Michelle and I spent Friday morning wandering through the Buenos Aires Zoo. There is a sense of wonder in seeing all these amazing animals in one place – they can’t all be real, can they? The wildest Disney animations or Dr Seuss cartoons can’t match the colours and shapes of an ordinary day at the zoo.

This was an easy blog to write – I simply whittled a huge number of photos down to a few, and let the them speak for themselves.

As you tour with me, imagine the endless variety of other animals whose photos aren’t here. This bear has to stand in for the Black and Kodiak bears as well.

The big animals were all there – the elephants and rhinos and hippos.

And the lions and tigers and leopards. And the zebras, gnus, hyenas, gazelles, baboons, water buffalo, anteaters, alligators, and the rest of the African safari.  Both one- and two-hump camels.

A zoo isn’t the wild, but most of the animals had comfortable surroundings. I felt sad for the Polar Bear, in the heat of Buenos Aires. He had a big swimming pool and lots of shade, but it must be a bit warm for him. Other animals seemed more comfortable.

The style is to use physical barriers to hold the animals, there are very few cages (and many seemed to be to keep the humans out). For example, the chimps ‘owned’ a large island, with about 10 feet of water between them and the main zoo. The lions and tigers shared a football-sized field with wire fencing. The elephants’ field is bordered with a ditch..

Many of these ‘wild’ animals are really just big pets. People were encouraged to feed many of the animals – bags of suitable feed were sold in kiosks around the zoo, and the antelopes come running when they think someone has a handout for them. It is impossible to describe the sense of wonder on a kid’s face when a zebra eats out of his hand.

A number of animals aren’t caged at all – rabbits and ducks roam everywhere. We saw a large pheasant that seemed too have escaped from its cage. But when some children approached, it leaped 10 feet into the air and ‘flew’ back into the cage. The antelopes have a single wire at knee-height that marks out their space, that that certainly isn’t keeping them locked in. The peacocks seemed to like strutting at the zoo’s outdoor cafe.

I remember thinking how smart it was that the chimps couldn’t get across the water to the cafe – they would take it over.  The moat was protecting us from them.

There are extensive aquariums, with spectacular fish from every part of the world. This fish was gliding in a large tank with a rainbow of his carribean friends. We’ve seen them while scuba diving, but never like this – they usually sit on the reef, perfectly disguised to look like grey and brown rocks.

There were hundreds of different fishes – often sharing tanks in unusual groupings. The key determinant must be their feeding habits. The only tank that seems to have a single species held the piranhas – beautiful silver and black, innocent-looking little things.

There is a marine-land show every two hours, starring the seals. We didn’t stay for it, but we walked by the seal pool and they amused us anyhow.

The zoo also has a wonderful aviary. The aviary began just after a frameless glass balustrade ran across the perimeter of the aviary. The unquestioned star is the Condor, which delights by furling and unfurling its 12-foot wings for us.

In addition to the usual rainbow collection of tropical birds, there is also an extensive collection of raptors – owls, falcons, hawks – each more evil looking than the next.

Taking a picture like this is easy – the cage grating is large enough to pass a small camera (or just a lens). But we were not tempted to put our fingers through. This guy was about 4 feet away from me, and if he had looked in my direction, I would probably have dropped my camera in fright.

The reptile house is one of the major attractions of this zoo. It’s very hard to take photos, since the cages are darkened and behind glass. And you have to watch at 3 different windows to see the full scale of this 20-foot monster.

There was so much more. Giant turtles, penguins, tarantulas, ostriches, owls, and iguanas. It’s an endless parade.

This zoo was built in the Victorian era, and retains much of the old-fashioned flavor of that time Many of the cages have painted backdrops that harken to an earlier era, and there is delightful wrought-iron-and-glass architecture mixed with more modern facilities.

And to our delight, they have an old-fashioned calliope, with wonderful painted horses (we would have ridden on it, but we needed to be accompanied by someone under the age of 12).

For smaller kids, there is a petting zoo, where you can ride a horse and visit a barnyard. There are educational tours. Offices and labs for researchers and conservationists.

The best thing is that this huge zoo is right in the heart of Buenos Aires (in the Palermo district), steps from a subway stop and easily accessible. It’s one of many jewels of this amazing city.