My Most Awesome World Zoo Tour
- Thread starter zooboy28
- Start date
I'm glad that my advice was useful. Some more advice for Czech Republic: for these frosty days Plzen will be better than Dvur Kralove. In Dvur Rhino, Giraffe and Antelopes houses are no open to the public. Also safari part and big summer paddocks are no open in winter. In Plzen you should to know that many species of small mammals and birds are off show. In city center is also Akva-Terra (it belongs to Zoo) - fishes, reptiles and big collection of spiders (more reptiles and amphibians are also off show). And of course Plzen is a beer city - home of famous Pilsner Urquell.
In Wien Zoo is a must, but also Haus des Meeres is worth a visit - aquarium, terrarium, tropical birds and monkeys - it is located in war-time air-raid shelter near to city center.
In Italy near to Venice (1 and 1/2 hour train journey) is Verona, beautiful city of Romeo and Juliet. From Verona you can get urban bus to Parco Natura Viva in Bussolengo - one of the best italian zoo. So italian part of your journey needn't be fruitless.
In Wien Zoo is a must, but also Haus des Meeres is worth a visit - aquarium, terrarium, tropical birds and monkeys - it is located in war-time air-raid shelter near to city center.
In Italy near to Venice (1 and 1/2 hour train journey) is Verona, beautiful city of Romeo and Juliet. From Verona you can get urban bus to Parco Natura Viva in Bussolengo - one of the best italian zoo. So italian part of your journey needn't be fruitless.
Now some words about Germany. Almost every bigger city has good or very good zoo worth a visit but I recommended Leipzig. It is on your road from Italy to Berlin. Beautiful zoo and bonus for these cold days: in Gondwanaland and Pongoland you can spend some hours in hot atmosphere. Don't miss elephant bath with underwater viewing (at 10 am) and only pangolins and Baikal seal in Europe. There is nice and rather cheap hostel "Sleeping Lion" - 10 minutes to central station, 10 min to zoo and 10 min to city Market Square.
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
OK, time for another brief update, given its been a month or so since the last:
-From Poland we went to the Czech Republic, first stop Prague, where we of course visited Prague Zoo, which was amazing, a very nice collection and some great enclosures. Some pretty terrible ones too though, and most of the waterfowl were off-display and the Cat House was closed.
-A day trip to the Plzen Zoo followed, which had a most spectacular collection, so many new birds and (mostly small) mammals! Certainly the most speciose zoo we have visited, although rather lacking in reptiles. The highlight was patting the friendly Indian Rhino, great experience.
This point marked the end of the cheap zoos, all since have been expensive, sometimes excessively so.
-In Austria, we only had time for one zoo, and of course this was Vienna Zoo, a rather eclectic mix of old and new, beautiful and deplorable, but overall most interesting. Apart from the Pandas, the most interesting thing was the historical signage, which was most informative. Best exhibit was the Indian Rhino paddocks, which also featured Nilgai, Blackbuck & Chital.
-Italy was amazing, and we decided we couldn't not go to Rome afterall, and while there (in some of the first snow in 40 years) visited the Rome Bioparco. Some nice enclosures, especially the newer ones (lions and chimps very good), but most of the exhibits were below average, and some terrible - the tigers had just a small rocky cave, which was horrible. A few new species though, Addax and I think European Buzzard (unlabelled).
-We then took a cheap flight to Barcelona, where my partner banned zoos, and then a train to Valencia, where we visited the stunningly modern Valencia Oceanografic. For a place with so few higher vertebrates, I saw so many new species, Beluga & Walrus were huge highlights. There were almost no negatives, even the dolphin show was great. Bizarrely they did insist no food was brought in and x-ray your bags, but we managed to smuggle tuna sandwiches and mandarins in for a cheap lunch.
-The next day was spent at Valencia Bioparc, a brand-new zoo focusing on African fauna with an almost Disney-style approach to theming. Split into four zones, three (Madagascar, Wetlands and Savannah) were brilliant and of a hugely high standard, with the exception of the small yard for Dromedaries. The fourth zone, Equatorial Forest, was best in terms of species, but one was hard-pressed to imagine a forest anywhere, none of the enclosures had any vegetation cover, meaning many species were huddled in the shade of rocks, fences or indoors, which was a bit of an oversight by the designers methinks.
-Next up was the capital, and the large Madrid Zoo, with a huge collection of mega-fauna, including six bear species! Pretty light on birds though, and some of the signage was bare or even non-existent. Needs a lot of work to bring it up to the standard of a capital's zoo, but still very nice and the newer enclosures were quite good. Maybe they should clean up the surrounding areas too - the hookers on the corner might deter (or possibly delay) some visitors.
-From Madrid we went to Paris, which was a very brief visit, barely 24 hours - most spent at Disneyland to compensate for too many zoos, and then we popped over to Switzerland, as you do, where we visited the Zurich Zoo. Mostly excellent, although the Black Rhino's indoor house was atrocious, they barely had room to turn around. Highlights were the Geladas, Mongolian Wolves, and Masaola Hall, which was so huge. We even saw a lemur in there! Best exhibit has to go to the gigantic Spectacled Bear enclosure, part of an expanding and excellent South American precinct.
-Then we headed back north through France, and stopped off at Belgium, which was a waste of time, Brussels was not nice at all, and I am very glad there is no zoo there, the air pollution was dreadful. After Belgium we headed up to Amsterdam (and another sort of air pollution), and today we visited the Royal Artis Zoo, which took 30 minutes to get into the queue was so big. However it was mostly very nice, and certainly worth the wait. Highlight was definitely the Small Mammal House, the first we have really seen, which had an awesome wee collection - best was the Yellow-bellied Martin, hugely active, inquisitive and friendly. It also featured the first South American small cat we have seen on the trip so far (Margay), I was certainly expecting to see more such cats, at least Ocelots, so had been disapointed thus far. Overall a great zoo, with a lot packed into a smal space.
So that brings us up to date, next stop is Germany, where we will be based in Berlin (for Zoo & Tierpark), and will hopefully manage a daytrip down to Leipzig as well. Then a zoo-free week or two in Sweden, before wrapping up MAWZT in the UK, although I'm not sure quite how many zoos will feature in that 3 week period, only Edinburgh and Chester will be definites, and we expect to be pretty broke by then anyway.
My partner is getting pretty sick of zoos now, and might not visit all the German ones, and even I am noticing a lot of repitition, not only among species, but also enclosure design and even species-mixes (every zoo seems to have a guanaco/llama/vicuna+tapir+rhea+giant anteater+mara/capybara+seriema/screamer South American paddock, for example).
Thanks for all the advice that has been given, really appreciate it, and thanks for reading.
-From Poland we went to the Czech Republic, first stop Prague, where we of course visited Prague Zoo, which was amazing, a very nice collection and some great enclosures. Some pretty terrible ones too though, and most of the waterfowl were off-display and the Cat House was closed.
-A day trip to the Plzen Zoo followed, which had a most spectacular collection, so many new birds and (mostly small) mammals! Certainly the most speciose zoo we have visited, although rather lacking in reptiles. The highlight was patting the friendly Indian Rhino, great experience.
This point marked the end of the cheap zoos, all since have been expensive, sometimes excessively so.
-In Austria, we only had time for one zoo, and of course this was Vienna Zoo, a rather eclectic mix of old and new, beautiful and deplorable, but overall most interesting. Apart from the Pandas, the most interesting thing was the historical signage, which was most informative. Best exhibit was the Indian Rhino paddocks, which also featured Nilgai, Blackbuck & Chital.
-Italy was amazing, and we decided we couldn't not go to Rome afterall, and while there (in some of the first snow in 40 years) visited the Rome Bioparco. Some nice enclosures, especially the newer ones (lions and chimps very good), but most of the exhibits were below average, and some terrible - the tigers had just a small rocky cave, which was horrible. A few new species though, Addax and I think European Buzzard (unlabelled).
-We then took a cheap flight to Barcelona, where my partner banned zoos, and then a train to Valencia, where we visited the stunningly modern Valencia Oceanografic. For a place with so few higher vertebrates, I saw so many new species, Beluga & Walrus were huge highlights. There were almost no negatives, even the dolphin show was great. Bizarrely they did insist no food was brought in and x-ray your bags, but we managed to smuggle tuna sandwiches and mandarins in for a cheap lunch.
-The next day was spent at Valencia Bioparc, a brand-new zoo focusing on African fauna with an almost Disney-style approach to theming. Split into four zones, three (Madagascar, Wetlands and Savannah) were brilliant and of a hugely high standard, with the exception of the small yard for Dromedaries. The fourth zone, Equatorial Forest, was best in terms of species, but one was hard-pressed to imagine a forest anywhere, none of the enclosures had any vegetation cover, meaning many species were huddled in the shade of rocks, fences or indoors, which was a bit of an oversight by the designers methinks.
-Next up was the capital, and the large Madrid Zoo, with a huge collection of mega-fauna, including six bear species! Pretty light on birds though, and some of the signage was bare or even non-existent. Needs a lot of work to bring it up to the standard of a capital's zoo, but still very nice and the newer enclosures were quite good. Maybe they should clean up the surrounding areas too - the hookers on the corner might deter (or possibly delay) some visitors.
-From Madrid we went to Paris, which was a very brief visit, barely 24 hours - most spent at Disneyland to compensate for too many zoos, and then we popped over to Switzerland, as you do, where we visited the Zurich Zoo. Mostly excellent, although the Black Rhino's indoor house was atrocious, they barely had room to turn around. Highlights were the Geladas, Mongolian Wolves, and Masaola Hall, which was so huge. We even saw a lemur in there! Best exhibit has to go to the gigantic Spectacled Bear enclosure, part of an expanding and excellent South American precinct.
-Then we headed back north through France, and stopped off at Belgium, which was a waste of time, Brussels was not nice at all, and I am very glad there is no zoo there, the air pollution was dreadful. After Belgium we headed up to Amsterdam (and another sort of air pollution), and today we visited the Royal Artis Zoo, which took 30 minutes to get into the queue was so big. However it was mostly very nice, and certainly worth the wait. Highlight was definitely the Small Mammal House, the first we have really seen, which had an awesome wee collection - best was the Yellow-bellied Martin, hugely active, inquisitive and friendly. It also featured the first South American small cat we have seen on the trip so far (Margay), I was certainly expecting to see more such cats, at least Ocelots, so had been disapointed thus far. Overall a great zoo, with a lot packed into a smal space.
So that brings us up to date, next stop is Germany, where we will be based in Berlin (for Zoo & Tierpark), and will hopefully manage a daytrip down to Leipzig as well. Then a zoo-free week or two in Sweden, before wrapping up MAWZT in the UK, although I'm not sure quite how many zoos will feature in that 3 week period, only Edinburgh and Chester will be definites, and we expect to be pretty broke by then anyway.
My partner is getting pretty sick of zoos now, and might not visit all the German ones, and even I am noticing a lot of repitition, not only among species, but also enclosure design and even species-mixes (every zoo seems to have a guanaco/llama/vicuna+tapir+rhea+giant anteater+mara/capybara+seriema/screamer South American paddock, for example).
Thanks for all the advice that has been given, really appreciate it, and thanks for reading.
that all sounds brilliant! Plzen doesn't seem to attract any negative comments on here - everyone thinks its a must-visit (and I must visit it myself one day!), and I definitely wouldn't mind seeing Zurich's Masaola Hall. For Germany perhaps some of the regular travellers (like Maguari and zoogiraffe) could give some examples of "different" zoos to visit so you don't suffer from the repetition problem. I would suggest Walsrode, there are some stupifyingly fantastic birds on show there, including loads of Madagascan species and newly-arrived Chinese crested ibis. And for a different take on monkeys which your partner will probably love, try Apenheul (in the Netherlands of course).
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Just a few German collections that I would suggest,so that you see a few different things would be Wuppertal (very good for small cats),Dortmund,Krefeld,Hagenbeck Hamburg,Walsrode,Stuttgart,Frankfurt and if you want something a bit different Dusseldorf Aquazoo,pretty much in Germany you cannot go far wrong as most major towns and citys have a decent collection in them ot very near by.
Walsrode is really worth a visit and is something different. Maybe Hamburg for historical reasons? Frankfurt with new Ape House and very nice Grzimek House - small mammals house and night house in one + kiwi (but that least nothing special for you I think 
.
Apenheul is closed till 28th march - winter break. So maybe Arnhem? You can collect 3 biggest Tropical Halls in Europe: Masoala in Zurich, Gondwanaland in Leipzig and Burgers' Bush in Arnhem.
.Apenheul is closed till 28th march - winter break. So maybe Arnhem? You can collect 3 biggest Tropical Halls in Europe: Masoala in Zurich, Gondwanaland in Leipzig and Burgers' Bush in Arnhem.
the Grzimek House at Frankfurt is indeed well worth seeing (Frankfurt's the one European zoo I've been to), and zoogiraffe's suggestion of Dortmund is seconded for their xenarthran house!
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Dortmund has alot more to offer than that,probably has the best Lynx enclosure in Europe,and how about Orangs mixed with Malayan Tapir,and a breeding herd of Angolan Giraffes.
@zooboy28: are you still planning a California leg of your journey?
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
We have 5 days to maybe a week in Germany, and very little money available, so will not be able to see many of these wonderful collections. I think I could probably visit as many zoos in Germany alone as I have this whole trip and still not see everything. The one I would be most keen to see is Walsrode (ahead even of the Berlins), but sadly this does not open until 17 March, so isn't possible this time (unless someone knows of a way to get in before the 12th for cheap???).
I think realistically I can do the Berlins, probably Leipzig (Gondwanaland & pangolins I can't miss), and possibly Hamburg on the way up to Denmark/Sweden, although the last one is just a maybe at present (but would love to see a Hagenbeck Mountain). At least the German zoos appear a bit cheaper - Berlin Zoo is only 9 euro, less than half what we have paid at the last few zoos.
Thanks for the suggestions and ideas though, and it would also be great to meet some zoochatters somewhere, sometime, maybe this will be possible in the UK?
I think realistically I can do the Berlins, probably Leipzig (Gondwanaland & pangolins I can't miss), and possibly Hamburg on the way up to Denmark/Sweden, although the last one is just a maybe at present (but would love to see a Hagenbeck Mountain). At least the German zoos appear a bit cheaper - Berlin Zoo is only 9 euro, less than half what we have paid at the last few zoos.
Thanks for the suggestions and ideas though, and it would also be great to meet some zoochatters somewhere, sometime, maybe this will be possible in the UK?
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
No, unfortunately, budget blown and we've exhausted our potential additional funding sources (namely parents), so North American zoos will have to wait for MAWZT2.
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
As said, Plzen was great, amazing species collection and enclosures for the most part, with most species arranged biogeographically. Although the first aviary in the African section, straight after you passed under the huge entry sign, had Red-legged Seriema, while the second was mostly African, but had NZ Scaup and five species of Australian waterfowl!
But you asked for negative comments, so here is one: the Tropical/Reptile House was pretty bad, it had a horrible little Chimp exhibit, the outside part of which wasn't much better, and a sad row of bare concrete cages for rodents+parrots. Definitely needs urgent attention.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Not a problem,when you have an idea of what date you are planning on doing Chester,drop me a pm and I will see if I can meet up with you work permitting.
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
Thanks zoogiraffe, will do.
I have a couple more questions:
-The Berlin Zoo Aquarium sounds good, and I see you can either get a dayticket for the Zoo+Aquarium, or do them seperately (this costs more). I am wondering if it is relatively feasible to do both in one day (I want to see everything, but don't care much about fish/inverts, so can bypass most tanks pretty quickly), or would I be better doing the Zoo one day, and the aquarium in a halfday?
-For Chester Zoo, which I now realise is not in Manchester, but in a seperate location a bit away, what is the cheapest way to get there from Manchester, or would I be better off staying in Liverpool or somewhere else?
-I also have several days near Inverness, and was hoping to get to the Highland Wildlife Park, is this easy to do via buses and worth it at this time of year?
-Finally, I have also realised that part of the time in the UK (31/3-10/4) is in the Easter holidays, is this time of year horrible for zoo visiting or not too bad?
Thanks in advance.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Berlin Zoo and Aquarium can be done in a day just as long as you have the full day there,if the Bird House was not being rebuilt my answer would have been no.Just remember Berlin Aquarium has one of the best Invert collections that I have ever seen,there are not many place that you can see atleast 4 species of Ant on-show.
As for where to stop to visit Chester I don't think there is much in it between Liverpool or Manchester to get Chester Zoo,in terms of cost.
Highland Wildlife Park I personnaly think is worth a visit anytime of year,but I cannot help you about how to get there by public transport as I have always gone inmy own vehicle.
Well Easter isn't the best time but,it can all depend on what the weather does,but then with the size of Chester it is very capable of handling over 7,500 visitors on a busy day,with no problems at all yes it will be busy but by taking your time you can still see everything quiet well.
As for where to stop to visit Chester I don't think there is much in it between Liverpool or Manchester to get Chester Zoo,in terms of cost.
Highland Wildlife Park I personnaly think is worth a visit anytime of year,but I cannot help you about how to get there by public transport as I have always gone inmy own vehicle.
Well Easter isn't the best time but,it can all depend on what the weather does,but then with the size of Chester it is very capable of handling over 7,500 visitors on a busy day,with no problems at all yes it will be busy but by taking your time you can still see everything quiet well.
devilfish
Well-Known Member
You can, but it's a very tiring day though. If you get the chance, I think it might be a bit easier to visit one evening when you can get a half price zoo ticket just an hour before closing, and hang around the zoo until the sun goes down. That should give you a decent headstart for day 2.
zooboy28
Well-Known Member
Ok, so to update what I actually managed to get done in Germany:
-We scoped out Berlin Zoo the day before, walked around the perimeter and peeked in through the mesh, which was cool, although gave a slightly incorrect impression - specifically that the zoo didn't cover a massive area and would therefore be possible to do it and the aquarium in a day. We arrived reasonably early the next day, and set off around the zoo. As terrible as this sounds, it was probably a good thing the Bird House was closed, as there was no chance of seeing the whole collection if it was open. I basically ran around the last parts of the zoo (the deer, cattle, pig and bird of prey collections), and we finished around 4.30pm, which gave us 1.5 hours for the aquarium. Which was beautiful but the reptile collection was a bit disappointing. Highlights were James' & Andean Flamingoes, Aye Ayes, Bairds Tapir and Kagu. Lowlights were the Cat and Primate Houses, with far too small cages. A stunningly huge collection however, where I took a personal record 1800 photos.
-Two days later a cheap bus delivered us to the Leipzig Airport, which was 20km from where we were expecting to be dropped, and the resulting train trip into the city meant we did not have quite as much time as hoped for at Leipzig Zoo. Nevertheless this was an amazing place, with Gondwanaland, despite being a tautology, having by far the most amazing visitors areas I have ever seen in a zoo. Most of the enclosures weren't bad either, although none were breath-taking. An unexpected highlight was the Elegant-crested Tinamou in the nocturnal tunnel. The rest of the zoo was mostly excellent, I finally saw Musk Deer here, after missing them at Plzen & Berlin Zoos, and of course the Baikal Seal was awesome. The Chinese Pangolin was highest on my "to-see" list, however despite repeated visits I only saw it sleeping on the nest-box live-feed. To then return to Berlin and look at the Leipzig gallery and see Maguari's pangolin photos was then most frustrating, I don't know whether or not there was a feeding the day I was there, never saw any signage indicating it anywhere.
-And two days after that I went to Berlin Tierpark, which covered a genuinely enormous area, and was brilliant. Most of the enclosures, especially the avaries and ungulate paddocks were excellent: woodlands for deer, open plains for antelope, and hilly expanses for goats. Primate and carnivore enclosures were mostly poor however, especially the cats crammed into the Alfred-Brehm House. This seemed to be being renovated, and hopefully when it is completed, will have fewer individuals and species, and bigger enclosures. I don't think a 2m x 3m x 5m cage is big enough for 4 servals, for example. Highlights here were the great ungulate diversity, especially Hartmann's Mountain Zebra, the Seabird Aviary, Harpy Eagle, Secretary Birds and Aardwolf.
Anyway, I am now in Sweden and will be heading to the UK for the last three weeks of MAWZT on Monday, where I hope to fit at least 4 collections in.
-We scoped out Berlin Zoo the day before, walked around the perimeter and peeked in through the mesh, which was cool, although gave a slightly incorrect impression - specifically that the zoo didn't cover a massive area and would therefore be possible to do it and the aquarium in a day. We arrived reasonably early the next day, and set off around the zoo. As terrible as this sounds, it was probably a good thing the Bird House was closed, as there was no chance of seeing the whole collection if it was open. I basically ran around the last parts of the zoo (the deer, cattle, pig and bird of prey collections), and we finished around 4.30pm, which gave us 1.5 hours for the aquarium. Which was beautiful but the reptile collection was a bit disappointing. Highlights were James' & Andean Flamingoes, Aye Ayes, Bairds Tapir and Kagu. Lowlights were the Cat and Primate Houses, with far too small cages. A stunningly huge collection however, where I took a personal record 1800 photos.
-Two days later a cheap bus delivered us to the Leipzig Airport, which was 20km from where we were expecting to be dropped, and the resulting train trip into the city meant we did not have quite as much time as hoped for at Leipzig Zoo. Nevertheless this was an amazing place, with Gondwanaland, despite being a tautology, having by far the most amazing visitors areas I have ever seen in a zoo. Most of the enclosures weren't bad either, although none were breath-taking. An unexpected highlight was the Elegant-crested Tinamou in the nocturnal tunnel. The rest of the zoo was mostly excellent, I finally saw Musk Deer here, after missing them at Plzen & Berlin Zoos, and of course the Baikal Seal was awesome. The Chinese Pangolin was highest on my "to-see" list, however despite repeated visits I only saw it sleeping on the nest-box live-feed. To then return to Berlin and look at the Leipzig gallery and see Maguari's pangolin photos was then most frustrating, I don't know whether or not there was a feeding the day I was there, never saw any signage indicating it anywhere.
-And two days after that I went to Berlin Tierpark, which covered a genuinely enormous area, and was brilliant. Most of the enclosures, especially the avaries and ungulate paddocks were excellent: woodlands for deer, open plains for antelope, and hilly expanses for goats. Primate and carnivore enclosures were mostly poor however, especially the cats crammed into the Alfred-Brehm House. This seemed to be being renovated, and hopefully when it is completed, will have fewer individuals and species, and bigger enclosures. I don't think a 2m x 3m x 5m cage is big enough for 4 servals, for example. Highlights here were the great ungulate diversity, especially Hartmann's Mountain Zebra, the Seabird Aviary, Harpy Eagle, Secretary Birds and Aardwolf.
Anyway, I am now in Sweden and will be heading to the UK for the last three weeks of MAWZT on Monday, where I hope to fit at least 4 collections in.
on the off-chance that you're returning by way of Singapore again, the Night Safari's pangolin exhibit is back on showzooboy28 said:
