What would be the 3 top highlights of this zoo? I know that the elephant complex is highly-rated by zoo enthusiasts that have visited, but what else stands out? Lastly, is it true that Planckendael now has more annual visitors than its 'sister zoo' in Antwerp?
As for highlights, I guess that will always be a personal thing, so I'm not sure I can give you a definitive, uncontestable, undebatable answer - all I can give you is my personal perspective.
As far as I'm concerned my highlights would be the Oceania/Australian area because of the species in that area, the Chili aviary with the Humboldt penguins, Chilean flamingos and many other bird species, like one of my favorites, the Inca terns and the Magellanic steamer ducks, and the giraffe savanna with the Kordofan giraffes and the adddaxes.
The elephant exhibit is also very nice, of course. And there's more nice exhibits, but if I had to choose, the three above would be my favorites.
As far as visitor numbers go, they are not that far apart for Antwerp and Planckendael, and it depends on the year which zoo gets more visitors. For example, in 2018 Antwerp had 1,150,000
visitors (did I write that one the right way?) and Planckendael, which as you know had a pretty bad year with the death of 3 elephants, the accidental escape and shooting of a young lioness and a very hot and dry summer which Antwerp apparently weathered better, had 950,000. So it kind of depends on the year and the circumstances, i.e. new exhibits, popular species births, media attention et cetera.
@KevinB Thank you very much for your consistently informative answers to my questions about Dutch and Belgian zoos. I think that it is marvelous that Antwerp and Planckendael receive a combined 2 million visitors each year as the zoos aren't very far apart from each other. It appears that the general public appreciate both facilities.
Thank you very much for your appreciation. If you have any future questions please do ask them, whether in the public forum, the gallery or via a private conversation, and I will try to answer them to the best of my abilities and knowledge.
I think you are right that Zoo Antwerpen and Planckendael are appreciated by at least a large section of the population - although there's also a minority that hates zoos with a passion, as the tsunami of vile vitriol on social media and protests after the lion incident sadly showed.
I also think part of the answer is that both facilities are sort of complementary in there characteristics (Antwerp as the historic city zoo, Planckendael as the playful and naturalistic zoo close to big cities) and given developments in animal welfare and housing I expect that to become even more so in the future (i.e. larger species and breeding groups in Planckendael, more attention to the historical character in Antwerp).
That said, Pairi Daiza received about as many visitors on a yearly basis as Antwerp and Planckendael combined.
