Sunday, May 31, 2009

Monkey Island



When we were kids growing up in Southeast Kansas, we thought Monkey Island at the Independence Zoo was the greatest! I was driving past it today and decided to stop and take a look.



I think the monkey castle was built as a WPA project. The stone house is surrounded by a moat to keep our poor little captive friends from escaping. When we were kids, there seemed to be a lot more monkeys. Maybe if I'd had peanuts, I might have seen a little more excitement. One little guy was doing repeated back flips today, but I couldn't catch him with the camera.



The moat surrounding the castle is filled with snapping turtles and swans. Here we have the Tortoise Lounge.



Snapping turtles.

And one of the beautiful swans! I guess the snapping turtles and swans are security for the bad boys -- the monkeys. : )

3 comments:

Ann said...

Great shots--I love the gracefulness of the swans! A day at the zoo is a fun thing to do!

jeanie said...

That's amazing! I would never have guessed Monkey Island was in Kansas. What an unusual combo of creatures monkeys,swans and snapping turtles.

Bennie said...

What a great post.. Isn't it amazing how things seemed so much bigger when we were kids.