Aliyah Blog 87: Gan Garoo (Parkaroo?)

A kangaroo zoo in Israel?

This is the third time I meant to go to one place and ended up at another. Actually, I went to both places … Gan Sacne, for a future blog entry … and a place called “Gan Garoo” which is a play on the words Gan –> park and garoo –> Kangaroo in Nir David.

My thoughts quickly went to . . . wait, this is Israel? Isn’t this a new country still striving to reach the point of . . . having a kangaroo zoo? Actually, there’s two of them in Israel. Seems the country is doing well. Why are these places not on tourist itineraries?

We have a kangaroo zoo. What do our enemies have? Do they even have running water for people in their nihilistic death cults let alone their kangaroos? When I was in Macedonia their lion was in a tiny, rundown cage with no zookeeper in sight. Israel has kangaroos – multiple kinds, exotic birds, and not exotic goats for the petting. These things are so content, they just lie around and sleep (apparently that’s what they do midday).

Petting the Kangaroos

First, you have to find them. This is always a fun part about Israel … there are sort of signs that lead you in a general direction … then go through an unmarked gate that looks like you’re not supposed to go through … and then another. I almost left without going into the kangaroo petting place except I saw another person go in.

Petting the birds

First time I was able to pet a bird (that wasn’t about to die in ten minutes … that was sad). They give you a piece of apple on a long, thin stick (a “shpood” – a word from the Gemora that turns out came in useful – modern Hebrew is a fun mix of words … pruzdoor, the modern Hebrew word for entrance way is in Pirkei Avos as this world is a “pruzdoor” for the next – it’s actually a Greek word).

There are places like this around the world … e.g. Dominican Republic, and butterfly gardens – in this one, the birds were particularly friendly. No one warns you that when you walk in with a shpood with apple you’re going to get mobbed by a small amount of the pretty exotic birds that stay on you while you walk around, let you pet them, and are really friendly. (Others are content to be elsewhere.)

Other stuff at the roo place

There’s a maze . . . mostly a gated walk through a forest with information about dinosaurs as you go through. It’s cute for kids. Not amazingly well maintained. There was something like this in Lake George – where I visited before starting the blog, so no link here.

Peacocks roam the property, and a bunch of expensive birds, reptiles, and whatnot are in smaller cages.

It’s worth the visit – best to take kids though I enjoyed it as an adult. Cost is 65 shekels per person – much more expensive than other things around though compared to American prices, still very inexpensive.

Taking the scenic route home

Highways and traffic lights are fun and all when it is the quickest way to go. Given traffic at the time, Waze told me it was 10 minutes longer to go the ‘back way’ through Samaria (the sparsely populated mountains that politically received a name as if it were on a river (west) bank).

This beat taking the highways … nearly maxed out the highest possible miles per gallon on my car going up and down and around mountains on single lane roads with few cars a beautiful scenery.

Come visit.