Prague and Pilsen Visit

sooty mangabey said:
I think they are both amongst the very best in Europe. One factor that you did not consider is the visitor facilities: the restaurants at Prague are very good, the shop possibly the best in Europe (or, at least, what they sell is very good - none of the shop buildings are very marvellous, while the staff within are often spectacularly unhelpful), the entrance area very pleasant. At Pilsen, in contrast, the entrance is really inauspicious, the shop pretty standard, and the restaurant wholly uninspiring. Despite all of this, I think I'd probably have Pilsen ahead as my Favourite-Zoo-In-A-City-Other-Than-Berlin (which isn't the same as my thinking it is the best zoo, of course).
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Good point about the visitor facilities, and something that didn't really occur to me actually because I don't eat in zoo restaurants and only had a brief glance in the shops.
 
I just wanted to say thank you very much for this review of this both zoos. They are now on the top of my to-do list. The collections in these both zoos are exellent and the most exhibits are looking rather good.
 
Agreed on both counts! I love your reviews LD, and I think I might have to persuade my employer here in China that flights to London can totally legitimately have a stop over in Prague!
 
Great review! I visited Pilsen and Prague back in 2011 and loved both so much that I decided to revisit both next year. Few questions about Pilsen...

Is the striped possom still on display? It was one of the highlights of my visit :)

Do you happen to remember what birds are in the DinoPark? I skipped it in 2011, but if there's some nice species I haven't seen, I'll buy the ticket next year.

Are you allowed to take photographs (for private use) during the behind the scenes tour?
Did you see the Indian musk shrew, Greater Hedgehog Tenrec and Stripe-faced flying fox?

Also, does anyone know if these kind of tours are possible in Prague as well?
 
ralph said:
Great review! I visited Pilsen and Prague back in 2011 and loved both so much that I decided to revisit both next year. Few questions about Pilsen...

Is the striped possom still on display? It was one of the highlights of my visit :)

Do you happen to remember what birds are in the DinoPark? I skipped it in 2011, but if there's some nice species I haven't seen, I'll buy the ticket next year.

Are you allowed to take photographs (for private use) during the behind the scenes tour?
Did you see the Indian musk shrew, Greater Hedgehog Tenrec and Stripe-faced flying fox?

Also, does anyone know if these kind of tours are possible in Prague as well?
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To answer your questions:

The Striped possum was not on public display...

Here is a list of birds on display in the Dino Park (grouped by enclosure)

Baer's Pochard,
Common Redstart,
Rosy Starling,
Oriental Turtle Dove (subsp. orientalis),
Spotless Starling,
Rock Bunting (subsp. par),
Red-headed Bunting,
Turkmenian Pheasant (P. c. zarudnyi),
Black Lark

Persian Jird (subsp. rossicus)

Barbary Partridge,
Spotless Starling,
Iberian Azure-winged Magpie (C. c. cooki),
Common Pheasant (P. c. colchius).

Turkmenian Mouse-like Hamster

Garganey,
Black Redstart,
White-eared Bulbul,
Chestnut-winged Laughingthrush,
Zeravshan Pheasant (P. c. zerafshanicus),
Spotted Nutcracker (subsp. macrorhynchos)

Greenfinch (subsp. chloris),
Long-tailed Rosefinch (subsp. sibiricus),
Hawfinch,
Dark-grey Tit,
Eurasian Oystercatcher,
Chiwa Pheasant (P. c. chrysomelas).

Steppe Lemming

Eurasian Siskin,
Green-winged teal (subsp. crecca),
Baikal Bullfinch,
European Goldfinch,
Eurasian Bullfinch (subsp. pyrrhula),
Song Thrush (subsp. philomelos),
Formosan Ring-necked Pheasant (P. c. formosanus),
Azure Tit.

Water Rail,
Green-winged Teal (subsp. crecca),
Northern Lapwing,
White-shouldered Starling,
Black-breasted Thrush,
Spotted Nutcracker,
Spotted Dove (subsp. chinensis),
Mikado Pheasant.

Taiwan Beauty Snake (subsp. friesi),

Korean Ring-necked Pheasant (subsp. karpowi),
White-crested Laughingthrush (subsp. diardi),
Red-backed Shrike,
Baikal Teal.

Purple-backed Starling,
Black-collared Starling,
Azure-winged Magpie,
Baer's Pochard,
Pallas' Pheasant (P. c. pallasi),

White-headed Black Bulbul (subsp. leucocephalus),
Grey-backed Thrush,
Spotted Dove (subsp. chinensis),
Black Redstart,
Moustached Laughingthrush (subsp. cinereiceps),
Baer's Pochard,
Chinese Ring-necked Pheasant (P. c. torquatus),

(and also a waterfowl pond that is also viewable from the zoo without going into the DinoPark)

I personally thought it was worth getting the ticket.


Other Questions:
I was allowed to take photographs in the behind the scenes area and I wasn't told that I couldn't share them on the internet. However I didn't think it would be appropriate to post pictures of an off show area all over the internet.

I didn't see the shrew or the flying fox on or off display, however I did see the tenrecs.
 
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Thanks!
Seems one would miss out on quite a few interesting bird species if not visiting the Dino Park. It will be worth the extra ticket.
 
ralph said:
Also, does anyone know if these kind of tours are possible in Prague as well?
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I'm pretty sure that Laughing Dove's behind-the-scenes tour was nothing in any way "official", but rather the result of his having contacted the zoo in advance to ask if he could see those areas not on public show. In my experience, the staff at Pilsen are exceptionally helpful and keen to show things to interested visitors...

..which raises a question: which zoos are the most welcoming and friendly to interested amateur visitors? At which places are you most likely to get ushered through a side door to see a newly-born bear cub, an off-show hornbill, or the intricate workings of the puma's sliding doors? My experience in Europe is that, the further east one goes, the friendlier places get (with a few honourable exceptions either way: praise for Fuengirola, in Spain; boos to Liberec in the Czech Republic). Of course, this is entirely dependent on who it is you get talking to: it could have been that my Mrs Grumpy at Liberec, this past summer, is the one bad apple in amongst an otherwise marvellous group of workers (or it could be that she was busy and appalled at my failure to grasp even the basics of the Czech language)...

My top friendliest zoos would be:
1. East Berlin
2. Pilsen
3. West Berlin
4. Wroclaw
5. Wuppertal
6. Antwerp

...and the least friendly:
1. London (by a mile)
2. Paris
3. Marwell
 
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