Fantastic Beasts of Berlin: A Safari Park at the Tempelhofer Feld

Fantastic Beasts of Berlin: A Safari Park at the Tempelhofer Feld

I’m sure we’ve all experienced some bizarre sightings on Tempelhofer Feld – but still, the pictures that you’ll about to see in this post will most definitely surprise you. Wild animals running free along the same stretches of land that are usually frequented by skaters? Read on to see some fantastic impressions of wildlife captured in one of the most iconic urban locations of Berlin and find out what it’s all about.

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Wrap Your Presents in the Art of Zebu at Bikini Berlin

Wrap Your Presents in the Art of Zebu at Bikini Berlin

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The Bikini Berlin is never short of a lovely surprise when it comes to using their amazing space for beautiful creative projects. Just like last year they have teamed up with an artist duo to transform the center of the concept shopping mall into a wonderland for the senses. Combining a fun photo wall, a greeting card station, a present wrapping service and a cute little winter punch booth the colorful illustrations of the lovely guys from Zebu magically materialized as a little playground full of curious animals and creatures.

The heart of the installation is the free Christmas wrapping service in the middle where you can bring all your Christmas presents to be masterfully wrapped in the exclusive paper designed by Zebu for Bikini Berlin. Or if you are crafty you can also swing the scissors and ribbons yourself at the big self-service tables. The paper comes with three artworks that represent different aspects of Christmas and embody the style of the two artists perfectly. The fact that they love to work with animals makes so much sense given you are looking straight into the monkey house of the Zoo right next to the mall through its big panorama window. In fact the sheets look so cool that you could as well frame them and hang them in your house as art prints.

The postcard station offers your the possibility to either send Christmas greetings to your loved ones (Bikini Berlin will cover the postage) or cut out and fold the animals to start your own little zoo. It’s all too cute!

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A Trip to the Cutest Creatures of Brandenburg: Alpacas

A Trip to the Cutest Creatures of Brandenburg: Alpacas

For some Berliners, Brandenburg feels like Mordor from Lord of the Rings. A dark place you are not supposed to go. But our recent discovery will make this assumption disappear even for the most sceptikal ones: An Alpaka farm with the most fluffy creatures of the world

Just one hour from Berlin by car is the little village of Börnicke near Nauen. There you will find the privately run Alpaca farm run by Nora and Joachim. Both are big fans of Alpacas who normally live in South America. They decided to build a little stable for these incredible animals next to an idyllic forest.

When we arrived we did not really know what to expect. But as soon as we stood in the middle of the field the funny animals avidly came towards us eating crispy bread from our hands and cuddling with us. We instantly got high of joy. I would have never believed it myself, but playing with these animals gives you the absolute feeling of happiness. When they look at you with their cute big brown eyes you cannot avoid feeling a deep warm sensation around your heart.

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The Tragic Fame of a Hippo and an Elephant from the Berlin Zoo

The Tragic Fame of a Hippo and an Elephant from the Berlin Zoo

During the Second World War, not only the Berlin Zoo but also other zoos across Germany such as the Zoologischen Garten in Düsseldorf and the Dresden Zoo were severely bombed and consequently destroyed. Despite years of existence and many promises of evacuation this did not happen and the animals were not spared. Many died due to injuries and mistreatment or due to hunger, poisoning or thirst and some of the few survivors that were left were put to use in an effort to rebuild what was destroyed, such as the elephants at the Hamburg Zoo. Nonetheless, some of the large and potentially dangerous animals such as panthers, jaguars and gorillas who managed to escape the unfolding inferno had to be chased down the streets and shot dead. It was hellish. In the Berlin Zoo only 91 of almost 4000 animals remained alive by the War’s end, including two lions, two hyenas, an Asian bull elephant, a hippo bull, ten hamadryad’s baboons, a chimpanzee, and a black stork. Here are two examples…

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The Fluffy Inhabitants of Berlin

The Fluffy Inhabitants of Berlin

photos: Marcello Zerletti

We speak so much about the diverse population of Berlin that comes together here from all over the world. At the same time we have often neglected to give some of those inhabitants of the city some attention that have been living here much longer than we do. And I’m not talking about the Urberliner, I’m talking about the wildlife of Berlin that despite the urbanization of Men still secretly coexists here with us thanks to the fact that Berlin kept a lot of green spaces inside the city.

So without noticing us we are surrounded by cute fluffy creatures that live in the park behind the block, the overgrown piece of land next to the trail tracks or the gigantic Tiergarten. There we have fox families, squirrels, rabbits, hedgehogs and other kind of little critters; and of course lots of birds, the expats of wildlife. Of course most of these animals are quite shy, only come out during night or keep to the quieter parts of town away from human life. But if you have patience and know a little bit about their behavior you will get to see them.

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GIF me Cute: Animated Creatures all over Berlin

GIF me Cute: Animated Creatures all over Berlin

GIFs: Yoyo the Ricecorpse

Sometimes I think that I have the attention span of a GIF. The upside of this daily struggle of working with the internet is that anything that fits into a short loop can catch my attention really good. No wonder I am better at looking at GIFs than reading, let alone writing any text. Unfortunately, looking at GIFs doesn’t pay the bills (even though I cannot be sure that it might become a sustainable profession in the future, as the future is unknown and full of mysteries).

Speaking of looking at GIFs, I recently stumbled upon a really interesting GIF series that I wanted to share with you. The London-based artist running by the unorthodox name Yoyo the Ricecorpse visited Berlin a while ago. When she was here, not only did she take some pictures, but also created unique illustrations of all kinds of animated creatures. Inspired by Japanese anime and the classic Game Boy game Pokemon, her funny-moving animals do all sorts of crazy things all over Berlin. Maybe it is not everyone’s cup of tea to see our so-called rough and dirty city overwhelmed by all this pink Japanese cuteness, but for a change I quite like it.

If you like what Yoyo does, you should also check out the animations she did in the streets of Paris and Tokyo. More funny and cute GIFs after the jump.

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Exploring Berlin: Zehlendorf, Dahlem and Wannsee

Exploring Berlin: Zehlendorf, Dahlem and Wannsee

photo: I. Haas, Botanischer Garten

We know you’re city kids and you love Berlin for its cool districts, the freaky people, and the party next door. But how about a bit of recreation, silence and a nice trip with the family? For tourists it’s not necessarily the first meeting point, but Zehlendorf and neighboring Dahlem and Wannsee offer a lot of beautiful places that you should visit in your spare time. We created a small guide for your next trip to these charming districts – read more about it after the jump.

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