Sounds rather familiar-a mixed Primate/Ape exhibit that starts off okay then develops inter-species problems.
Do you think Mawar hides because of the baby, or because of a deeper-rooted problem?
A brief Czech visit
- Thread starter devilfish
- Start date
Sounds rather familiar-a mixed Primate/Ape exhibit that starts off okay then develops inter-species problems.
Do you think Mawar hides because of the baby, or because of a deeper-rooted problem?
devilfish
Well-Known Member
Loving the mini-reviews devilfish, a shame Prague didn't quite live up to the hype but as you said, that could be down to their problems at the moment. I await your Plzen review with interest!
I'm sure it is. Don't get me wrong, I still loved the zoo and the visit was very enjoyable. It's the kind of zoo I will dream about often. (I dreamt about Cheshire falconry last weekend - I'm expecting very different dreams for Prague).
devilfish
Well-Known Member
Mala Lesni Zoo Zbraslav
Our final small collection of the day was another mini-zoo. This one is even smaller and even older than Mala Chuchle but also focusses on native species. There are fewer enclosures here, and most of them feel inadequate.
Situated about 50 metres outside Prague's official boundaries, this place borders a busy road, is easy to get to, the area is scenic (there's a wide stream running through the zoo) and so makes for a nice quick rest stop.
It's privately-owned, and my friend was telling me he's not sure how or why it's still funded after so many decades without significant renovation.
Nonetheless, this was the first place I've ever seen an active Eurasian badger from outside a car.
Our final small collection of the day was another mini-zoo. This one is even smaller and even older than Mala Chuchle but also focusses on native species. There are fewer enclosures here, and most of them feel inadequate.
Situated about 50 metres outside Prague's official boundaries, this place borders a busy road, is easy to get to, the area is scenic (there's a wide stream running through the zoo) and so makes for a nice quick rest stop.
It's privately-owned, and my friend was telling me he's not sure how or why it's still funded after so many decades without significant renovation.
Nonetheless, this was the first place I've ever seen an active Eurasian badger from outside a car.
devilfish
Well-Known Member
By the time I got back, the small aquarium located near my accommodation (not quite by coincidence) had closed. I thought I might try to catch it on Saturday if I could get back from Plzen early enough. All potential touristic interest points on my list had also closed.
It was raining very heavily, but I decided to go searching for a small arachnid collection which I'd first heard about that morning. I was told it would be in the 'Museo Leonardo da Vinci'. It turns out that the museum is now a shop, and none of the staff who worked there recognised the spider leaflets I showed, despite some of them having worked there for over 2 years.
To be investigated.
I spent the rest of the evening trying to dry my clothes in the flat to make sure they were ready for the next day.
It was raining very heavily, but I decided to go searching for a small arachnid collection which I'd first heard about that morning. I was told it would be in the 'Museo Leonardo da Vinci'. It turns out that the museum is now a shop, and none of the staff who worked there recognised the spider leaflets I showed, despite some of them having worked there for over 2 years.
To be investigated.
I spent the rest of the evening trying to dry my clothes in the flat to make sure they were ready for the next day.
Last edited:
devilfish
Well-Known Member
Zoo Plzen
And so the next day I woke up very early and took the 6.15 train to Plzen. On arrival at the zoo gates around 8.10am, I was told once again by the guy at the ticket desk that there was nowhere to store my luggage, and I didn’t really have any options. He didn’t speak English and refused to communicate in anything other than German or Czech. I think that he was under the impression that if he shouted the word ‘Deutsch’ loudly enough, I’d suddenly be fluent.
I checked-in at my nearby hotel and returned to the zoo. Still less than an hour since it opened. Time flew by during my visit, and I spent about three hours just in the area near the entrance. The collection is amazing, houses are very nicely done, and even the species on display are very impressive. On one of my visits to the African house, a group of schoolchildren came in and were audibly fascinated as they zigzagged from one enclosure to another.
Eventually I managed to meet up with a keeper who took me on my pre-arranged visit to the area behind-the-scenes. Unfortunately they were very busy and were taken a little by surprise by my visit, so the tour was more brief than I had expected. I think it still lasted over an hour (I lost track of time), and we had less time devoted to birds and a couple of the mammals than I’d have liked. For a few days’ notice, however, I was very pleased. This only cemented the plan which I established in Prague; to save up for a very good DSLR and spend several days at Czech zoos trying it out.
My first day at the zoo was very rainy, so photos are more limited than expected. The experience was still amazing, and I really loved the zoo.
I found that Plzen feels a bit like several zoos in one. Some areas have nice neat ornamental gardens and in others you can find yourself hiking up a muddy track through woodland. In between the two are a number of other levels of landscaping. Very nice indeed.
I really liked most of the enclosures. Some of the aviaries could have been a bit more pheasant-friendly, and generally a bit more spacious, and some of the rodent enclosures were smaller than I would have liked, but the standard of exhibits was extremely high, and I really valued that.
I admired the signs that the zoo had; cultural education was encouraged (if sometimes a little less politically-correct than you’d find in the UK), and as zooman mentioned, plants were very well labelled (they're Plzen's botanical garden too, after all); but I think this is the first zoo I’ve visited which labels boulders and large rocks so well [usually an educational sign about the predominant mineral].
This is another dream zoo, one that most zoo enthusiasts would enjoy. A shame that there’s currently a little bit of financial trouble with low visitor numbers last year and some pressure to cut down a little on collection size – which was the main reason for my fairly sudden trip.
That evening I couldn’t stop thinking about the zoo. The previous plan had been to spend 2-3 hours there in the morning, visit the town’s reptile collection (+/- Pilsener brewery) and maybe catch the aquarium back in Prague. Thankfully I weighed up whether I’d prefer a visit to the small Prague aquarium of 18 tanks to spending 5 more hours in Plzen Zoo; a no-brainer.
I decided not to book accommodation for the following night, intending to go straight from the train station to the airport, or leave my things somewhere and go exploring briefly. The budget had finally kicked in.
And so the next day I woke up very early and took the 6.15 train to Plzen. On arrival at the zoo gates around 8.10am, I was told once again by the guy at the ticket desk that there was nowhere to store my luggage, and I didn’t really have any options. He didn’t speak English and refused to communicate in anything other than German or Czech. I think that he was under the impression that if he shouted the word ‘Deutsch’ loudly enough, I’d suddenly be fluent.
I checked-in at my nearby hotel and returned to the zoo. Still less than an hour since it opened. Time flew by during my visit, and I spent about three hours just in the area near the entrance. The collection is amazing, houses are very nicely done, and even the species on display are very impressive. On one of my visits to the African house, a group of schoolchildren came in and were audibly fascinated as they zigzagged from one enclosure to another.
Eventually I managed to meet up with a keeper who took me on my pre-arranged visit to the area behind-the-scenes. Unfortunately they were very busy and were taken a little by surprise by my visit, so the tour was more brief than I had expected. I think it still lasted over an hour (I lost track of time), and we had less time devoted to birds and a couple of the mammals than I’d have liked. For a few days’ notice, however, I was very pleased. This only cemented the plan which I established in Prague; to save up for a very good DSLR and spend several days at Czech zoos trying it out.
My first day at the zoo was very rainy, so photos are more limited than expected. The experience was still amazing, and I really loved the zoo.
I found that Plzen feels a bit like several zoos in one. Some areas have nice neat ornamental gardens and in others you can find yourself hiking up a muddy track through woodland. In between the two are a number of other levels of landscaping. Very nice indeed.
I really liked most of the enclosures. Some of the aviaries could have been a bit more pheasant-friendly, and generally a bit more spacious, and some of the rodent enclosures were smaller than I would have liked, but the standard of exhibits was extremely high, and I really valued that.
I admired the signs that the zoo had; cultural education was encouraged (if sometimes a little less politically-correct than you’d find in the UK), and as zooman mentioned, plants were very well labelled (they're Plzen's botanical garden too, after all); but I think this is the first zoo I’ve visited which labels boulders and large rocks so well [usually an educational sign about the predominant mineral].
This is another dream zoo, one that most zoo enthusiasts would enjoy. A shame that there’s currently a little bit of financial trouble with low visitor numbers last year and some pressure to cut down a little on collection size – which was the main reason for my fairly sudden trip.
That evening I couldn’t stop thinking about the zoo. The previous plan had been to spend 2-3 hours there in the morning, visit the town’s reptile collection (+/- Pilsener brewery) and maybe catch the aquarium back in Prague. Thankfully I weighed up whether I’d prefer a visit to the small Prague aquarium of 18 tanks to spending 5 more hours in Plzen Zoo; a no-brainer.
I decided not to book accommodation for the following night, intending to go straight from the train station to the airport, or leave my things somewhere and go exploring briefly. The budget had finally kicked in.
devilfish
Well-Known Member
Zoo Plzen + brewery + Akva-Tera
Sorry about the crude content later in this post:
The next day I returned to the zoo in the morning. I caught up on some of the creatures which had been more elusive the day before, and took some more photos in the Africa house before they turned off the lights. I was also granted a comfortable visit to the zoo’s fascinating Amphibian Ark. I had hoped to try and arrange a quick re-visit to the breeding area to photograph a few birds I hadn’t seen or photographed, but there was nobody around who could help me; so it was very lucky that I was given a tour the day before. I left later than I had planned, but very satisfied and a bit sad to leave. I quickly took my luggage from the hotel, stored it in the train station, and walked to the Pilsener-Urquell brewery for a nice tour and a couple of pints of unfiltered beer. I then wandered over to Akva-Terra, the zoo’s very small satellite reptile/amphibian/fish/invertebrate display complex. I didn’t have long to visit and would have liked to stay at least 20 minutes longer to see more of the invertebrates but they had to close. The enclosures were nicely done, and I thought the small area was very nicely used.
I headed back to the train station, and I was on-track to miss the train to Prague by just a few minutes. Rather than spending 57 minutes waiting at the station, I stopped at a bubble tea café on the way. The truth is I was looking for a bathroom, but I thought I might give bubble tea a try anyway whilst I was there. I’d been avoiding it for quite some time, in London and then in South East Asia – partly because I didn’t like the sound of the tapioca ‘bubbles’ which give the tea its name. I tried it out and liked it though. The staff were very friendly and then started to make complementary (alcoholic) cocktails while we talked.
Eventually I got on the train back to Prague. Just as it set off I felt my tummy rumble and some discomfort. I didn’t want to leave my things while I looked for a toilet, so I just stayed put. 20 minutes in to the journey, the train stopped. Apparently the train in front had collided with people on the tracks, and we were subsequently delayed by almost two hours. I obviously got the conductor to watch my stuff (several times) as I went in search of a suitable washroom.
I got to Prague just before midnight, and the taxi company I’d planned to rely on were too busy for my call. I eventually took the last two metro trains and the last bus to the airport, arriving for 1.30.
It was during the train journey and airport wait that I wrote up most of this thread.
I forgot that my laptop was still on UK time, so I was 30 minutes later to check-in than planned. A little bit of a surprise, after waiting more than three hours, but no issue.
I hope you’ll excuse the detail above; I just thought I’d include it to show how fortunate events actually were in the end. Had I stuck with my original plan and then had a delayed train, I’d probably have missed the small Prague aquarium anyway, even after compromising on Plzen Zoo. If my traveller’s tummy had struck earlier in the day, I’d have had to make heavy sacrifices to my day. If I’d have booked accommodation, I’d only have had about 3 hours to spend there, and a taxi to the airport would have cost a lot more.
So with the Czech Republic done, I flew to Zurich on the way home…
Sorry about the crude content later in this post:
The next day I returned to the zoo in the morning. I caught up on some of the creatures which had been more elusive the day before, and took some more photos in the Africa house before they turned off the lights. I was also granted a comfortable visit to the zoo’s fascinating Amphibian Ark. I had hoped to try and arrange a quick re-visit to the breeding area to photograph a few birds I hadn’t seen or photographed, but there was nobody around who could help me; so it was very lucky that I was given a tour the day before. I left later than I had planned, but very satisfied and a bit sad to leave. I quickly took my luggage from the hotel, stored it in the train station, and walked to the Pilsener-Urquell brewery for a nice tour and a couple of pints of unfiltered beer. I then wandered over to Akva-Terra, the zoo’s very small satellite reptile/amphibian/fish/invertebrate display complex. I didn’t have long to visit and would have liked to stay at least 20 minutes longer to see more of the invertebrates but they had to close. The enclosures were nicely done, and I thought the small area was very nicely used.
I headed back to the train station, and I was on-track to miss the train to Prague by just a few minutes. Rather than spending 57 minutes waiting at the station, I stopped at a bubble tea café on the way. The truth is I was looking for a bathroom, but I thought I might give bubble tea a try anyway whilst I was there. I’d been avoiding it for quite some time, in London and then in South East Asia – partly because I didn’t like the sound of the tapioca ‘bubbles’ which give the tea its name. I tried it out and liked it though. The staff were very friendly and then started to make complementary (alcoholic) cocktails while we talked.
Eventually I got on the train back to Prague. Just as it set off I felt my tummy rumble and some discomfort. I didn’t want to leave my things while I looked for a toilet, so I just stayed put. 20 minutes in to the journey, the train stopped. Apparently the train in front had collided with people on the tracks, and we were subsequently delayed by almost two hours. I obviously got the conductor to watch my stuff (several times) as I went in search of a suitable washroom.
I got to Prague just before midnight, and the taxi company I’d planned to rely on were too busy for my call. I eventually took the last two metro trains and the last bus to the airport, arriving for 1.30.
It was during the train journey and airport wait that I wrote up most of this thread.
I forgot that my laptop was still on UK time, so I was 30 minutes later to check-in than planned. A little bit of a surprise, after waiting more than three hours, but no issue.
I hope you’ll excuse the detail above; I just thought I’d include it to show how fortunate events actually were in the end. Had I stuck with my original plan and then had a delayed train, I’d probably have missed the small Prague aquarium anyway, even after compromising on Plzen Zoo. If my traveller’s tummy had struck earlier in the day, I’d have had to make heavy sacrifices to my day. If I’d have booked accommodation, I’d only have had about 3 hours to spend there, and a taxi to the airport would have cost a lot more.
So with the Czech Republic done, I flew to Zurich on the way home…
devilfish
Well-Known Member
Zurich
Once again I find myself mashing up geography on the forum, so I'll keep this Swiss entry brief.
I left the airport and went straight to Voliere Mythenquai, a nice small series of aviaries in a public park. I've been unlucky in the past, missing it on each of my previous visits for one reason or another.
There are still some very interesting birds on display, but most of the rarer birds (trogons and some tanagers) have died in recent years.
I then went to the zoo; my third visit in under three years - though I hadn't been since July 2011.
The new elephant exhibit looks to be very impressive.
Pantanal has moved on significantly since last time, when many enclosures were already open. Some of the attention to detail in the theming is astounding.
The zoo was packed, with a surprising number of British families around.
I went through the Masoala rainforest twice while I was there. Still one of my favourite exhibits in the world. The skywalk is an interesting addition. Not very practical or nice-looking, but it adds to the impressive atmosphere of the exhibit when looking from above. Although some flying foxes and doves were feeding nearby, the view isn't much better than what you'd get from ground-level. Interesting to see how much the larger trees had grown in the last two years. I remember seeing a lot more of the sky/ceiling previously.
Once again I find myself mashing up geography on the forum, so I'll keep this Swiss entry brief.
I left the airport and went straight to Voliere Mythenquai, a nice small series of aviaries in a public park. I've been unlucky in the past, missing it on each of my previous visits for one reason or another.
There are still some very interesting birds on display, but most of the rarer birds (trogons and some tanagers) have died in recent years.
I then went to the zoo; my third visit in under three years - though I hadn't been since July 2011.
The new elephant exhibit looks to be very impressive.
Pantanal has moved on significantly since last time, when many enclosures were already open. Some of the attention to detail in the theming is astounding.
The zoo was packed, with a surprising number of British families around.
I went through the Masoala rainforest twice while I was there. Still one of my favourite exhibits in the world. The skywalk is an interesting addition. Not very practical or nice-looking, but it adds to the impressive atmosphere of the exhibit when looking from above. Although some flying foxes and doves were feeding nearby, the view isn't much better than what you'd get from ground-level. Interesting to see how much the larger trees had grown in the last two years. I remember seeing a lot more of the sky/ceiling previously.
Hi mate, so glad u liked the zoo
Interestingly l heard that they intend to expand the zoo, they apparently own the land across the road ( car park ) and get elephants! Nothing about reducing the collection!
What did u make of the human diorama's ?
devilfish
Well-Known Member
Yes I remember plans for the Asian expansion; it's the more interesting species (mostly behind the scenes) which are rumoured to be decreasing in number - but not as significantly as previously thought.
What do you mean by human dioramas? I remember a few models strewn around the zoo, but could you give a couple of examples or photos to jog my memory?
devilfish
Well-Known Member
Ah yes, now I remember that one. Thanks. I thought it was quite interesting because opposite were signs on human evolution. The models themselves seem ok; obviously they're built to survive outdoors all year round, but they look a little bit more realistic than those I've seen in other zoos.
Overall it's another interesting educational addition to the zoo experience.
My thoughts as well, I observed several parents talking to there children and gesturing to the figures and the huts at the top of the hill, I am assuming they were explaining the associated story.