I've been advised to put my review here, as at the time of writing there is no folder for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On a trip to the historic, scenic and friendly city of Sarajevo I had some free time and wanted to visit the city zoo - even more so as there was no entry in Zoochat!
Forgive me if this is not in the house-style of a typical zoo review – and apologies I am not expert enough to confirm all species/subspecies, or know what sex the animals were. I have some photos, from my visit on March 13th 2024 - and am not sure whether add them here, or in the gallery section.
Both internet reviews and locals warned me it was not a top attraction, that I might be disappointed and not to expect too much.
Undeterred and perhaps expecting a run-down menagerie rather than a modern zoo I set off, a 20 minute or so walk from the city centre.
Set in a large park, it cost 5 Marks to get in, which seemed incredibly cheap.
A short walk past the gates and there was a large cafe and large models of a woolly rhino, a mammoth and a somewhat comical-looking sabre tooth cat.
The large zoo map was displayed on a noticeboard, and the zoo was split geographically by a decent size waterfowl pond (with mallards and mute swans), next to a small fast-flowing river that passed through the middle of the collection, that could be crossed by small bridges.
The first enclosure I came across was an fair-sized outdoor island for primates, but with nothing to be seen, I looked into the house and saw 2 yellow-cheeked gibbons together in the very top corner, one pale, one dark.
Venturing to the tropical house, the primates there were also inside and not out. 3 southern pig tailed macaques, looking a little nervous, at one end of the house and a family of ring-tailed lemurs at the other. In between was a caiman who shared its enclosure with some red-eared sliders, some chinchillas behind glass too murky for a good view, a guinea pig randomly in a hutch, 2 tanks each containing a large python (1 x royal, 1 x albino) - and a green iguana, who came to see me up close and kept nodding his head.
Outside was seemingly the main attraction. A block of enclosures that housed lion, Bengal tiger, brown bear and serval. Their outside space looked about the minimum that would be acceptable in a Western zoo, but none of the carnivores were outside and their inside quarters were not viewable. Initially thinking I was a bit unlucky not see any of them it then dawned on me the outside enclosures were not open for these animals - both these carnivores and the primates I had seen earlier. At least you could see the primates inside. It was only 3pm, the zoo shut at 6.30pm, and it was ordinary March weather – so I have no idea why the animals were seemingly ‘shut inside’.
The lion is the emblem of the zoo, is on the ticket, is on the souvenirs, and yet was not on show today.
In adjacent cages were plenty of birds: pheasants, peafowl, chickens and pigeons - and a meerkat enclosure that looked like it had long been empty.
Past a child’s play area and followed an offshoot path behind the river to a very spacious enclosure marked for eland (that were either locked in or not there), and a paddock and house for zebra, which at least did have access to both inside and outside.
Back on the other side of the river were enclosures for racoon and coati (who were both hiding from view), some very cute sleeping red foxes, mara, pygmy goats, tammar wallaby, a bison, a pony, and a highland cow - which mostly all seemed to have good space.
There are steep parts of the zoo and a brisk walk takes you to 2 active wolves, and a very spacious enclosure for llama, while hiking higher there is a large field for fallow deer.
It is an urban zoo and at one point there is a busy road passing the perimeter fence, another part has rows of houses that look down on it, and up with the deer you can see the telecom tower in the distance – I tried to line up of both deer and the landmark in one shot, but couldn’t quite frame them together before the deer wandered off.
Many of the enclosures, particularly for ruminants were a good size, but some were empty and very much work in progress. There had been only been 6 other customers during my visit.
Surreally, as I left a domestic cat walked around the outside of the empty lion enclosure, I made a return to the tropical house, where the iguana came to greet me again and nod some more, and my attempted visit to the café/gift shop was thwarted as it had closed in the hour I had been there.
The zoo is tremendous value for money for a tourist (equivalent of £2.18 for my adult ticket), so I’m trying not to be negative, particularly as I know the zoo had to be re-built and re-stocked after the 90s war.
But, selfishly, I really do wish the lion, tiger and bear had been on display at the time of my visit.
On a trip to the historic, scenic and friendly city of Sarajevo I had some free time and wanted to visit the city zoo - even more so as there was no entry in Zoochat!
Forgive me if this is not in the house-style of a typical zoo review – and apologies I am not expert enough to confirm all species/subspecies, or know what sex the animals were. I have some photos, from my visit on March 13th 2024 - and am not sure whether add them here, or in the gallery section.
Both internet reviews and locals warned me it was not a top attraction, that I might be disappointed and not to expect too much.
Undeterred and perhaps expecting a run-down menagerie rather than a modern zoo I set off, a 20 minute or so walk from the city centre.
Set in a large park, it cost 5 Marks to get in, which seemed incredibly cheap.
A short walk past the gates and there was a large cafe and large models of a woolly rhino, a mammoth and a somewhat comical-looking sabre tooth cat.
The large zoo map was displayed on a noticeboard, and the zoo was split geographically by a decent size waterfowl pond (with mallards and mute swans), next to a small fast-flowing river that passed through the middle of the collection, that could be crossed by small bridges.
The first enclosure I came across was an fair-sized outdoor island for primates, but with nothing to be seen, I looked into the house and saw 2 yellow-cheeked gibbons together in the very top corner, one pale, one dark.
Venturing to the tropical house, the primates there were also inside and not out. 3 southern pig tailed macaques, looking a little nervous, at one end of the house and a family of ring-tailed lemurs at the other. In between was a caiman who shared its enclosure with some red-eared sliders, some chinchillas behind glass too murky for a good view, a guinea pig randomly in a hutch, 2 tanks each containing a large python (1 x royal, 1 x albino) - and a green iguana, who came to see me up close and kept nodding his head.
Outside was seemingly the main attraction. A block of enclosures that housed lion, Bengal tiger, brown bear and serval. Their outside space looked about the minimum that would be acceptable in a Western zoo, but none of the carnivores were outside and their inside quarters were not viewable. Initially thinking I was a bit unlucky not see any of them it then dawned on me the outside enclosures were not open for these animals - both these carnivores and the primates I had seen earlier. At least you could see the primates inside. It was only 3pm, the zoo shut at 6.30pm, and it was ordinary March weather – so I have no idea why the animals were seemingly ‘shut inside’.
The lion is the emblem of the zoo, is on the ticket, is on the souvenirs, and yet was not on show today.
In adjacent cages were plenty of birds: pheasants, peafowl, chickens and pigeons - and a meerkat enclosure that looked like it had long been empty.
Past a child’s play area and followed an offshoot path behind the river to a very spacious enclosure marked for eland (that were either locked in or not there), and a paddock and house for zebra, which at least did have access to both inside and outside.
Back on the other side of the river were enclosures for racoon and coati (who were both hiding from view), some very cute sleeping red foxes, mara, pygmy goats, tammar wallaby, a bison, a pony, and a highland cow - which mostly all seemed to have good space.
There are steep parts of the zoo and a brisk walk takes you to 2 active wolves, and a very spacious enclosure for llama, while hiking higher there is a large field for fallow deer.
It is an urban zoo and at one point there is a busy road passing the perimeter fence, another part has rows of houses that look down on it, and up with the deer you can see the telecom tower in the distance – I tried to line up of both deer and the landmark in one shot, but couldn’t quite frame them together before the deer wandered off.
Many of the enclosures, particularly for ruminants were a good size, but some were empty and very much work in progress. There had been only been 6 other customers during my visit.
Surreally, as I left a domestic cat walked around the outside of the empty lion enclosure, I made a return to the tropical house, where the iguana came to greet me again and nod some more, and my attempted visit to the café/gift shop was thwarted as it had closed in the hour I had been there.
The zoo is tremendous value for money for a tourist (equivalent of £2.18 for my adult ticket), so I’m trying not to be negative, particularly as I know the zoo had to be re-built and re-stocked after the 90s war.
But, selfishly, I really do wish the lion, tiger and bear had been on display at the time of my visit.
