I recently did a Walk On The Wildside tour at Canberra Zoo for my __th birthday (insert age you think). It was awesome!! The day started at 8am and we were there until 4pm. I never realized zoo keepers were so busy all day. There were only 2 of us on the tour with the guide, Kim, and first up we got the frozen rats and fish out to defrost for later on, yummo, then went and got the giraffes food prepared and set off to feed them. I never knew how big a giraffe was until I was up a ladder hand feeding one. Next up were the otters, we had to put on waders and take in tongs with the food bucket as appartently they may bite us if we used our hands. They did pretty smelly poos and it wasn't real nice walking in their den. Once we got outside and fed them the fish and chicks it wasn't so bad and they were pretty clever. Out and back to the feed prep area to get some legs of deer and chicken for the next animals which turned out to be the tigers. Kim took us into the tigers outside area which was pretty scary to walk about in even though the tigers were still in their dens. We had to lay a trail and then put the meat up high in a tree, in the other tigers area we put the food up on a big pole (about 2 1/2 times our height) Back out and up to the tigers den to hand feed the tigers a chicken leg! I was a bit scared and the chicken leg seemed to have shrunk to finger size. Bakkar weighs 800kgs and is the largest Bengal tiger in Australia, he was incredible and so beautiful. Berani is a smaller, Sumatran and 'only' weighs 200kgs. After we went up on the walkway and got to watch them be let out which was awesome to see them tracking down where we had just been walking. Kim then took us over to see Cree and Cheyenne, the 2 pumas, we had morning tea around where their den is and got to watch them be fed. After doing some food prep we fed some penguins and did some counting of how many fish each had eaten, went around to feed snow leopards before they are released for the day. We also got to meet Tangiere, a very old Tigon who was just so gentle. Back to the feed prep area to make some games up for the monkeys and off again to hand feed a shark and snake on the way to the bears. By now I was ready for food myself, it was nearly 2 o'clock so we went up to the giraffes again and this is where we had our restful lunch. Not long after eating and feeding the giraffes again, Kim said it was time to see Shasa, Tanzi and Robi, the cheetahs. Into the compound we went, I was assuming we would go over to their dens to see them, when the carnivore keeper casually says 'there they are', and they really were 'there', right in front of us! Many pats and photos later, we were off to food prep for the last time for some cricket and cockroaches for the marmosets, which were the tiniest and cutest animals all day, and after a final talk with Kim and a huge Thank You it was time to go. I'll never forget my day at the zoo, it was so awesome to 'meet' these beautiful animals and see them up close. Such a special experience and the best present I have ever been given. Animals are awesome!