It’s hard to believe it, but we have been at home for more than a month already. It hasn’t been very hard so far… I’ve tried to be busy, taking photos of all the spring signs that appear every day, preparing my terrace for the new season, taking care of my plants and flowers, cooking and baking, reading, learning German, talking with my family in Spain and even working out at home!

I’ve also been editing photos. The ones from this post are from a week before we decided to start our own lock down. We just came back from Amsterdam and I was a bit cold, but I didn’t want to stay at home when the sun was shinning. Instead, we visited the Goldau Tierpark, a small zoo in Canton Schwyz with animals representing the Swiss wildlife, from cute little squirrels to brown bears and wolfs. I confess that I’m not sure if I like zoos or not. I prefer to see wildlife in its natural habitat, of course. There’s nothing compared to the feeling of spotting a deer or a fox in nature! But when I go hiking, those scarce encounters usually happen when I don’t have the appropriate lens attached to my camera and I usually miss the photo opportunity… A shame! I don’t love the idea of zoos, specially those very small where animals are in tiny enclosures that look more like a cage. But I reckon that some zoos are great in conservation efforts of some endangered species and take great care of their animals, and they also have a great pedagogical role. And for a photographer, they offer an opportunity to learn how animals behave. Of course, behaviours are not exactly like in the wild, but there’s still a lot to learn!

Goldau Tierpark surprised me. The space is big, in a beautiful forest with a large pond for different kinds of water birds, and there are even parts of the park where animals like sika deer, feral goats, mouflon and squirrels roam free and children can feed them. I soon forgot where I was and I enjoyed the hours we spent in the park, just taking photos of all the animals we could see that day (we missed a few that were still hibernating).

Here are some of the photos I took that day. I hope you like them!

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