German Tour for the Not so Near Future

pachyderm pro said:
A few years down the line. I have plenty of time to mix and match. I simply started this thread as a way to gauge how I should go by this. I want to do a great big trip, but if I want to do a great big trip, the best way to start would be talking to other folks who have taken great big trips and building up from there. This is why I stated at the beginning "(Very) Beginning stages".
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Then I'd lean towards planning in 'decisions'. For each base or region you can have some 'must-see' zoos, some 'maybes', some 'unlikelies' and some 'nos'. If you do the thinking to understand which zoos go in which category you will (a) surprise yourself, and (b)
have a framework for making future decisions. Zoos change a lot in five years so it makes sense to prepare for those changes rather than lock in a itinerary now.

The other thing you can do is small practice trips closer to home to figure out where the intersection of saving money and having fun is for you. Can you eat pot noodles for a week? Can you share a dorm room? What if you don't buy beer? And so on. Then you will also have a better idea of how far, and how many days, your budget will stretch.
 
I would skipped Apenheul and go instead to Antwerp (very easy from Rotterdam), skipped Hannover and go to Walsrode, skipped Welt der Gifte (unless you could combine it with Rostock; I always combine Schwerin Zoo and Rostock Zoo, but by car). Probably also change Duisburg by Wuppertal, but then you miss the river dolphin and The tasmanian devils.
From Leipzig to Frankfurt without losing a day, will not be easy.
You missed not only Walsrode and Wuppertal, but also Hellabrunn Munich as one of the major German Zoos.
 
Philipine eagle said:
skipped Welt der Gifte
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Ehem; thank you for dissuading my potential customer from visiting..Another cranberry juice?

I'd really appreciate that before devaluating WdG as skippable, you'd first visit WdG in person to see whether your suggestion is justified. Rostock, WdG and Tierpark Greifswald are doable in one day if planned well beforehand.
 
Batto said:
Rostock, WdG and Tierpark Greifswald are doable in one day if planned well beforehand.
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Out of curiosity, does this also apply when travelling only by public transport? :)
 
It does if you enter Zoo Rostock right when it opens, leave Rostock for Greifswald by train at 1 pm or by bus at 2:40 pm, then walk from the central station to the Tierpark and afterwards to WdG. The good thing about WdG, among (many) others *glances at Philipine eagle*, is that it's open in the evening.
 
Funny you mentioned it @Philipine eagle. I actually created a revised itinerary about a week ago. Though as FunkyGibbon said, much of this is merely hoping for the best and dreaming. So I am hesitant to post it right now.
 
Batto said:
Ehem; thank you for dissuading my potential customer from visiting..Another cranberry juice?

I'd really appreciate that before devaluating WdG as skippable, you'd first visit WdG in person to see whether your suggestion is justified. Rostock, WdG and Tierpark Greifswald are doable in one day if planned well beforehand.
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Take it easy Batto. I already mentioned the possibility of combining Rostock and WdG. And I really am wondering how you can be sure I never been at your 27 species zoo?
 
Philipine eagle said:
And I really am wondering how you can be sure I never been at your 27 species zoo?
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Without wanting to get between you (I'm sure Batto can defend himself adequately) you shouldn't judge a zoo by the (low) number of species -it's often about how they're displayed and, very often, what species are held.

A number of UK based zoo fans still mourn the closure of the Rare Species Conservation Centre which, while probably not having many more than 27 species at many points in it's lifetime, was always a delight to visit.

Plus you're forgetting there's zoo fans on here that would go miles/kilometres out of their way to see one interesting species at an otherwise mundane/average zoo (I've done it and I'm sure many other have too).
 
I agree with @Shorts that it's not always about the quantity of the zoo but about the quality. Just because the zoo only has 37 species (and that's a pretty good number if they're all venomous) doesn't mean that the zoo is automatically skippable. In my opinion, a zoo of a smaller size can often give you a more intimate and enjoyable experience than a larger zoo (I've never been to Welt Der Gifte but I've found this true in other small collections). Plus they have an Inland Taipan which is definitely another reason to visit this zoo.

That said, it'll be interesting to hear what Batto has to say for himself.
 
Thank you guys for standing in for me. :)
As for you, Philipine eagle: why should I take it easy that you deemed WdG skippable in the first place? And I'm not buying your half-hearted second option with Rostock as an excuse. It's my very own project, and I have every right to be proud about and defend it when someone disrespects it for no other reasons than arrogance and ignorance. Your weak attempt to hit me below the belt by (incorrectly) trying to interrelate the quality of my exhibition with the number of species you assume I display only underlines that you don't take WdG seriously - and is another clue that you have never visited it in person. Getting the number of species wrong just adds to that - in a quite comic way, I might add. Funny enough, even people who value species diversity over quality of husbandry & presentation can find species at WdG they can't see at, say, Rostock or Schwerin. Or even in the major established European and American zoos.
So I'm pretty sure that you haven't visited WdG yet, incognito or not. Therefore, I would politely ask you not to make any incorrect assumptions about it. And I extend my invitation to you and the other readers to visit WdG in person to get an honest and fair idea of the place before deeming it skippable.
@TZDugong: all animals on display are either venomous, poisonous or in other ways related to toxins.
 
Shorts said:
Without wanting to get between you (I'm sure Batto can defend himself adequately) you shouldn't judge a zoo by the (low) number of species -it's often about how they're displayed and, very often, what species are held.

A number of UK based zoo fans still mourn the closure of the Rare Species Conservation Centre which, while probably not having many more than 27 species at many points in it's lifetime, was always a delight to visit.

Plus you're forgetting there's zoo fans on here that would go miles/kilometres out of their way to see one interesting species at an otherwise mundane/average zoo (I've done it and I'm sure many other have too).
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Hm, I nowhere see anything like that in my post #27. In fact I do like small institutions but I was only responding to the TS's list, which includes almost only large zoos.
 
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