I've read some of the threads on here that seem quite negative in relation to the zoo so thought I'd add my pretty positive experience from today.
The zoo is based very much indoors, but I'd say at least half of the space is now outdoors, less than most zoos but really works.
The greenhouses were not heated and humid but fairly cool and pleasant. The birds in all sections were numerous and so many that I've not seen before, a lot of natural interactions between them and I was particularly taken with a turaco that was very interested in people and seemed to me that it might be tame in some way?
Planting was also amazing, some unusual plants there that had clearly had a lot of time spent on them.
Other than birds, reptiles and fish, there were sloths and monkeys but I think most if not all had outside access.
There was a small invert house which had signs on the outside, but no actual animals in the enclosures, there were feathers, eggs, enrichment cubes, all educational I suppose, but I would have preferred inverts.
The new thing for this year was a nocturnal house and it was huge. The first part is four very large enclosures for I think different armadillo species, I don't know enough to be sure though. I have never seen enclosures so big for armadillo, and they were open topped so you got a good view of them walking about, most were asleep in lighted dens however.
There were further pretty big enclosures for paca, loris, tamandua, sloth, and possibly others that I couldn't see, it was remarkably dark in there, which I suppose is best for the animals, but I did struggle to see most of the animals and had to squint for some time to work out what I was looking at.
Outside, ocelot looked fairly nice, with plenty of climbing opportunities, flamingos, various monkeys, meerkats, all very standard type enclosures. The penguin enclosure I think is new? They had an old one there anyway that looked naff, the new one is much nicer, at least four times the size with a beach and planted area. The wallaby enclosure was a bit bare but the feeding part was quite nice.
The highlight for me was the lemur walk through, where the group of ring tailed lemurs were very comfortable using people as climbing frames, including a group of three deciding to groom a very confused looking man for some time and refusing to get off, id be a bit concerned about the kids getting bitten or whatever, especially smaller grabby ones, but as an adult, it was a lovely experience to be climbed on!
The final indoor part had a tank for matamata which was bare and tiny, really let the place down, what a shame that was the final impression!!
As an overall impression though, really brill place, shocked to read the bad reviews from only a few years ago, they've clearly got a horticulturist working there now as all enclosures are heavily planted and I don't think I've seen plants done quite so well in a zoo. Really impressed and will be using my return visit!
The zoo is based very much indoors, but I'd say at least half of the space is now outdoors, less than most zoos but really works.
The greenhouses were not heated and humid but fairly cool and pleasant. The birds in all sections were numerous and so many that I've not seen before, a lot of natural interactions between them and I was particularly taken with a turaco that was very interested in people and seemed to me that it might be tame in some way?
Planting was also amazing, some unusual plants there that had clearly had a lot of time spent on them.
Other than birds, reptiles and fish, there were sloths and monkeys but I think most if not all had outside access.
There was a small invert house which had signs on the outside, but no actual animals in the enclosures, there were feathers, eggs, enrichment cubes, all educational I suppose, but I would have preferred inverts.
The new thing for this year was a nocturnal house and it was huge. The first part is four very large enclosures for I think different armadillo species, I don't know enough to be sure though. I have never seen enclosures so big for armadillo, and they were open topped so you got a good view of them walking about, most were asleep in lighted dens however.
There were further pretty big enclosures for paca, loris, tamandua, sloth, and possibly others that I couldn't see, it was remarkably dark in there, which I suppose is best for the animals, but I did struggle to see most of the animals and had to squint for some time to work out what I was looking at.
Outside, ocelot looked fairly nice, with plenty of climbing opportunities, flamingos, various monkeys, meerkats, all very standard type enclosures. The penguin enclosure I think is new? They had an old one there anyway that looked naff, the new one is much nicer, at least four times the size with a beach and planted area. The wallaby enclosure was a bit bare but the feeding part was quite nice.
The highlight for me was the lemur walk through, where the group of ring tailed lemurs were very comfortable using people as climbing frames, including a group of three deciding to groom a very confused looking man for some time and refusing to get off, id be a bit concerned about the kids getting bitten or whatever, especially smaller grabby ones, but as an adult, it was a lovely experience to be climbed on!
The final indoor part had a tank for matamata which was bare and tiny, really let the place down, what a shame that was the final impression!!
As an overall impression though, really brill place, shocked to read the bad reviews from only a few years ago, they've clearly got a horticulturist working there now as all enclosures are heavily planted and I don't think I've seen plants done quite so well in a zoo. Really impressed and will be using my return visit!
