Last weekend, Duncan and I took Jahan to Taronga Zoo. (Some pics here). Needless to say, Jahan loved it - there's not a lot more to say about that. So the point of this entry was actually to deliberate the remarkable way in which parenthood can dramatically alter a person.
I grew up in Africa. Where I lived (well, not far from there), the animals owned the land. Herds of majestic African elephants, giraffe, impala and buffalo would graze freely in thousands of hectares of National Park; prides of lions would hunt amongst the beasts - nature was left to fend for itself. We were the outsiders. We would visit the animals as they rested, driving through their land in our little jeep, and if we got eaten... well, them's the breaks.
The first time I went to Taronga Zoo, on a high school excursion in 1983, I cried. The elephant courtyard was no more than a few hundred square meters. The lions were kept in a tiny enclosure behind sheets of thick glass. The deer were behind bars. And three magnificent giraffe fell over each other in an area smaller than the block of land on which we lived. I couldn't bear it. And I swore then that I would never voluntarily return to this place.
Well, isn't it interesting (and somewhat ridiculous) how things change. After having battled my resistance to taking Jahan to the zoo for some 20 months, I conceded to sheer guilt, finally acknowledging how much it would delight him. And the look on his face when he saw those animals was reward enough.
Am I still just a little bit disgusted that Africa's most precious assets were contained in glorified cages for all to see? Well... yes. But I guess, as with many things over the years, passion sometimes gives way to passion of another kind.
So we left the zoo last weekend, not only with a delighted child, but with rolls of film, brochures, posters, and a sense of gratification I never dreamt I would feel from ever visiting a zoo. Oh... and a year-long membership for multiple entry.
Posted by Dayan at March 28, 2005 08:03 PM