World of Birds is the largest bird park in Africa and is an absolute must for bird lovers. After you pay the admission, you go into a very large circular area where you go in and out of different walk-through aviaries with lots of different species in them. The whole park has over 400 different species with a head count of over 3000 birds...
One of the first birds we met was this gorgeous golden pheasant. It's definitely one of the most beautiful birds I have ever seen – look at those colors! The picture doesn't do it any justice though. This is something you need to see for real!
What I really liked was that you could meet most of the birds up close and personal, quite literally. Sometimes, the birds would come up to you to have a closer look. Other times, you would go into the aviary and see nothing... then suddenly you notice lots of bird poop on the ground and then look up above you to see a bird glaring at you...
One thing that was kind of funny, was that some of the aviaries were “open air” but with wire mesh "ceilings." One of these housed cape sacred ibises, among other species. This of course caught the attention of a large flock of wild cape sacred ibises, so you would see a bunch of wild ibises standing on the wire mesh ceiling, looking into the aviary, while the ibises in the aviary looked towards... freedom?
As it was springtime, love was in the air. But sometimes, the Romeos go a little too far hehe...
World of Birds has more than just birds. It has lots of other animals, including meerkats, tortoises, big lizards, and different kinds of monkeys...
Two Oceans Aquarium
Located at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town, this aquarium houses species from the Atlantic and Indian oceans, from fish to aquatic mammals to...yes...penguins ;-) Two Oceans Aquarium is also one of only two aquariums in the world that has a kelp forest exhibit. It's a very nice place – a good way to spend a few hours on a rainy day (or not).
In addition to seeing the wide variety of species on display, you can also watch the aquarium staff feed the fish, sharks, penguins...
Don't miss the freaky puppet shows either; they're meant for children but are rather entertaining for adults. They each have their own save-the-environment message, and have a sort of South Park feel to them, as indicated with the presence of the singing turd...
And, if you're willing to pay for it and plan well ahead of time, you can dive with some sharks or in the kelp forest. We didn't do this because it because we felt it was a bit of a hassle to have to do the advanced booking and know exactly when we were going to go etc. It would have sucked if we booked on a nice day and it rained the rest of the time, right?
Oh, and love was in the air here as well, though I'm not too sure about this one... interspecies love? Hmm...
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