My opinion on Pairi Daiza...
It is a weird beast. Some exhibits are very good. Shoebill storks, birds of prey and bear cuscus had enormous aviaries. Elephants probably enjoyed living in the large herd more than anything, and being taken out for bath. Giant pandas and Asian black bears had nice yards shaded with live trees.
On the other hand, some exhibits were mediocre, like lions, or substandard. The worst were orangutans in sterile glass-fronted cages with just one niches and few ropes. Orangutans did not care about the excessive theming (which looked more Thai than Indonesian, from my tourist memories). Tigers had boring, smallish grass yard with some walls and one(?) dead branch. Gorillas suffered on a sunny grass with few climbing equipment, unsuitable for animals from shady, dense thickets. Cassowary pen and giant otter exhibit were close or below the bare legal minimum.
Most zoo enthusiasts are irritated by the excess theming. I did not enjoy it either. Several broken-down airplanes, tens of skulls and skeletons and many hundreds of elephant scupltures. Frankly speaking, I don't think an average visitor enjoys or notices it much, either. Perhaps the zoo marketing experts might have a closer look into it. Most of it was tacky. Few seemed to be, surprise, faithfully replicated cultural artifacts. However, these were ruined by lack of sensible cultural commentary.
One thing which I liked that it is the zoo which still understands the importance of a diverse animal collection. So you get all ABCs, and also Ds, Es and Fs of the animals world. Clouded leopard, shoebill stork, tasmanian devil, giant salamander were all welcome to see.
