How many zoos did you visit in 2023?

How many zoos did you visit in 2023?

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zooatlas

Active Member
i had a good zoo year
my list is not the longest but it is a big improvement
norway
tangen dyrepark
snilsberg famiilepark
drøbak akvarium
oslo reptilpark
danmark
Københaven Zoo
Den Blå Planet
Øresundsakvariet
† Nordsjællands Fuglepark
Krokodille Zoo
Guldborgsund Zoo & Botanisk Have
the last of these is going to become † in the near future
how about you ?
 
I visited 8 zoos across 2023 across 17 visits, those being as follows;
  • Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park (4 visits)
  • Chester Zoo (3 visits)
  • Dudley Zoo (3 visits)
  • Edinburgh Zoo (1 visit)
  • Port Lympne Hotel and Reserve (2 visits)
  • SeaLife Birmingham (2 visits)
  • West Midlands Safari Park (1 visit)
  • ZSL London Zoo (1 visit)
I was initially aiming for 10 zoos, however with a visit to Twycross Zoo imminent in the new year, as well as the likelihood that I’ll visit many of the zoos listed above again this year, I should be able to reach that goal.
 
I visited 15 different zoos, 5 were first visits (listed below in bold) non of which could be called mainstream zoos. 3 of the zoos were collections I haven't visited for some time.
Kulua Lumpa Bird Park
Barcelona Zoo - last visit since 1991
Welsh Mountain Zoo - last visit 1999
Bodafon Farm Park - interesting owl collection
Bug Parc, Norfolk
Watatunga Wildlife Reserve
Johnson's of Old Hurst
London Zoo - 2 visits
London Aquarium
Bristol Aquarium
Dartmoor Zoo - first visit for about 12 years
Chew Valley Wildlife Park
Noah's Ark - several visits
Bristol Zoo Project- several visits
Chester Zoo - spent two days there
 
I visited 32 collections, 9 for the first time (or first visit in many years), all in UK.
Visit numbers in brackets
Total visits: 111

Africa Alive (4)
All things wild (2)
Amazonas (1)
Ark Wildlife and Dinosaur park (2)
Banham (8)
Beale Park (7)
Chester (2)
Colchester (4)
Cotswold Wildlife Park (16)
Dudley (3)
Exmoor (1)
Hamerton (10)
Jimmys farm (1)
Johnsons of Old Hurst (1)
Linton (3)
LWP (2)
Marwell (1)
Millets Wildside (1)
Noah's Ark (2)
Paradise Wildlife park (1)
Peak wildlife park (1)
Shepreth (5)
Thrigby Hall (2)
Trentham Monkey Forest (1)
Tropical Birdland (1)
Twycross (2)
Watatunga (1)
Wild Place / Bristol Zoo Project (3)
Wolds (1)
Woodside (1)
YWP (4)
ZSL Whipsnade (17)
 
I visited 11 facilities:

Auckland Zoo
Wellington Zoo
Hamilton Zoo
Willowbank Wildlife Park*
SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium
SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium*
Melbourne Zoo*
Werribee Open Range Zoo*
Ballarat Wildlife Park*
Melbourne Museum*
Koala Conservation Reserve, Phillip Island*

* = first time visit
 
Moorhunhe said:
I went to 27 different ones, and good for 67 visits.
Click to expand...

Sorry, should have done this to begin with.

* new for 2023

UK
- London Zoo
- Dudley Zoo (12x)
- Twycross
- Hamerton Zoo (10x)
- Cotswold Zoo
- Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park (7x)
- Hoo Zoo (2x)
- Paradise Wildlife Park *
- Linton Zoo (5x) *
- All Things Wild, Honeybourne/Evesham *
- Shepreth Wildlife Park (2x) *
- Chester Zoo (5x) *
- Beale Wildlife Park *
- Wolds Wildlife Park *
- Ark Wildlife Park *
- Lincolnshire Wildlife Park *
- Woodside Wildlife Park *
- Peak Wildlife Park *
- Drayton Manor *

Belgium
- Planckendael
- Olmense Zoo / Pakawi Park (2x)

Netherlands
- Daalhoeve Maastricht (3x) *
- Zie-Zoo Volkel (2x) *
- ZooParc Overloon *
- BestZoo *

France
- Parc des Félins *

Germany
- Zoo Krefeld *
 
I visited 8 zoo/animal collections this year.
SeaWorld San Diego
San Diego zoo
San Diego zoo safari park
Aquarium of the pacific
The living desert zoo
Los Angeles zoo
Yorkshire wildlife park
Hamerton zoo

I had been to YWP and Hamerton before but for the others it was my first time.
 
6 collections in 11 visits for me this year, with a few I visited for the first time or the first in more than five years (in bold):
  • Colchester Zoo (5)
  • Twycross Zoo (1)
  • Chester Zoo (1) treated as one visit split over two days to cover everything
  • Africa Alive (1)
  • Linton Zoo (1)
  • Johnson's of Old Hurst (1)
Overall a bit disappointing giving my hopes for this year but definitely quality over quantity and it leaves room to bounce back in 2024 with zoos I want to visit for the first time as well as revisits from 2022 and prior.
 
In 2023 I visited 2 old (And regularly visited in years past) zoos, as well as 7 new ones, for a total of 9. I didn't visit anywhere more than once this year.

I visited for the first time this year:
1. California Academy of Sciences, CA
2. Monterey Bay Aquarium, CA
3. Miller Park Zoo, IL
4. Shamba Safari, WI
5. International Crane Foundation, WI
6. Henry Vilas Zoo, WI
7. Cosley Zoo, IL

I revisited:
8. Shedd Aquarium, IL
9. St. Louis Zoo, MO

Overall, being up by two from last year is not bad, although hopefully, I'll be able to get to more next year, including some new ones, although this is (Near verbatim) what I said last year too :rolleyes:
 
Visited most of these once unless otherwise noted. I will bold first time visits
1. Bergen County Zoo (11)
2. Bronx Zoo (11)
3. Turtle Back Zoo (2)
4. New York Aquarium
5. Toledo Zoo & Aquarium
6. International Crane Foundation
7. Reptile Gardens
8. Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center
9. Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center
10. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
11. Denver Zoo
12. Topeka Zoo
13. Saint Louis Zoo
14. Columbus Zoo & Aquarium
15. Trevor Zoo
16. Smithsonian National Zoo
17. Disney’s Animal Kingdom (2*)
18. The Seas with Nemo and Friends @ EPCOT
19. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge**
*Went at night a different date when most of the trails are closed, however I did see 2 species in the American Crocodile and Lesser Flamingo
**Some may not count it as it’s own separate facility, however I do due to the fact that all the exhibits are completely separate from the park
 
United Kingdom:
Horniman Museum (4)
ZSL London Zoo (3)
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo (2)
Crystal Palace Park Zoo (2)
Wildheart Animal Sanctuary
Exmoor Zoo
Noah's Ark Zoo Farm
Shaldon Zoo
Cotswold Wildlife Park

Germany:
Tierpark Hagenbeck
Zoo Magdeburg

Switzerland:
Zoo Zurich
Voliere Zurich

Underlined zoos are first time visits.

In total 20 visits to 13 zoos, which makes this my best zoo-visiting year to date! Let's hope that 2024 will be just as good, if not better!
 
I visited 8 new zoos:
Keçiören Municipality Aquarium
Emaar Aquarium and Underwater Zoo
Polonezköy Zoo
Istanbul Bird Paradise/Kuş Cenneti
Park of Istanbul
ViaSea Aquarium
Aslan Park
Tierpark Hellabrunn

and revisited 3 other zoos:
Faruk Yalçın Zoo
Aqua Vega
SeanLife Istanbul

So a ittty bitty amount of 11 zoos.
 
Managed 25 zoo visits, but to just 4 different zoos:

Colchester Zoo (21 visits)
Call of the Wild Zoo (2 visits)
The Bug Parc (1 visit)
ZSL London (1 visit)

With any luck, I should be visiting a brand new zoo sometime early next year and will definitely be making returns to Colchester and London. Hopefully Call of the Wild will also be on the list of revisits (also hoping to return to The Bug Parc as well, but that one I am less certain of).
 
In 2023 I visited

New Collections:

Johnsons of Old Hurst Zoo (1 visit)
Xcaret by Mexico (1 visit)
BugZUK (1 visit)
Sea Life Great Yarmouth (1 visit)

Revisited Collections:

ZSL London Zoo (9 visits)
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo (2 visits)
Shepreth Wildlife Park (2 visits)
Linton Zoo (1 visit)
Hamerton Zoo Park (1 visit)
 
Sixteen new facilities for me, all in the US: Lehigh Valley Zoo, Tanganyika Wildlife Park, Sedgwick County Zoo, Tulsa Zoo, Oklahoma Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences, Oakland Zoo, Indianapolis Zoo, Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, Binder Park Zoo, John Ball Zoo, Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, Seattle Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy, and Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. Also, several zoos that I visited for only the second or third time. This was an exceptionally busy year for travel and conferences, and I don’t expect nearly as many new facilities in 2024, but we’ll see!
 
Looks like 16 total, across 4 states. Of these, 6 were new (bold), another 3 were ones I hadn’t visited in 14+ years (italics), and the remaining 7 were regular enough visits.

Atlanta
Brevard
Brights
Carson Springs
Charles Towne Landing
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
Georgia Aquarium
Greenville
Hollywild
Jacksonville
Knoxville
Lowcountry
Magnolia Plantation
Riverbanks
Tampa

What will 2024 hold? I think most if not all of my 7 “regular” zoos from this year will return. Disney “shouldn’t” necessarily be an every year thing like the SC zoos, yet here we are planning on going back this year… although this is going to be a shorter Thanksgiving trip so maybe the park itself isn’t on the itinerary this time? I’ll have to double check on that (the lodge for sure is). The only other one that’s up in the air is Georgia Aquarium - the zoo’s a lock because I’ve got to get at least one last panda visit in before they leave. And then the non-AZA SC zoos are wildcards, basically they’ll happen or not based on extended family’s whims.

The Florida trip should also include Miami and probably Naples, returns to Jacksonville and/or Carson Springs, and maybe a tbd wildcard. I’m pushing to finally, finally make North Carolina Zoo happen sooner than not. A Tennessee return trip is possible for the first half of the year too - whether that’s for Brights or Knoxville (plus Rainforest Adventures this time!) remains to be seen.

Lastly I’ll be visiting Texas this summer. Dallas World Aquarium, Dallas Zoo, and San Antonio Zoo are hard locks, with at least one of Fort Worth Zoo and Gladys Porter Zoo being soft locks. In an ideal scenario, I’ll be able to hit all five of those, plus Houston Zoo, plus either Fossil Rim or Natural Bridge safari park. Guess we’ll see how bad the burnout is!
 
32 collections, 37 visits -
West Midlands Safari Park
Drayton Manor
Twycross
Linton
Johnson's x2
Hamerton x2
Shaldon
Paignton
Banham
Woolaton Hall
Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park x3
Welsh Owl Garden
Folly Farm
Paradise Park
Newquay
Exmoor
Tropiquaria
Dudley x2
National Marine Aquarium
Buckfastleigh Otters & Butterflies
Sea Life Birmingham
Peak WP
Hoo Zoo
Raptor Foundation
New Forest WP
Blackpool
Blackpool Sea Life
Bolton Museum Aquarium
Manchester Museum Vivarium
Welsh Mountain Zoo
Rhyl Seaquarium (4 days before it unexpectedly closed)
Chester
 
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