January 27th 2016
Strange to me doesn’t necessarily mean bad. I want to get that out of the way right now. But it also doesnt necessarily mean it’s good. Even after my visit to zoo Lujan I’m not sure which strange it should fit under. I don’t think it’s a bad place, at least not when talking about the people working there, but like any zoo allowing close up interaction with animals not normally suited for it. It raises questions. Still I went to see for myself, and I won’t pretend that almost exactly two years after my visit to the tiger kingdom in Chiang Mai Thailand, I wasn’t aching to get up close and personal with some big cats. Morally sketchy though it may be. Though I do want to point out that this place exists. Not going isn’t going to change that anytime soon, and we’re the place to somehow go out of business I suspect most of the animals would be sold off to zoo’s and circus’ with worse living conditions. Worth thinking about.
For those that still don’t get exactly what I’m talking about, here’s a basic run down. Lujan zoo is a zoo that lets tourists get up close and personal with lions, tigers, bears elephants and other animals, letting you enter there cages, touch them, feed them and interact with them. It’s a truly incredible experience and the animals are raised with human interaction their whole lives (meaning you get to chill with tiger and lion cubs too. Obviously this brings up a lot of issues with how we treat animals and the harm this kind of life can bring to them. It’s a personal choice if you want to go or not, undoubtedly some will find it incredibly depressing. For me it can go either way, and depends on the facilities and staff of the particular zoo. I do think there can be immense value in such interactions, especially for young children as I have seen passion kindled in young people in Zoo’s and places like this that i think may sometimes last and create people who work all their lives for the welfare of animals, but still it’s not natural and is always going to be somewhat contentious.
Anyway, To get to Lujan Zoo from Garden House Hostel in San Telmo Buenos Aires I wake up very early and hop on the metro heading towards Plaza Italia station, which is ironically right beside the central buenos aires zoo. There I have to do some searching but on one of the three main roads heading away from the zoo I mange to find the 59 bus. Despite being told they’d accept cash turns out you have to buy a 40 peso card and load it with money (but it works for the metro too. lujan zoo is about 2 hours bus ride from here but the far is only 27.50 each way and the buses seem to be very frequent making the zoo an easy day trip. (walk to the entrance of the zoo and when facing towards the zoo go to the road to your left swarmed with buses)
Either way I doze my way through the bus trip and trust the driver to let me know when I need to get off which he happily does and soon I’m walking under the highway overpass and following the signs into Lujan Zoo. The entry ticket is pretty expensive for foreigners at 400 pesos (40 CAD). For residents of Argentina it’s only 100 (10 CAD) but either way if you are keen on getting up close and personal with an impressive array of big animals including Tigers, Lions, Elephants and a Bear it’s not a price that should stop you. And it includes unlimited entires with the animals you just have to wait in line, which brings me to my last two points of advice before we get lost in the stories and the too many photos.
Get there early. Lines are way shorter and the animals are more active in the morning coolness. And bring your own food and drink. It’s much cheaper this way and the zoo actually has lots of tables to sit and eat in the shade. It even has facilities for camping there if you want to. I think it might be a cool place to spend the night.
I head into the zoo where I pay my entrance joking with the staff about my spanish accent when they suspect I might not be from argentina and then I’m quickly welcomed up into an admittedly small cage right at the entrance by a friendly staff. Inside are several 2 month old tiger cubs, a few lion cubs, and a few dogs, who seem to be best of friends with the more exotic animals The guy showing me in is very kind and clearly cares about the animals, but the enclosure is prety small. Still quickly enough the awe of interacting and even playing with these amazing creatures overwhelms me. It’s a strange feeling being in a cage with animals like these, overwhelming and very powerful. Honestly I love the feeling, though I want to be careful about how and where I let myself do things like this. For my safety and the safety of the animals too.
From here I head in to the main part of the zoo past an impressive and honestly baffling collection of old tractors. Not sure how they connect too lions but honestly it was a nice touch and gave the place some character. They also have some awesome goats and geese around.
I first head into the adult tigers because the line is non-existent and I head in immediately with two other people to meet two adult tigers chilling on pedestals. I get to feed them a sweetened milk mixture and they seem happy enough with me there. Here the cage is bigger and the staff clearly caring and while I wouldn’t say it was great it didn’t feel too bad and once again I found my heart just racing a mix of fear and joy as I see their massive teeth, feel their heart beating under their smooth fur coats and feel the strength of these marvellous animals.
Still overwhelmed I leave a small tip in the jar outside for the trainers and head over to the grown up lions, maybe even more excited to meet this creature as in Thailand they had no Lions, so this will be my first time. The lines a little longer but 10 minutes of waiting later I’m inside with a single prowling male. The workers don’t force the animals to stay sitting or do anything and instruct us how to walk along side him and where to touch him without bothering, while another staff member kindly offers to take some pictures of me. Watching and feeling the lion move is incredible and the mane surprises me, feeling much coarser than I expected. Still it’s an incredible experience.
From here I head around the corner past some tigers and lions in cages not accessible to us, including a white tiger and several huge males.
The lion cubs are next, a group of 6 or so of them hanging out in a simple outdoor pen. Again the lines a bit longer but 15 minutes later and surrounded by Brazilians who seem to frequent the park more than anyone else I’m welcomed inside and encouraged to hold a little lion who is beyond cute and doesn’t overtly seem to mind being held, even playing with me a bit. His brothers and sisters and cousins watch from their pile of hay, gnawing at and playing with each other.
As I wander through the rest of the zoo I see some monkeys and other animals before heading into a big shared cage full of beautiful jungle birds. While Lujan Zoo isn’t terrible by some standards it can’t compare to the Brazilian Parque Das Aves in Foz to Iguacu for how well they take care of their animals. Still it’s cool to get close to toucans and macaws again.
From here I head to the very back corner of the zoo past some zebras, donkeys and horses baffingly kept all together.
In the back corner I find the Zoo’s lone elephant who has lots of space but looks really lonely and very few people seem to come visit there. I hang out a few minutes there talking with the three staff members hanging out with the elephant before feeding her a banana and smiling as I think back to all my wonderful elephant experience in Asia, especially Nepal and Laos.
Eventually I pat the friendly elephant goodbye and head back through the rest of the park, checking in on some of the big cats before finding the seals and a lone brown bear who I enjoy getting to feed alone.
Now the zoo is starting to get crowded and I need to get back to Buenos Aires before it’s too late as very early tomorrow morning I have my flight to Ushuaia and there’s still a few things to organize in the city, still I can’t help but stop at the adult tigers one more time, waiting in line almost half an hour this time, but like I know it will be, it’s worth it. Even if it’s hotter now leaving the majestic big cats a little less interested in us.
On the way out I can’t help but stop one more time in the small cage near the entrance to say goodbye to my first friends at the park, some playful lion and tiger cubs who seem to enjoy their friendly dog friends as much as they enjoy each other, playing around and getting fed some tasty looking raw chicken legs.
From here I head back out to the road alongside the highway and wait at the corner there for the bus with one or two other people. Just five minutes later a bus pulls up and I doze off quickly very pleased with my day though not removed from a gnawing worry that this might not have been a good thing to do. Honestly I’m not an expert on either animal and I’m not sure whether it’s a good place or a bad place. The animals are bred and raised in captivity surrounded by humans, it’s not natural but nor am I sure that it’s evil. If you hate all zoo’s certainly don’t go, but I had an amazing (if slightly guilty) day at Lujan zoo and if it sounds like something you (or especially a family with young children) would enjoy then go for it. Keep in mind though to enter the cages with the grownups you have to be 18 years old, though kids can still hang out with the cubs which is pretty awesome.
Getting back to buenos aires I wake up and find my bus on a major road I know just 15 blocks up from my hostel so I ask to get off and the driver graciously stops and 40 minutes later I’m back at Garden House Hostel in San Telmo organizing a last few details for my trip to Patagonia which will eventually lead to the stunning month I’ve just come back from in Antarctica. Expect so much more to come on the blog in the coming weeks!
