https://instagram.com/p/3ALkoHPMyF/
https://instagram.com/p/3AL1QmPMyd/?taken-by=porcupiny
