Authored by Cecile Meintjes

On Wednesday, 18 May, Grade 2 stepped through the doors of the Zürich Zoo’s Masoala Rainforest enclosure and into a world utterly transformed. Gone were the Swiss spring breezes. In their place: warmth, humidity, and a symphony of sounds that caught everyone by surprise. “It is so very hot and noisy in here!” one student exclaimed, eyes wide as the reality of the rainforest sank in.

The visit came at the perfect moment in our science learning. For the past few weeks, Grade 2 has been exploring how plants grow and has recently begun to study habitats around the world. We began by studying the basic parts of a plant and their functions — roots, stems, leaves, and flowers — before turning our attention to the question: what do plants actually need to survive? This curiosity naturally led us to wonder about rainforests. How do plants live so differently there compared to our local Swiss forests?

Standing within the Masoala’s towering canopy of broadleaved evergreens, the answer became immediately tangible. The air itself felt different — warm and damp, a stark contrast to the crisp climate outside. But it was the ground beneath their feet that captured the children’s imagination. “We see these special roots growing above the soil everywhere,” one pupil observed, noticing the magnificent buttress roots spreading out like wooden tentacles. These were not the hidden root systems we had drawn in our notebooks — these were architectural marvels, visible and extraordinary.

As we moved through the enclosure, the children recognised the dense, multi-layered vegetation they had only seen in pictures. Everywhere they looked, fruits, vines, and plants crowded one another in ways utterly foreign to the open deciduous forests of Switzerland.

Back in the classroom, our wonder deepened when we discovered that the famous Titan Arum — the extraordinary “corpse flower” — had only recently finished flowering. Fascinated by its dramatic life cycle, a few students even volunteered to calculate the timeline at home, returning with results that sparked further questions and plenty of “wow” moments around the room.

Now, Grade 2 is ready for the next chapter. With our own Swiss forest sitting right beside the school, we will be stepping outside to compare, observe, and record. Nature stays amazing — and how fortunate we are to have both worlds within reach.