Early on in my stay in Rabat, I visited the Zoo. Though I am not, in general, very keen on the idea of zoos, this one is impressive. Also included are a few more observations on life under lockdown.

The zoo is on the outskirts of Rabat and was almost completely remade within the last few years. It looks as to me as if they have followed best practice to the best of their abilities. It has two main purposes, education and conservation, and is restricted to animals native to the African continent. All the enclosures are as large and natural as possible, and all have areas where the animals can go that are out of sight of the human visitors. The signage is adequate, and stresses whether the species is endangered or not. There are good facilities for school visits, and even at a weekend, there were several coaches in the car park disgorging school children and their teachers. There were also many parents with their children.

Atlas lions – one under a tree on the left, others on the raised platform

The Atlas (or Barbary) lion is extinct in the wild, the last one being shot in 1942, so this pride of 5 is probably a large percentage of the remaining world population. There is a collaborative breeding programme between zoos.

Gabon grey parrot

The Gabon grey parrot, which has a lifespan of 50 to 60 years is threatened in the wild, but seems happy enough here.

Mouflon – a variety of mountain sheep

There are several dozen in this photo, but the easiest to see is the one on the left of the tree canopy. You can judge the size of the enclosure from how relatively small the ones on the ‘mountain’ appear to be. Though still present in the wild, the flocks are very small and separated, so there is a breeding programme to increase the genetic diversity of the wild flocks by reintroductions from the zoo flock. This is only a small fraction of the area available to them.

Desert antelopes

There is also a conservation programme for several varieties of desert antelopes, which have large areas of the zoo with mixed habitats. Note how mallards have decided that the zoo is a good place for them as well.

The Bald Ibis also has a breeding programme, but my attempts at taking photos resulted in them being indistinguishable from the surrounding vegetation.

Vulture aviary

This aviary is home to vultures, but storks have decided that the tops of all the supporting posts of all the aviaries make perfect nest sites. They are more obvious than the birds living underneath the netting in most of the aviaries.

For the education of Moroccans, there are examples of the more obvious African animals such as elephants, giraffes, white rhinos, hippos, crocodiles, lemurs, monkeys, servals, fennec foxes, porcupines, lions and many others I forgot to note. The conditions for these were better than I expected, but they had less space per animal than those in conservation programs.

Flamingoes

There was no netting here, so I could not see why they do not fly away. Maybe their wings have been clipped. The mallards have also joined the flamingoes in their pond.

There is also a remnant of the old zoo left in the ‘zoo farm’. This has some sheep and goats that the children can touch, some hens and plaster representations of cattle and humans performing farm activities.

There is also an old area of aviaries with birds from around the world. As they are long lived species, I guess they had no alternative but to keep them, though the conditions are far from ideal. I tried and failed to get a photo of the blue parrots for Jan Foster – the netting was too thick.

Now that no-one goes to work or school, breakfast is getting later and later; it started at 9.45 am today and ended about 10.30. Lunch (the main meal) is now about 3 pm and everything else moves later and later.

I was exercising on the roof in the mornings, and have now decided that I will be better getting up before everyone else and working out before breakfast. It will be cooler then anyway. However it has not been possible to exercise for the last couple of days as the weather has turned very showery.

Yassin

Ever since I arrived there had been a chain and flex with nothing on the end of it hanging down from the supports of the glass roof. All was revealed the other day when this chandelier appeared and Yassin and Jamel set about fitting it to the end of the chain. Apparently Fatima, the family matriarch, has bought a new one for her own house and given her old one to Assia and Jamel. There were a few small bits they forgot to attach before putting it in place, so Yassin is adding them.

The concept of health and safety was almost entirely missing from the entire procedure. However in bare feet Yassin is probably safer than anyone back home would be. As they all wear backless slippers virtually from birth, everyone has very muscular feet and toes. Still the tiled floor would have been very hard to land on if he had fallen.

The Corona virus seems to be under fair control here, still under 30 deaths, and the number of new cases is very low. This is no doubt due to the very strict enforcement of the lock down, and restrictions on movement within areas. Even the bridges between Rabat and Salé are now closed. The TV shows a lot of footage of police and local authority staff enforcing the rules, together with footage of hospitals standing ready for patients, and of warehouses stocked with food and other necessities. There has been no panic buying, and they are checking that prices do not suddenly go up. Social media shows rather more severe enforcement than the TV.

The family have decided to do all possible to improve our immune systems, so we usually now get a large daily dose of vitamin C by means of a large glass of a suitable juice at lunchtime. So far we have had orange, lemon, cucumber and beetroot, the last having to be virtually forced down young Sofiane’s throat.

Keep safe.