Friday, August 26, 2016 (Cochrane, AB)

This morning Ken took us for a walk down a trail on his property to the lake. At one point, the lake level was quite high...that explains all of the dead trees along the water's edge.

We walked along the shore...

...and came across a couple of fellows that work for the municipality...one was out in the water cleaning a screen on a pump that controls the water level in the lake...

We walked back up to the road, making it a loop walk back to the house. By the time we were back, Charlene was ready...and we were off into Calgary. The new 24 million dollar pedestrian bridge across the Bow River...

We spent the afternoon at the Calgary Zoo...so, you guessed it...tons of pictures...

A large portion of the zoo is located on St. George's Island in the Bow River.

We started off with lunch first...and then headed off to view all of the animals. The 120-acre zoo is organized by into six distinct zones: Destination Africa, Canadian Wilds, Penguin Plunge, Dorothy Harvie Botanical Gardens and ENMAX Conservatory, Eurasia, and Prehistoric Park.

Bactrian Camel...

Komodo Dragon...

White Rhino....

Kids love the train ride....

Snow Leopard...

Amur Tiger...

Alpine Ibex....

Japanese Serow...

Illuminasia - Lantern and Garden Festival takes place in September...

Conservatory and Gardens...

Butterfly Gardens...

Two large butterfly's...

Bats....

 Alligator...

The male gorilla died last March so all the females are out of sorts right now...

Hippo's...

The Calgary area suffered extensive flooding in 2013 closing the zoo for most of that year. 140 animals had to be evacuated mostly from the island. As you can see on the right they are building a levee around the island. Haven't seen that since we were in New Orleans...

A white black bear...on the coast known as spirit bears...

See the bear having a shower...

And the most ferocious of all, a Kenny Bear...LOL!

Grizzly bear shaking...

Bull Elk...

Cow Elk...

Whooping Crane...

Caribou...

Dall's Sheep...

These guys were just laying around next to the Owl...

Alpine Meadow...

Rocky Mountain Goat...

Big Horn Sheep...

My favourite...The Penguin Plunge...

 Prehistoric Park....

 The dinosaurs were animated...roaring and moving...very cool...

Fossils...

As Canada's most visited zoo, Calgary Zoo was in 2015 recognized by TripAdvisor with its Travellers' Choice Award. The zoo has also received international recognition as one of the top zoos in the world for conservation research. In 2013, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums said "the Calgary Zoo sets itself apart as one of the top zoos in the world." In 2015 the zoo was named one of the top three most respected organizations in Alberta.

And that concludes our tour through the Calgary Zoo...very impressive and well worth a visit if you are ever in the Calgary area.