Visited the zoo for the first time on Friday, spending the morning here and the afternoon at Thrigby. Was interesting to read Tom1998's review above as I was planning my trip and I agree with a lot of it and that it is worth going to though it is a bit of a mixed bag. I had a very similar reaction to Thrigby when I first went there too.
My first visit (have 10 days off am planning a lot of trips!) went well though. Weather was good and the zoo was not too busy, despite it being the school holidays. Plenty of car parkng.
Entrance to the zoo offers a pretty good impression with a wooden walkway through the first wooded area, with bridges over an enclosure for black swan and then agouti. The zoo offers a paper map but also has a map displayed on the wall opposite the ticket kiosk along with timings for talks and a note about the free roaming mara.
The zoo has a number of open spaces as well as wooded ones and makes interesting use of the natural cover and trees in some of the enclosures. In places it feels a little bit like Linton with surprising animal enclosures emerging out of the shady woods.
The two maps available in the zoo are not the same, the paper map appears to be more up to date.
I chose to follow the right hand route arriving first at a small enclosure for two geoffroy's marmosets with an indoor shed and small wire meshed outside area. The tight mesh / wooden structure is a theme across the zoo. The other primates including marmosets have more space though and this was the smallest and least likeable of the animal spaces for me.
The lake (with squirrel monkeys in an open area on the far side) is large and the three flamingos have a spacious area on the lake, in a pond running off it adjoining their house and in the house itself. The lake and outside area were mostly occupied by a large flock of greylag goose. Non native birds were also signed on the lake but were a bit harder to spot, though I saw the teal.
Walking around the edge of the zoo, an enclosure for straited caracara was signed as having a bird on the nest and three birds were active in the outside space, enjoying the sun.
A path lead around the top of the wood to a picnic area with a big trampoline set into the ground which was where a lot of the visitors were gathered. A path dropping down from there offered an elevated view of the tapir / capybara enclosure. A path at ground level also ran around the whole enclosure.
In the open space below the tapirs and near a tarpaulin covered yurt / ger activity area, some of the free roaming mara were gathered with a good number of youngsters. From seeing quite a few around the zoo it looks like a productive breeding season. I do like free roaming animals and it was good to see people being well behaved around them. Passing down towards the lake again was an enclosure for common marmoset. This was another wooden hut for the indoor area and a series of circular outside spaces with mesh sides. The tightly woven mesh offered pretty good views of the marmosets with what appeared to be a few juveniles as well as adults and the group were very active indeed, making use of all the spaces. The mesh appeared a bit saggy in places.
Around from the marmoset was a large enclosure for an American river otter (one of the reasons for my visit). The one female was all over the enclosure, playing in the natural pond and coming very close to the enclosure fencing, to the delight of the visitors. As Tom mentioned this was one of the best areas of the zoo with lots of room, making good use of natural cover, shady and sunny spaces, trees and the pond. A man made pond area at the top near the house also had the otter splashing around. There was good viewing from three sides of the enclosure and it was definitely a highlight. The signage, as with all signage at the zoo, was a little tired but functional.
Opposite the otter there was a mesh covered aviary for bare faced currasow and egrets. Quite long and with different height perches for the birds.
Heading round a fairly basic space for rheas there was a guinea pig village with a number of brightly coloured houses etc for the guinea pigs - quite a few kids and families were there enjoying the space.
Approaching the tropical house is an enclosure for Geoffory's spider monkey (I saw one but it was great to see the species and it was active and rolling about). The theme of a series of circlular / round wire enclosures goes across the zoo and reminded me a lot of the enclosures at Thrigby which I guess makes sense as they had the same creator I believe.
Nearby is another aviary this time for greater horned owls. This looked more modern than the other enclosures, less circular, more cover and more planting and a variety of perches and places for the owls to sit. Good views of the two owls.
An outside space for tortoises and a capuchin enclosure attached to the tropical house were next. The capuchin enclosure has housing inside the tropical house and a visitor walkway to the upper level offered viewing of the monkeys from ground and climbing height. A couple of individuals were playing about.
I liked this double height viewing and being able to get access the tropical house from two levels. The house itself is large and spacious with good planting. No free roaming animals but tanks for fish and a spectacled caiman and a large anaconda. The Anaconda was signed as getting an enclosure expansion due to it's size. Next door was a smaller boa.
I liked the leaf cutter ant routing..a planted area with leaves for them to harvest was followed by a series of lighted tubes winding their way along the lower level of the tropical house. It was easy and fun to watch the ants going about their business. A large nest area with a glass front also offered great views of the inner workings of the colony.
(or maybe I'm just putting off doing uni work...)
