My experience of Congo Gorilla Forest is largely negative. Knowing the entrance fee to the zoo beforehand spent my money in the morning getting camera fixed after it had died in central parks tropical house the day before. Wasnt expecting to have to pay extra to see the heavily advertised main attraction. In normal circumstances wouldnt have minded paying supplementary fee but only had enough money for zoo entrance, subway ticket (thank god its wasn't london!) and some cheap food. Left me with choice of either gorilla or indian rhino/gaur etc part or food? So increasingly annoyed with hunger waited ages in que to see Gorillas etc. Good job Bronx doesnt have a guidebook or wouldnt have seen them either.
Didnt see a mandrills backside in any of the other enclosures. Tried to enjoy seeing the gorillas and their enclosure (i enjoy looking at both equally) but the viewing halls seemed to be the congregation point for every school child in new york and incredibly noisy. No it wasnt a wednesday.
Yes the enclosures are amazing and good to see groups of social animals clearly well catered for but just personally didnt have the greatest paying customer experience.
Must add that other parts jungle world, world of birds etc more than made up for this.
I guess a lesson to others would be to always be aware of fees at zoos. A simple trip to a zoos website can prevent these types of incidents. I'm super paranoid about these type of things.
Zoo visits are different on each occasion, and it is sometimes a bitter pill to swallow when one is strolling around a zoo for the first time and there are hordes of people at every viewing window. It is easy enough to move on if there will be another opportunity to visit a specific zoo, or if the zoo is a local one that is a regular attraction for you...but if I'm at a zoo that I'll perhaps never visit again in my life it is immensely frustrating to battle the crowds, noise, school kids and chaos that can occur in some surroundings. It is equally annoying to miss certain animals or exhibits that are temporarily closed down, particularly if there are no plans to be in that zoo (or even in that country) anytime soon. Everything comes down to luck!
I'd be interested to see if anyone can provide an example of a better gorilla exhibit anywhere in the world than the one in Congo Gorilla Forest. The indoor dayrooms are supposedly larger than almost any other, and the gorillas spend at least 75% of the year in the massive outdoor habitats. The $3 entry fee goes 100% towards conservation in Africa, and the breeding record is superb.
Another example, of which there must be 200 in the ZooChat gallery, of brilliant gorilla exhibits that have family groups acting as if they would in the wild. It costs millions of dollars to create such lush rainforest environments, but the apes act naturally and the public is thus duly enthralled.
Maybe for the visitors, but not for...the gorillas. Again, and again, they live in wintertime sin such tiny, sterile cages, Ic an't agree, Bronx have the best gorilla exhibit in the world.Only the person, which really knows all gorillas exhibits in the world, can say, which of them is the best. If this exhibit would be at San Diego and they could have them outside the year round, it would be really one of the better gorilla exhibits. If Bronx Zoo would build a much bigger and better indoor exhibit, it could be also a really good gorilla exhibit, but not with this winter holding. Most of the winter gorilla holdings in Us-Zoos are bad and nothing in compare to winter exhibits in europe.
Maybe for the visitors, but not for...the gorillas. Again, and again, they live in wintertime sin such tiny, sterile cages, Ic an't agree, Bronx have the best gorilla exhibit in the world.Only the person, which really knows all gorillas exhibits in the world, can say, which of them is the best. If this exhibit would be at San Diego and they could have them outside the year round, it would be really one of the better gorilla exhibits. If Bronx Zoo would build a much bigger and better indoor exhibit, it could be also a really good gorilla exhibit, but not with this winter holding. Most of the winter gorilla holdings in Us-Zoos are bad and nothing in compare to winter exhibits in europe.
Bronx Zoo gorillas are given freedom. In winter, they can choose whether or not they would like to go to the indoor viewing area. In summer, they can choose to go to their respective areas of the outdoor viewing area. If I'm not mistaken, the majority of Congo is an indoor complex for the gorillas and both a photo here on Zoochat and outside the indoor viewing window highlights it's features.
The exhibit is the best in the world from many standpoints, some exhibit based, others conservation based, others visitor based. If the exhibit was in San Diego, the exhibit probably wouldn't have the breeding record that Bronx does and it would probably give visitors less interaction. I don't know about you but I get bored easily. Put me in the same place 365 days a year an I'll find something new to do, especially off exhibit. San Diego would also have to find ways to have the same foliage that Bronx does while limiting harsh lights for gorilla and exhibitor alike (which Bronx does).
Location doesn't make an exhibit. The exhibit makes an exhibit. The fact that there are crazies out there like all of us on this board who will visit a zoo in the dead of winter (or snow, or holiday--I've done both lol) doesn't change the fact that the majority of zoo visitors visit in the summer season alone. Thus, it is visiting for zoos in climate dependent areas to vary their exhibits to reflect this. In the summer at Bronx, you get the monorail, Africa and outdoor Congo. In the winter, you get more active polar bears, Highlands and Tigers. I think this is a great balance and does much better for showing a complete view of wildlife than some place that is always warm or cold. I know zoos comfort the animals but there is still something entirely 'off' in my mind about staring at a snow animal on a 100 degree day or a lion on a pad of snow.
