Item 01: Eric Susman war diary, 1 January 1915-4 April 1916 - Page 76
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[Page 76]
Sunday 21 February 1915
After Divine Service to-day, I visited the Zoological Gardens of Cairo. Taking the electric tram, we crossed the Nile and proceeded out towards the Pyramids. Quitting the car, we entered the gardens for the sum of -/2½ - one piastre.
The gardens themselves are beautifully laid out and are kept in the pink of condition by the numerous gardeners and attendants. This is one of the advantages of a country with a cheap labour market. Then there are the attractive pathways which consist of small stones, the shape and size of a pigeon egg, in three colours. These are cemented in, and the designs, and the effects obtained by the various patterns, are wonderfully striking and original.
As to the Zoo proper, the most pleasing and interesting feature is, of course, the animal life of Egypt itself – the queering-looking snakes, the sandy-coloured birds of the desert, the crocodiles of the Nile, the hippopotamus, and the rhinoceros. Then there is a fine collection of the carnivore group, some fine zebras, and the usual humorous element of any zoo – the monkeys. And Australia is now represented at Cairo Zoo – a wallaby, presented by an Australian unit, having taken up its quarters there.