Knowing I was going to find myself with half a day to spare in Copenhagen, a perfect opportunity presented itself to visit a collection new to me. As I do whenever these occasions occur, I did a little reading on the place. At this point, both on zoochat and everywhere else, I entered a giraffe storm. I won’t even attempt to comment on all of that, so putting it out of my mind approached Zoo Copenhagen as I would any other zoo.
And that approach for me is usually to have a look at what the collection holds in advance, turn up on the morning, pick up a map and take it from there. At this point I came unstuck, I should have worked out a route in advance and taken some notes with me. The map, although fine geographically, gives very little indication of what is where other than headline species. I did quite a bit of doubling back and still had a nagging doubt I’d missed something, and in fact I had, the nocturnal house in the basement of the monkey house I believe?
I was looking forward to the Artic Ring most, but it was a little underwhelming. Had I been lucky enough to see the Polar Bear swimming under water I may have gained a different impression, but there were close views of an active polar bear outside, and through clear air, and that can’t be bad.
The true highlight of the zoo lay beyond in the Nordic section. A freezing cold January morning and hard frost on the ground was authentic and wolves, brown bear, musk oxen and a very active arctic fox and snowy owl mix were highlights of my visit.
The Australian section was also a hive of activity, with a walkthrough kangaroo and wallaby mix, leading on to the Tassie Devils, running around as Tassie Devils always seem to be, and very visible with only a low glass wall enclosing them. Wombat was a no show.
Elsewhere there is a mix of the mainstream and not so, modern enclosures and old ones, as most city zoos are. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the place. Its not the biggest, but its interesting and has character – and that’s what I look for in a collection. And especially on a winter’s day, with open fire pits around the site and all, it’s a whole different perspective.
There are some pics in the gallery.
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