Of course it is never fun if you end up in a situation in which you loose your job, your income, and you have to deal with a totally new financial situation, in which you end up with half of what you were used to.

For me a situation in which I even have to give up my independence for a large part, a situation in which I can no longer provide myself with my own livelihood.


And when you end up in such a situation you don't go shopping every week for fun, you don't go out for dinner, you don't go to the cinema anymore and all those fun days have become a rarity instead of a habit.


When I lost my job at the end of 2014, a lot changed for us. Of both an income and a best luxury life we ​​went back considerably. And of course you can temporarily take care of such a financial gap. In the first instance, of course, I also received unemployment benefits. That only lasted three months in my case. And after those three months, everything had to be done with just the income of my friend.


In that time we also moved again which always entails the necessary costs. That could all be taken care of, but now, at this moment after almost four years ... these reserves have really been used and they are GONE a long time.


I have great respect for how my boyfriend arranges all this because it really is not easy to make ends meet every month and not to build up debts.


That means of course that we have really turned up in terms of lifestyle. The car is sold and instead we are driving a scooter, we do not have central heating in the winter, but only in the living room there is a stove on petroleum, we never go out for a dinner together. The price of 1x eating out together is just as expensive as shopping for an entire week. We no longer buy clothing because we like it, we only buy clothing if we really really need it! We only watch tv with a satellite, the so called FTA (Free to Air) channels, we have a prepaid telephone both, and even the dogs have been switched to cheaper food, and the annual vaccination, (which I didn't like to give them), well, they don't get it anymore. And of course we can't take them on a trip to the sea anymore, no more walks anywhere else then around home. I think they are fine with it, but I am not ... I miss it a lot!


But is everything then only negative? No, because what happens in such a situation again is that you are much more aware of what you can do, of what you do and that you deal more consciously with the money that is in your bank account. In short, you learn to value many more things again and get a different view of life. And therefore also smaller things that are closer to home, which you would not consider so quickly, then go along with it more consciously, and enjoy it even more.


That's how I like to go to a zoo in the holiday. But if you have to pay attention to the little ones in terms of finances, then a Beekse Bergen, or a Burgers Zoo, or a Wildlands Emmen is quickly too expensive. For 2 people, you also lose the price for 1 week of shopping. And we can not do that just like that. Because apart from groceries there are so many more things that have to pay off that one salary ... Can we never even do something fun again?


Yes! We can! And fortunately, because otherwise I would become completely depressed. Only it was a search, a complete conversion. Because just like me, my friend used to go further away by car. But if that is not possible and you have to find something else, then you will discover that you do not always have to go far away at all.


DIERENPARK ZIEZOO VOLKEL

An animal park where we can go with the scooter. An animal park that is not very big yet, and where there are no tigers or lions. But it is an animal park that is growing, and where there are certainly animals that are worth a visit. An animal park that reminds people with a smaller budget. And it is simply the first care zoo in the Netherlands. And they are also specialized in special animals.

I WAS ABSOLUTELY CHARMED BY THE ANIMALS.

That way I really fell in love with the beautiful

Asian Red Dog.

Yes, we as dog lovers could not ignore it ... The Asian Red Dog, a truly beautiful animal to see. Reminds me of a fox, but it is a dog-like. It is an animal that I would like to take home with me. But could that be?


Although they appear to be social animals, and even fairly friendly, their diet makes it impossible to keep them at home. Their diet consists of medium-sized ungulates, small animals, fruit and vegetable foods such as leaves and grasses. And sometimes the red dog also chooses bigger prey like a water buffalo. It is of course never too sensible to want to keep a wild animal at home just because you admire it.





So we move on in the zoo. There are of course more animals to see!

The Cloud Leopard

An animal that I can also look at with admiration. This owes its name to its beautiful, cloud-like spots on the coat. It is the 'smallest of the grote cats'. He has relatively long fangs, the longest of all felines. The cloud leopard climbs very well and goes hunting a lot in trees. He has a long, thick tail to keep his balance when he climbs in the trees. His short flexible legs, large legs and sharp claws also help tree climbing. A spray leopard has a shoulder height of 40 to 50 cm. This medium sized carnivore has a strong physique and weighs on average 15 to 23 kilos. The relationship with the other cats is not entirely clear. The cloud leopard is unfortunately seriously threatened with extinction.


The number has been drastically reduced due to over-hunting and disruption of its hunting grounds. The cloud leopard has both characteristics of the tiger and the marble cat. He is actually in between the big and small cats. In contrast to the other large cats, the cloud leopard has a fully ossified tongue bone, such as the small cats. This means he can not roar, but he can spin when inhaling and exhaling. Nowadays he is counted to the same sex as the tiger.


Due to the enormous demand for its fur, the cloud leopard is nowadays also a protected species. Threatened with extinction because of us! We humans seem to be unable to understand that our world can only stay in balance if people and animals can live side by side.





With this photo, I was very happy! The Clouded Leopard sat atop a tree in his residence, it was dark, it was high and at the same time a bright sun shone in front of me so that I had to look into the sun and take pictures. I had no idea what I was photographing. Because I could not photograph from a different angle, I had to do everything on good luck ... And immediately after making the photo I really thought it had become nothing at all. Until I took a closer look at the picture at home, and saw that with photoshop it was still very nice to save.


And when I see such a picture of such a beautiful animal, then I can not help getting a little sad about it. Such beautiful animals. And again the humanity that has no respect for it at all. They are hunted, their habitat is taken away, and the animals are shot dead ... killed because they are so beautiful! Why?


But a day out is of course not the right time to feel sad. I do not try to stand still for too long. Unfortunately, I can not change anything about it, and what I can help with. I already do ... so continue with what was fun!

Don't remember what animal this is, but I loved it!

So my eye fell on this very nice animal! And seriously ... we were so in love and the little creature reminded us of my own Rowan. I totally forgot which animal is pictured here. Is it bad? No! I have a beautiful photo, I enjoyed these animals and we had fun comparing these animals with Rowan. And yes of course it is nice to know exactly which animal it is, but unfortunately, with this photo I can not give more information than that I found it a small ROWAN.





The following animals that knew how to steal my heart were:

The Corsac Fox!

So cute, so sweet. But this animal too has been killed a lot by humans because of its fur and especially the winter pelts that are thicker than the summer pels.





It is going too far to describe all the animals completely, so I will only post a number of photos in a row, which will give an impression of my visit to Dierenpark ZieZoo in Volkel.

It's been a while now ... I've finished editing the photos, I can enjoy when I look back on my day out. Unfortunately it is not possible to make such a trip every week. Although it really tickles to go again soon, but for now I will have to content myself with this trip and the pictures.

I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I did.