Alwaysevergreen
Well-Known Member
I made a rare visit to London Zoo on Sunday. Unlike a lot of people, I like the history of London, and I like to read who opened certain exhibits, read the billboards from the past and spend time walking around.
It always amazes me, just how busy it is there, and I guess this is because it's normally full of tourists visiting London.
Part of the reason, I wanted to visit, was to see the Reptile House, before it closed for good. There wasn't much in there as mentioned above, with mainly empty exhibits, a couple of Emerald Boas, Corn Snake, another Boa, and then a few tortoises, a caiman, caiman lizard, blue monitor and the large water monitor.
I found it odd, that the lighting on some of the empty vivs remained on, and set up, as if they were still holding something, and whilst no species plaques were visible on these vivs, there was no real signs to say they were empty and a number of people were stopping to effectively look in an empty exhibit.
The new reptile house, does look near completion, and I do like the Blue Gecko on the outside of it. It looks a nice size, but I do feel that the old house, had a lot of history that will be hard to replace.
This was the first time, that I got to visit Monkey Valley, and for all it's very impressive, it really caught me off guard. I am not good at all with heights and with this, the Bear walk at Wildwood and the Tiger outlook at Thrigby have really made me feel queasy and uneasy and so much so, that I've not been able to do them, freezing in the middle. I had never been in the Snowden aviary before, and this was my first time, and about half way across, I again felt my legs go to jelly and kind of froze against the rail. For someone, such as myself with such a fear of heights, you don't appreciate looking in, the effect of looking up at the rope bridges in the sky, or the drops either side of the walkway. I appreciate, that I am in a minority here, but I personally feel a sign outside, saying may not be suitable for those with a fear of heights may be a good idea. I did enjoy seeing the Colobus Monkeys and it's a beautiful exhibit. I did try to go through it again later on, but nerves got the better of me and couldn't bring myself to do so, which is gutting for me.
My favourite parts of London, have always been the aviaries, and notably the one as you head to the Gorillas. I was able to get some nice photos of the Ibis, Pink Pigeons and Hornbill and I loved the planting and colouration of the exhibit. It was my favourite part of the zoo.
The Blackburn Pavilion, is an exhibit I've liked and in the past, it had never felt warm in there. Yesterday, it was feeling warm, which made my camera steam up and made images, in the low light difficult. There seemed to be a lot of ground birds, and there had definitely been a move around since my last visit in July 2022. I did like the room as you leave the main free flight area, with some beautiful birds. There was one that reminded me of a Hummingbird, the way it flew, but obviously is not a Hummingbird, but I have no idea what it was, it was a green colour, but moved too quick to get a photo of.
Both the Lions (is there only two now?) and Tigers (Cubs must be soon moving, looking at the size of them?) took shelter from the rain and both these exhibits were busy. The Mongoose Motors by the Langur Monkey's was empty and in need of repair.
I've seen a lot of negative comments about the Giraffe house, and personally, I never knew you could walk through the house! It was a first for me, and whilst it is not huge, I've definitely seen worse and was nice to see them whilst the keepers were putting up their enrichment tubs.
The Okapi were mixed, and I was rather annoyed to see someone smoking in the Okapi house. I tried to say something, but they just looked at me, and made out they didn't understand, before laughing as I walked away.
I enjoyed the nocturnal house, despite seeing little and the rainforest was a nice exhibit for me. Great mix of Monkeys, and nice to see the baby sloth on mum. Down to one Tamandua it seems, and didn't manage to see the bats.
There was no sign of the Komodo Dragon, the twice I went through the exhibit.
I actually had an enjoyable day despite appalling weather and I do like the historic feel to London. Yes, it may not have the species it once had, but for me, it has the charm and I personally like visiting once or twice a year. I loved the pigs in the children's farm area, they were adorable!
It always amazes me, just how busy it is there, and I guess this is because it's normally full of tourists visiting London.
Part of the reason, I wanted to visit, was to see the Reptile House, before it closed for good. There wasn't much in there as mentioned above, with mainly empty exhibits, a couple of Emerald Boas, Corn Snake, another Boa, and then a few tortoises, a caiman, caiman lizard, blue monitor and the large water monitor.
I found it odd, that the lighting on some of the empty vivs remained on, and set up, as if they were still holding something, and whilst no species plaques were visible on these vivs, there was no real signs to say they were empty and a number of people were stopping to effectively look in an empty exhibit.
The new reptile house, does look near completion, and I do like the Blue Gecko on the outside of it. It looks a nice size, but I do feel that the old house, had a lot of history that will be hard to replace.
This was the first time, that I got to visit Monkey Valley, and for all it's very impressive, it really caught me off guard. I am not good at all with heights and with this, the Bear walk at Wildwood and the Tiger outlook at Thrigby have really made me feel queasy and uneasy and so much so, that I've not been able to do them, freezing in the middle. I had never been in the Snowden aviary before, and this was my first time, and about half way across, I again felt my legs go to jelly and kind of froze against the rail. For someone, such as myself with such a fear of heights, you don't appreciate looking in, the effect of looking up at the rope bridges in the sky, or the drops either side of the walkway. I appreciate, that I am in a minority here, but I personally feel a sign outside, saying may not be suitable for those with a fear of heights may be a good idea. I did enjoy seeing the Colobus Monkeys and it's a beautiful exhibit. I did try to go through it again later on, but nerves got the better of me and couldn't bring myself to do so, which is gutting for me.
My favourite parts of London, have always been the aviaries, and notably the one as you head to the Gorillas. I was able to get some nice photos of the Ibis, Pink Pigeons and Hornbill and I loved the planting and colouration of the exhibit. It was my favourite part of the zoo.
The Blackburn Pavilion, is an exhibit I've liked and in the past, it had never felt warm in there. Yesterday, it was feeling warm, which made my camera steam up and made images, in the low light difficult. There seemed to be a lot of ground birds, and there had definitely been a move around since my last visit in July 2022. I did like the room as you leave the main free flight area, with some beautiful birds. There was one that reminded me of a Hummingbird, the way it flew, but obviously is not a Hummingbird, but I have no idea what it was, it was a green colour, but moved too quick to get a photo of.
Both the Lions (is there only two now?) and Tigers (Cubs must be soon moving, looking at the size of them?) took shelter from the rain and both these exhibits were busy. The Mongoose Motors by the Langur Monkey's was empty and in need of repair.
I've seen a lot of negative comments about the Giraffe house, and personally, I never knew you could walk through the house! It was a first for me, and whilst it is not huge, I've definitely seen worse and was nice to see them whilst the keepers were putting up their enrichment tubs.
The Okapi were mixed, and I was rather annoyed to see someone smoking in the Okapi house. I tried to say something, but they just looked at me, and made out they didn't understand, before laughing as I walked away.
I enjoyed the nocturnal house, despite seeing little and the rainforest was a nice exhibit for me. Great mix of Monkeys, and nice to see the baby sloth on mum. Down to one Tamandua it seems, and didn't manage to see the bats.
There was no sign of the Komodo Dragon, the twice I went through the exhibit.
I actually had an enjoyable day despite appalling weather and I do like the historic feel to London. Yes, it may not have the species it once had, but for me, it has the charm and I personally like visiting once or twice a year. I loved the pigs in the children's farm area, they were adorable!
