After reading many beautiful and heartwarming articles written by mothers and daughters about Mother's Day, I wanted to share some of the photos and stories of animals I've seen around the world taking care of their young. Some of you know that I've been involved in animal rescue for many years and have a soft spot in my heart for all animals. I am always amazed at how protective and caring animals are of their offspring.
I really wanted to write a post in honor of all mothers and especially those that are often overlooked on Mother's Day each year. If you have pets you are a mother they could not survive without you! I wrote a similar post about animal mothers and their offspring for Mother's Day a couple of years ago. One of my readers was very grateful that I had posted it. Sadly not humans have a mother at all or one that they are close to.
My husband and I have also taken in several stray pregnant cats. We found homes for all of the babies and mothers including the seven orange ones in the second photo down. We actually kept the mothers - Princess (the black cat) and Peaches (orange cat) for ourselves.
The monkeys that I saw at the Monkey Forest in Ubud, Bali we're so fun to watch. The babies were so cute and well taken care of by their mothers. I thought this mother was showing tremendous patience with her little one. Here is a mother monkey feeding her baby what appears to be some coconut: I saw many elephant mothers with their babies in the Serengeti National Park while in Tanzania:
This post is just a look back at my travels during 2015. I chose my top five trips and a few of my personal favorite photos. I do believe that Oahu and Vermont made the list only partially because I have friends there and that tends to make vacations more fun! I will say that Bora Bora / French Polynesia were at the top of my bucket list and I finally made it in February and March 2015.
Sorry this is a photo only post. If you've been following along you've probably seen these photos already. Thank you for the visit. Happy new year to all and I hope 2016 is your best year yet!
One of the reasons I chose to visit Curacao over other Caribbean islands was the colorful architecture I saw in photos on the internet. I love color and definitely was not disappointed. Here are some photos of Willemstad which is the capital of Curacao. I generally don't shop in general and or buy clothing when I'm traveling, but they had some really nice shops and boutiques which tempted me. Below is a popular tourist attraction that most people want their photo taken in front of. Here are some typical side streets:
You can see the Queen Juliana Bridge in this photo which is four lanes and crosses Saint Anna Bay: Here is a view of Willemstad from the Queen Juliana Bridge:
Here are some cannons that I saw in the middle of town. I decided to share them in a relatively untouched photograph and an HDR version of the same scene.
Here is a photo of a rather large farmer's market in the center of town As with any city, one will see buildings in disrepair, but they were still colorful! Here is an one of the many outdoor cafes in the center of Willemstad:
Of course they have McDonald's! "The Round Market" is pictured below. This is a place for locals to sell their goods and a great place for tourists to sample the local food.
Another view of the Queen Juliana Bridge: Lastly, is one of the many beautiful brightly colored churches. Interestingly, many of them were yellow. Thank you so much for stopping by. I really appreciate each and every comment I receive and try to reply and answer all questions. I hope everyone has a great week!
Being a former educator I'm always interested in what the school systems are like in the counties I visit. I've noticed that many if not most countries I've visited require students to wear uniforms. While I was teaching this topic was debated frequently. I personally saw students berated for not having the latest designer jeans and or sneakers, get in trouble for wearing too short skirts or shorts, and paying more attention to what their class mates were wearing than their school work. Clothes just seemed to be a huge distraction in the educational process in my experience as a teacher.
I learned that students are required to attend school until they are twenty one years old. I was only inside the school area for a short period of time during recess as I didn't want to overstay my welcome. The outside and inside of the school looked clean and well kept. Below is a photo of the outside of the school I visited. Most of the schools I saw on the island were painted in the typical bright colors that I saw around the island.
Playing games at recess:
Do you think students should be required to wear uniforms in public schools? Please leave me your thoughts and or comments and thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!
When I stayed at the Royal Aquarium Resort in Curacao, guests had free access to the aquarium right next-door. I haven't been visiting zoos or aquariums over the past few years. I've been very involved in animal rescue for about a decade. My husband and I have had at least 100 foster animals in our care during those years. We also donate food, money and transfer pets when they need to be spayed or neutered or brought to a safe shelter.
So truth be told if I had not had free access to the aquarium I probably would not have visited it while on the island of Curacao. However I saw right away that the animals seemed very well cared for and I did do some research on whether or not aquariums and zoos are all bad. Of course there are some good ones and some bad ones and as with most issues, there are two sides to every story.
During my first visit to the aquarium, I saw one of the trainers talking to a family who really wanted a kiss from a sea lion. She was adamantly telling the family that, "today was not a good day for the sea lions as they were not kissing and the trainers were not going to try to make them". The trainer seemed to care more about the animals than what the people wanted to pay money for.
I am still sure how I feel on the whole aquarium and zoo issue(s). I do not believe animals should be used for entertainment or kept in captivity only for that reason. That said, at this point, I don't see myself making it a habit of visiting zoos and or aquariums in the future.
As you can see from the following links there are some good reasons to have animals in sanctuaries as some are becoming extinct and need protection. I certainly would not want my cats roaming free they are completely indoor cats. Perhaps they would be less bored being allowed to go outside but they would not be safe from other predators, automobiles, and diseases. I realize that comparing my domestic cats to large marine life is probably not a great example, but some large animals do need protection for various reasons.
I did want to share my photos and thoughts. I am curious to hear what your thoughts are on zoos, aquariums and sanctuaries. Please leave your thoughts and experiences in the comment section.
Most of these photos and other can be found on my Pixabay account. Pixabay has hundreds of thousands of photos that can be used for free in a variety of sizes and you don't have to worry about getting in trouble as they are released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0. Here is my account: Mariamichelle' photos
Below is a baby sea lion nursing: The dolphins put on an amazing fifteen minute show. There were several mother and daughter dolphins in the show. The younger ones were still learning their jumps and stunts. I did pay twenty dollars for a kiss from a dolphin. It stuck it's tongue out at me afterward! The sea lions were equally as amazing!
The flamingos were as pretty as ever:
Thank you so much for stopping by and please leave your comments below have a great week.
~ Michelle
I will leave you with a video of a baby sea lion nursing: