Tag: giant tortoises

Animal Kingdom – Casela

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giant tortoise tortoises Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoise
Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoise
Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoisegiant tortoise tortoises Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoiseCasela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoisegiant tortoise tortoises Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoise
Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoiseCasela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoisezebra Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoiseCasela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoiseFor some reason I forgot to post these with the rest of my Mauritius posts last month! I went to Casela Nature Reserve on the penultimate day of my trip to Mauritius and as I LOVE animals I was completely in my element.

It’s been two years since I last visited and most of my thoughts are the same. The enclosures at Casela are huge which I think is brilliant. The larger animals (tigers, rhinos, zebras etc) share a huge safari style enclosure, and you’re not guaranteed a glimpse as there’s loads of spaces the animals can run off and avoid the visitors if they wish, which I think is great (although some people were complaining).

I was particularly emotional about seeing the rhinos; an entire species of animal which will almost certainly be extinct within our lifetimes. 3 subspecies were declared extinct in 2011, and poaching numbers are increasing by almost 50% each year. There are less than 100 individual Javan and Sumatran rhinos and just 3 individual White rhinos left in the entire world, which is heartbreaking.

The animals have a lot of space to wander around and the fences and dividers between the smaller enclosures seemed almost non-existent this trip. I really like this aspect of the Park, as instead of seeing one animal per enclosure it was more like a free-for-all with animals roaming around between different areas. I saw lemurs hanging out with the tortoises, peacocks with the giraffes and a pet pig hanging out with the baby goats.

There were also random wild animals; we saw wild monkeys stealing food from the giraffes, lizards in the rabbit enclosure, and even a cheeky mongoose in with the giant tortoises. Talk about animal kingdom! Overall I think Casela is a great animal and nature reserve and I haven’t seen one that better typifies what a zoo should “be”, in my opinion. Where should I check out next?Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoiseCasela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoise
rhinocerous Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoise
Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoise
giant tortoise tortoises Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoiseostrich Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoiseCasela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoisegiraffe Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoise
Casela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoiseCasela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoiseCasela Nature Wildlife Reserve Mauritius day out tourism animals tapeparade safari birds tortoise

Casela

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IMG_6631a IMG_6667a IMG_6827a IMG_6677a IMG_6632a IMG_6607a IMG_6845a IMG_6809a IMG_6806a IMG_6840aIMG_6668aIMG_6841a IMG_6615a
James and the Giant Tortoise (caption of the century)IMG_6619a IMG_6630a
We spent our last afternoon in Mauritius at Casela Nature & Leisure Park. I have very conflicting feelings about animals being kept in captivity.  Whilst breeding programmes and the opportunity to study endangered species can be good, captivity is stressful for the animals and can cause all kinds of medical problems: particularly animals originally from hotter or colder environments. However, how can zoos afford to run conservation programmes without funding from ticket sales? Additionally some zoos provide shelter for rehabilitated animals who have left horrific lives performing in shows and have no chance of readjusting to the wild.

Though very few of the animals we saw at Casela are indigenous to Mauritius, the climate and habitat are identical to their home environment and they have a lot of space where natural activities (digging, burrowing etc) are encouraged unlike in some zoos. On safari (pictures below) we saw so many animals including a baby ostrich. The first tortoise we met had hijacked the food laid out for the ostriches; you can see them watching him confusedly but he seemed pretty happy! Bonus animals were the incredibly shy black pigs; they’re very endangered due to wild boar consumption.

In the nature park (pictures above) there were many species of bird wandering around free of cages. James and I shared a tender moment with the beautiful giant tortoises who are now endangered; when I first visited Mauritius at the age of 18 months these animals were still native and we have numerous photos of me playing with them, so it was bittersweet to see them. We also saw a tiny baby macaque (about the size of my hand) being cuddled and passed around the elders and the adorable lovebirds huddled together. My favourite new friend was this lemur. I scratched her back through the railings and she immediately turned round and spread herself out to be stroked, just like a cat.

What are your thoughts on animals in captivity?IMG_6791a IMG_6718a IMG_6700a IMG_6702a IMG_6775a IMG_6798a IMG_6800a IMG_6730a Casela Nature Leisure Park Laila Woozeer Mauritius 2013 animals safari wildlife