Part A :

How many of you have visited the City Zoo before?

No one? Well, this Is going to be a treat.

Before we get off the bus,let me give you a bit of background information.

When this city was founded In 1860,

it was the intention right from the start to set aside some land for what would become today's zoo.

Unfortunately, the plans were lost somewhere In the town planning department and the whole idea was almost forgotten until one of the town's founding fathers died just after the turn of last century

- 1902 it was - and he bequeathed to the city a stretch of unused land.

He had given the land to the council with the express wish that it be used to build a zoo,

but it would be another half century before construction began in 1950.

The gentlemen who gifted the land simply wanted a placed that his grandchildren and future generations would take pleasure in,

and so, that was the idea behind the design and construction of the zoo.

Later, researchers set up a science lab here and started a project to save animals species that are in danger of extinction.

OK, everyone off the bus - please follow me - I'll go through the entrance first because I have all the tickets.

Right, is everyone with me?

Good. Now, when families come here at the weekend,

they normally head straight for the monkey enclosure here on our right but we're going to head north past the nursery - yes, this is where all the zoo babies are born

- to the education block.

Please take note of where we are because we'll come back to this centre after we've had a look at the animals and there' ll be a member of the zoo staff to answer your questions and show us a DVD.

Now, if we turn and walk east,

you'll see a lake on your right and the polar bears on your left.

As you know, they like colder temperatures and the waters of the Blue Lake are kept chilly, just for them.

See? They can get to the lake by going under this bridge we're standing on.

If we go straight on, we' II come to another lake,

but that is for the reptiles and amphibians to lounge around in.

Let's head north again - are you all with me?

All right, we' II stop here for a quick look at the children's petting zoo on our right -yes, this is one enclosure where the people and the animals can mix.

There are lots of small farm animals here and they are all very tame

because the idea is that city children can get up really close and touch them if they want.

You might like to come back here when we've finished our tour.

Okay let's step out of the petting zoo now and next up is the aviary -right in front of us

-it's divided into a roofed-in section in the northern part,

and the bigger birds are kept in the southern half.

Let's follow the path to the west now ...

Please try to keep up,

I don't want to lose any of you ...

On our right is the African savannah which, as you can see,

is very large so the big cats have plenty of room to roam.

You can spend more time here later.

Keeping west now,

we walk alongside the savannah towards the Asian rainforest.

Some´´mes you have to stay very still if you want to see the animals that live here.

All right,

I'm going to leave you now -you can either retrace your steps or continue around the zoo until you get back to where we're scheduled to watch the DVD

in exactly one hour's time. See you then.