My trip to the Netherlands

It was my first time to visit one of the European countries, the Netherlands – a country (often called Holland) in Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, with Belgium on its southern frontier and Germany on its eastern side. Its total area is 41,528 km² (16,034 sq miles), of which 33,900 km² of it is land, divided into 12 provinces. The official language is Dutch and its capital Amsterdam with a population of about 6.3 million people. Around 60 percent of the country consists of land reclaimed from the sea and still the reclaiming continues even today.

My flight to Amsterdam was wonderful since we were few in the plane, where one could take three seats and sleep with no disturbance. I was picked up by my friends at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, but I was very shocked to see the size of the airport, compared to which JKIA is nothing. I have known Dick Van Heerde and his daughter Jorien for a long time, about five years now, and during my visit I got to meet Emma, the mother, and Christiaan, Jorien’s boyfriend. The family lives in a small town called Wezep in Zwolle, which is clean and beautiful too, also the roads in that country are very good. I won’t quote everything that I did and places that I visited during my 20 days I was there.

One of the things that shocked me is the number of bicycles, I guess everyone had one. I liked the idea very much as it is both economical and very environment friendly due to the less carbon monoxide. People also walked in twos (used to make a joke to my friends that people live like crested crowned cranes – these birds are always seen in pairs).

My friends pleaded with me to visit two Zoos which I had to because of their kindness and love that they showed me. We visited Burgers’ Zoo which has been there since 1913. Many visitors were bringing their families to see wildlife in the Zoo. One of the things that depressed me was when one enters, the first animals you see is some Asian elephants. The older female was very skinny but finally I learned from my friend that they used to be in a circus before they were rescued. I believe that they now they have a better life than before. I managed to walk through the whole Zoo from the mangrove, Ocean, desert, Rimba and bush where I saw a lot of the animals.

I also visited Dierenpark Zoo in Amersfoort which I found to be friendlier because all the animals there looked healthy and seemed happy too. I believe that not everybody in the world can afford to visit Africa where animals are free in the wild, thus the zoos. I met a friend of Dick – Marjo Hoedemaker – who is a manager for one of the Zoos, who devoted his time to take us around. He convinced me for o tour around the Amersfoort Zoo and he explained that before they were a number of reasons why animals ended up in a zoo, but nowadays they are part of the endangered species breeding programs. These international programs guarantee the continuity of a healthy zoo population throughout Europe.

I also saw Asian elephants in that Zoo and they were very healthy and one could notice some social behaviour when a male named Alex rubbed against a female, and when Marjo Hoedemaker called Alex he came to see if there was a carrot ready for him. One sad story is when Marjo told me that one of the young Asian elephants gave birth and when the calf was still in the birth sac, the mother smelled and retreated, then the grandmother came and killed the calf instantly. I was shocked. I could not relate any incident like that for the last 21 years I have been following elephants in Amboseli National Park.

The next place I was taken to is where the Lemurs were enclosed. One was particularly very interested in my handbag and it kept on checking and trying to unzip, but it couldn’t. The Lemur was very friendly and nice to have them close to me. Marjo Hoedmaker took us to see some Indian Rhinoceros, this one was a special treat since I got a chance to feed the Rhino with carrots. They are very strong animals. We also visited the Chimpanzees, and as I was walking close to Marjo Hoedmaker, one of them became very jealous and started banging on the glass enclosure ferociously. I later inquired about the behavior and learned that the aggravated Chimp was raised by Marjo Hoedmaker since its weaning ages. He further explained that, the particular Chimp didn’t like the idea of a lady walking beside him, lest one takes his place. When we stopped to look at them the male Chimp became even more aggressive hitting the glass enclosure so hard and I couldn’t imagine what it would do to me if it broke free. The heavyweights were Asian elephants, Indian Rhinoceros, Nilotic crocodile, Giraffe, Brown bear, Camel, Ancole Cattle, Grevy Zebra, Siberian Tigers and Lions. I was very tired by the time we finished since it took us almost six hours.

The whole country has an environment that is clean, lots of woodland, lots of water and also vast green lands for raising cattle. I imaged the Maasai cattle that walk for long distances on dry lands in the Amboseli ecosystem to get to greener pastures, only to encounter more conflicts. And as a result of these conflicts Elephants get speared in the process. All the same I love my country, it’s my home, and however bad it seems, I am a part of making it a better place to live in both for people and wildlife.