Croco Cun

http://www.crococunzoo.com/

Croco Cun Zoo is a bit outside of Playa del Carmen, but it is definitely worth the trip.

Now, the story our guide told us is a little bit different than what the web site says, and the guide was more colorful. Both agreed that the place started as a crocodile farm, and it was for meat, but I bet they also used the leather. Their site says that Hurricane Gilbert almost destroyed the farm, and as they rebuilt the concept started to change.

That could totally be true, but it does not necessarily negate what our guide told us, which was that as a side to the farming, the original owners had also set up some entertainment with crocodile wrestling and bringing up audience members to stick their hands in the mouths or things like that, and there were a few limbs lost, resulting in hefty lawsuits, and that's how the property changed hands.

However they got there, what they do now is take in seized and abandoned animals, as people often have foolish ideas about what makes a good pet. There were so many crocodiles especially that I wondered if they were doing some breeding still, or if they would ever move some of the animals out, but that does not seem to be the case. So, the existence of the zoo, and the population, does not speak well of human responsibility, but it is still a fun place to visit.

As the animals have generally been pets, and sometimes been wild animals who were injured but had human contact during their treatment, they are more used to human interaction, and so the point here is to be more interactive. Because of this you will always go through with a guide, and they have a few different languages available. Our guide was Mexican, but he had lived in Seattle and Las Vegas, so his English was excellent, and he was familiar with different weather systems and could confirm that this place was really hot; that was not just us. Still, we were there during the cool part of the year. He told us in summer he will go out and feel like his skin is on fire. Anyway, he was very knowledgeable and it looks like in general the staff is well trained and focused on what they are doing.

We started out with the birds. We spoke to some parrots, and one of them kissed us each on the cheek. One thing I do recommend is spending the extra two dollars for the bag of fruit so you can feed the animals on the tour. We got one bag, and that was sufficient for all three of us.

As we were with the birds, there were spider monkeys swinging nearby, and they kept getting closer. I felt one clap the back of my neck, and suddenly one, probably the same one, was on top of Julie's head. This is probably my favorite thing that happened on the entire trip. Julie was not sure what she was supposed to do, but eventually the monkey left. We did feed some other monkeys when we got to their area, but that unplanned interaction right there just kind of made the trip, especially because she did not get bitten, scratched, or peed on. That's just lucky.

I have more pictures of us here because of the interactions, but it ends up being more pictures of me, because my sisters were not quite as willing to be in contact with reptiles. Our guide tried. He said the baby crocodile felt just like a Louis Vuitton bag, and didn't they like Louis Vuitton, but somehow it did not work. Therefore I held the crocodile (I think Julie did finally end up touching it), and I got what I refer to as the Crococun neck massage. Well, I don't want to oversell the massage. There's a limit to how well they can do without thumbs. It's still kind of cool.

The other thing I should mention about that area is that I know the yellow python in the picture looks big, but having been there, I also know that the photo does not adequately convey the size of that sucker. It was enormous. I don't think it would even have to squeeze to crush you, but that its sheer weight would be enough. If given the opportunity to hold that one, I'm not sure I would take it. Really. Big. Snake.

I think it was after the snakes that we walked through the main crocodile pit. We were advised to stay on the path, which we did, but there were crocodiles on both sides of the path, so there is no magical boundary. Our guide told us that if they started attacking he was going to run and jump the wall, and he was not going to wait for us. I'm not saying it was actually dangerous, because I think they have learned too much about liability to take big chances, and after all, these guys are fed regularly, but I do not recommend trying to stop and pet any of the residents here.

The other big enclosure is the deer pen. They have a stack of branches and you can feed leaves to the deer. To do this, tear a leaf off and hold it out. If you hold out the entire branch, a deer will try and grab the whole thing, drop it in the dirt, and then not want it.  This is not optimal.

We also got to pet a local breed of hairless dog, which felt weird, and fed the spider monkeys, and we did not touch the coati mundi, but we still got to see them. The overall variety of animals was really good.

The entire tour takes about an hour. There is a small snack bar and gift shop, and there are bathrooms, but it's not really meant for hanging out. Basically, you take your tour and you leave, but that's not a criticism. We really enjoyed our time there, and it was one of the highlights of the trip.

And a monkey jumped on Julie's head!