What are the 2-3 highlights of this zoo? I've got a busy schedule this summer on my European zoo trip, but I've got 4 hours slotted in for Krefeld on one of the days in early August. Is that enough time for this zoo?
@snowleopard We did this zoo on the day we arrived (we flew into Dusseldorf airport, only a 15-20min drive away) and were in the zoo just after noon and were there about 5.5 hours - in that time we did the whole zoo twice and a bit extra and sat down for food, so you'll be fine in 4 hours I'd have thought. There's quite a lot to see here but the site is compact and not much time is wasting on animal-less walking!
As to highlights, I'll answer in three categories!
Species-wise - undoubtedly the main thing you'd want to see would be Julius the Mountain Anoa. We went to the enclosure four or five times and only saw him once, so this is one thing you might want to plan to repeat. Other mammal highlights include the mixed group of Southern Long-nosed Bats and Pallas's Long-tongued Bats that spend the day in a darkened cave in the Rainforest House, and there are also Gambian Epauletted Bats in the Ape House. Dall's Sheep are a rarity for Europeans, but not sure they'll be quite the same for you! To be really nerdy, the Reeves' Muntjac here are apparently the Taiwanese subspecies micrurus, which I've never seen elsewhere (but if you didn't know, you'd never know..!). Madagascan Crested Ibis, Crested Coua and Kittlitz's Plover are the best of the birds.
In terms of animal displays, the best are probably bird exhibits - the main bird house is not huge but is excellent, and there is a very nice penguin/Inca Tern aviary adjoining the Rainforest House. The latter is also very good but wasn't looking its best this month with building going on. On a smaller scale, I really liked the European Otter enclosure - not huge, but very attractive.
Finally, there are a few weird points to note! Don't miss the tiny Hamadryas Baboon island, so you can stand and wonder at how (and if) they are actually contained. Also, there is a strange little house (a former big cat house I believe) that is home to that classic combination of Cretan Spiny Mouse, Degu, Guereza and Jaguarundi. Finally - I believe you are also going to Cologne - whichever of the two you do first, make a mental note of the internal layout of the Ape House, then when you get the second, do a quick comparison - there was some dramatic copying going on!
@Maguari What a wonderful recap...a valuable contribution to ZooChat. Thanks for the great advice on a zoo that I'm now even more eager to visit. I'll also be touring Aquazoo Lobbecke Museum in Dusseldorf as it's only approximately 30 minutes from Zoo Krefeld.
@snowleopard Yes, AquaZoo is very close, well worth seeing and will double-up no problem (we did that and the wildpark on the last day before flying home).
For the record, the trip I've just done consisted of:
Day 1 - Krefeld
Day 2 - Wuppertal
Day 3 - Duisburg and Grugapark*
Day 4 - Rheine and Osnabruck
Day 5 - Cologne
Day 6 - Hamm and Munster
Day 7 - Rheinberg and Gelsenkirchen
Day 8 - Bochum and Dortmund
Day 9 - AquaZoo Dusseldorf and Wildpark Grafenberger Wald
Most were re-visits but Grugapark, Rheinberg, Bochum and the wildpark were new for me. We considered squeezing in the two Solingen collections on the morning of Wuppertal as we managed last time but eventually decided that, having seen them once before, a relaxing day at Wuppertal was preferable..!
*(we'd planned Rheinberg with Duisburg but noticed just in time that it was closed Mondays, so they were swapped!)
It's interesting that @Maguari and @TeaLovingDave have different schedules for doing Krefeld...and I've got a third option! Thoughts on this:
Krefeld Zoo - 4 hours
drive 30 min. Aquazoo Lobbecke - 2 hours
drive 30 min. Tiergarten Monchengladbach - 2 hours (too much time?) - open until 6 p.m.
drive 30 min. Wildfreigehege Bend Wildlife Park - end of day as this place is open 24 hours
I have a rental car booked and the above day seems doable.
@snowleopard In principle I think those times should be fine but I've never been to the last two so can't comment on how long you'll need there!
The first time I went to Krefeld we did it double-up with Duisburg as well, as we were short on days, but the two together is just a little bit of a rush, I felt. With two 'big' zoos in a day it's hard to enjoy them fully as you hear the clock ticking. Big zoo + small zoo(s) works much better, and if we'd had the morning to play with that day we probably would have added something in early doors.
