a curious coati!
on our second day the weather wasn't yet good enough to go to the beach so we decided to check out the animal park in gettorf, which turned out to be an actual zoo with lots of exotic animals. i love watching & visiting animals so this was a day well spent! on an area of 8 hectare you can find 850 animals, from mammals to reptiles to birds & amphibians. the first animal you see upon entering the zoo are the coatis. they were the cutest starter & were a good indicator of what was to be expected: lots more cute animals ( of course ;P )
the zoo was opened in 1968, which you can still notice in terms of the architecture of the compounds & houses. they do their best though, to give every animal all they need to feel well & taken care of, and every animal has enough room to roam around without being cramped &constricted. i realize that a zoo is actually not the best habitat to live in, but most of these animals were either born in zoos or too sick to survive in the wild so a place where they still receive the love & attention of animal lovers is by far better than to set them free & let them die. i know zoos are quite the problematic issue, and i see the controversies & acknowledge them, but on the other hand i also feel that if we didn't have zoos or animal parks human beings would not actively do something for their protection, especially not for the animals in the wild. i feel that modern zoos do important work to give attention to global animal issues and are actually a huge help with supporting preservational operations. i think without zoos humankind would've probably managed by now to let more & more wild animals go extinct. we are the ones who can help stop wildlife become extinct. and only with awareness we might be able to do that. which includes environment protection. we all still have to learn a lot, because while there is awareness, we still don't do enough for our environment & animals ( & our own health ).
( i know, i've written about this issue before, but still, i think it needs to be said again & again )
emperor tamarin eating grapes. he was so funny & sweet.
the outdoor facilities were beautifully planted with all kinds of borders & flower beds.
my favourites, the meerkats, were also present! i could watch them all day long. i've made so many photos of these animals in the past that i thought i wouldn't overdo it this time. still, my favourite animals! ( well, actually all animals are my favourites :P )
i can't remember i have ever seen a wild turkey before. can you imagine? when we ran into these in an accessible outdoor enclosure i was quite mesmerized by their interesting looks. i especially was interested in their snoods which they could lift up or hang down. it looked really strange, but it was fascinating at the same time! their plumage is really beautiful as well..
peacock camouflage gone wrong. someone should tell him that the grass is green, not turquoise/blue.
white-naped crane. he had the most intense orange eyes i have ever seen.
a beautiful fallow doe. isn't her polka-dot dress the prettiest?
the fallow deer shared their compound with freshly shaved alpacas. there were wooly ones as well, though. anyone who says alpacas are mean clearly is not right in the head. they were the most cozy & loving sweethearts. i even fell in love with one later. i called him checker, because he was quite a sassy little bugger with lots of charm. the alpaca seen here loved to receive tlc ;)
some brown wooly ones.
checker came by to receive his portion of tender love care as well and was very thankful & snuggly 💓i spent quite some time with him and had a hard time saying goodbye. i loved his soft snout too much.
just around the corner: a crazy house. everything about it is upsidedown, even the inside! we didn't enter it, though. i think we were kind of afraid of the consequences after being inside. i heard that some people didn't take it very well, even threw up afterwards. i guess it's quite the experience 😂
poor doggo was probably sick, too.
a muntjac hiding behind a tree! it was pretty shy and i couldn't take better pictures. i love them & they're little fangs!
finally made it to the wallaby compound. there were red-necked ( pictured above ) & tammar wallabies.
the bigger ones are the red-necked wallabies, consequently the smaller ones were the tammars.
and then this beauty arrived. an extremely rare albino wallaby! i couldn't get enough of it and took heaps of photos.
it was a rather cloudy day and we were lucky to have a look at it, since albino animals really try to avoid the sun.
it looked so elegant!
i don't know about you but i am always completely fascinated with albinos. such a strange freak of nature, but still so magically beautiful!
we entered the parakeet complex & were greeted by many budgies and quite a few cockatiels. they were pretty tame and came flying if you had some food to offer!
this experience brought up some childhood memories, as i had two cockatiels when i was little that accompanied me through my teenagedom until i moved out at 20 years old. i couldn't take my dearest hoshi with me and had to leave him behind. my parents didn't have time to take care of him and we decided to give him to our local parakeet breeder who was actually able to care for him much better and give him a life with cockatiel company. i think it was the best solution, even though i still miss him sometimes... but at least he was/is with other cockatiels & budgies and wouldn't have to spend his time lonely and sad... hoshi was quite the lovely bird, he loved to sit in your hair and sleep in there, also liked it if you stroked his little orange ear patches, which always made him yawn. he once even managed to fly away but return the next day! my other cockatiel, pedi, wasn't such a favourite, he was always quite mean and picked people. he too flew away, after i gifted him to a friend of mine, but never returned. sometimes i think i should get myself a bird again, but i hate not being able to give them enough room where they can fly freely ( & shit on everything, lol ).
my dear hoshi looked similar like this one.
loving budgies!
i took some photos of other people feeding the birds, but then i also wanted take turn as well.
and snapped a quick shot of my own cute lemon-coloured budgie 💕
the cockatiel tree.
what is it about fluffy birds looking all cozy that i find so extremely adorable?
sleeping.
this grey one was soooo pretty!
there is also a tropical house with a small butterfly section! this one looked like it carried a galaxy with it. i do believe it's the emerald swallowtail.
these purple plants with their tiny pink blossoms were a dream. maybe i can score something similar somewhen in the future? ( my research tells me it's a plant commonly known as wandering jew, but i like purple secretia much better. )
the citrus swallowtail.
the blue wave.
victoria crowned pidgeons are quite the sight.
i was a little sad to capture this beautiful bird with a fence in the way: the blue-bellied roller.
please tell me the truth: who doesn't love the stolidity of lowland tapirs?
the flag was marking the stomping ground of the striped skunk. stinkburg means stink castle.
and here is the master of the castle.
these lar gibbons were fascinatingly creepy with their long arms and legs.
and of course lazy as fuck. i get it... you can't really do much when you are captured inside a compound.
these barbary macaques ( which i've always been very fond of in terms of ape affinities ) were having quite a cuddle fest.
and this freshly born barbary lamb was such a delight to watch! it was still a bit wobbly on its feet, but already attempted risky jumps & generally was pretty hyperactive annoying its herd!
inside the tropical house my first attention was drawn to this beautiful corner. look at those lush orange/red leaves! another plant to covet! couldn't find any infos on these.
it was wonderful how the sunlight lit up the leaf veins 😍
inside the tropical hall a big family of squirrel monkeys were running around! they had babies! it was the cutest!
little kissy for aunty?
they were watching the rain outside and talking to each other with cute whistleing calls! it filled the house with quite a wonderful atmosphere, like you were in jungle.
these two were a little petulant. they warmed up later, though and were quite interested in my umbrella. unfortunately i was too dumb to shoot pictures.
after our zoo visit we drove back to eckernförde and made another round through the city.
galerie nemo. this former boat house for the students of the local architecture school was erected from 1935 to 1939. as the name tells you, these days it's a gallery, but also a copper plate workshop. the most outstanding details of this building is the big blue-white striped gate & the hipped thatched roof. these roofs are very traditional in the north, but unfortunately you don't find them everywhere anymore. it's a lot of work to create these roofs and you need the perfect material for these. knowledge about this way of building roofs has gotten rare and only a select few of craftsmen knowing these techniques still exist in germany. whenever i stumble upon houses with thatched roofs my heart is widening because i absolutely adore the aesthetics of it. it feels so natural & romantic even.
also very typical for northern architecture: boarded facades. eyecatcher here was the pale pink & blue elements.
our walk lead us along the borby promenade. a view onto the hafenspitze again, with it's yacht facility.
and a nice 'skyline' of eckernförde :)
the borby promenade houses a little sculpture park. these filigrane metal flowers were so neat. it's a sculpture by klaus bösselmann.
we were veering further away from eckernförde's city center.
through the entrance of the little wooden anchorage of the yacht club meteor.
i think this was part of the property of the club, but ain't exactly sure about that since right next to the little club a bigger marina has its headquarters, the sailing club of eckernförde. judging from the many sailing boats seen here it could also be a part of their anchorage.
a chiseled mermaid.
we soon returned from our little walk along the borby shores and i took another photo of the golden angel of the round silo.
the plaza next to the round silo.
the siemsen magazine is another remarkable building in the harbour. it also was built for storing grains, but nowadays there are offices inside and a little venue & bar called spieker. it was built around 1870 and belonged to wilhelm siemsen. i really like its ashlar-formed design, even the roof is integrated in it.
view onto the magazine, in the background the silo and the brightly coloured houses on the right is a little mall called speicherpassage where you can buy maritime accessories, material & appendages.
we made a little foray into the shopping streets of eckernförde. i particularly liked this little house ( called lillehuus - which translates into exactly this: little house ;P ) and its boat-shaped bench in front of its windows.
strolling through the cobbled streets of eckernförde.
goldsmith pollascheck. i LOVE this house!
apparently the coffee house heldt is THE traditional cafe in eckernförde. and i have to say, judging upon the selection inside their showcase it looked absolutely divine! unfortunately we didn't manage to sit down inside and devour some delicious cakes with a nice cup of coffee. i hope we get around to doing that next time! the original building is from the 16th century, but the facade was constructed in 1925 by august hudemann who took inspiration from historical facades of former times.
right next to the cafe is the town museum of eckernförde ( which we also haven't visited! shame on us. but hopefully, next time as well ). this annex is part of the old town hall. the initial building is from the 15th century but the facades were re-constructed in the 19th century.
the town hall plaza. the modern brick building on the left is the new town hall ( built 1981 - 1984 ). the one in the middle was called house dehn, which was an inn in the past, but has been integrated into the town hall properties. you can also see the little beige house of the museum and the former town hall ( the building with the outside staircase ).
the former eckernförde news building - a beautiful example of art nouveau. wilhelm kruckau was the architect and he built it in 1907 for j.c. schwensen who founded the eckernförde newspapers.
entry of the old post office, which is now a business house. ( built around 1900 with neo-gothic elements )
not far from the old post office you can find this interesting little structure. it's the local office for the health insurance AOK.
and my last picture is of the beautiful purple-coloured hollyhocks in front of the former old casern ( used as a military hospital, but also as a school and for manufacturing purposes ).
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