Chester Zoo best time for animal viewing?

C

chesterfan

Active Member
Was reading an old thread about how certain times are too busy to see some of the exhibits very well etc..but got me thinking....Would it be useful to share our experiences about the best time of day to view certain animals based upon their daily routine/activity. I'm sure we have all been frustrated that some animals can be so hard to see, and i always seem to have to either wait for a very long time at certain exhibits just to get a glimpse or retrace my steps several times in the hope that i might eventually see something! I'm thinking particularly, from my recent visits, about jaguars(especailly the inside enclosure)/bears/bush dogs/anoa/warthogs/tigers. When are they most active and do keepers stick to a routine when feeding?(as these are not part of the published feeding times). I know this is one of chesters biggest visitor complaints( that people have not seen the animals)I remember chester used to have a leaflet advising visitors the best time to see certain animals but this was a couple of years ago now and they don't seem to provide this info anymore. Ofcourse i realise that most animals have access to off show areas and this can't be controlled, but would be really gratefull of any further info/tips to give me as much chance of quality viewing and maximum animal activity!!
 
Pretty much everything is better towards the end of the day or as close to 10am as possible. Few people at the usually popular exhibits and the animals are also fairly active at these times.

It's all about prioritising really. Some exhibits such as RORA or monkey islands are close to unbearable at peak times, so I make this my first point of call and then i'll take a slightly smaller crowds at the giraffe/okapi and tropical realm during this peak time.
 
Ok here's a real challenge if anyone is up for it! Who can recommend the best time to see the zoo's Land Hermit Crabs in the Tropical Realm? I have visited numerous times since they were put in here and out of the five held have only ever seen one individual on three occasions. The most frustrating of these is when I forgot to take my camera and one was sitting right at the front of the exhibit feeding! Oh well, what is is they say about never working with animals, particularly burrowing ones!
 
We go to the jaguar house as soon as it opens and on most times always see pele the black jaguar prowling and searching for food the keepers have left. It is also a good time to see the mother and son jaguar in the outside enclosure on the right.
 
The tuataras are not completely predictable, but they are usually outside their burrows in the afternoon. If you're interested in photography the light in the new Tsavo aviary is best late in the day.
If you want a good view of Upali (the bull elephant), arrive early when he usually has the main elephant paddock for himself. He goes to the bull pen before the others are let out; but don't leave it too late to watch the herd in the big paddock - they go inside at tea time.
I sometimes see the spectacled bear in mid-afternoon, but I can't rely on doing so.

Alan
 
Peafowl said:
Ok here's a real challenge if anyone is up for it! Who can recommend the best time to see the zoo's Land Hermit Crabs in the Tropical Realm? I have visited numerous times since they were put in here and out of the five held have only ever seen one individual on three occasions. The most frustrating of these is when I forgot to take my camera and one was sitting right at the front of the exhibit feeding! Oh well, what is is they say about never working with animals, particularly burrowing ones!
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im lucky than got to see all of them, coz i saw them when they were first were in
 
On the one occasion I've been at the zoo at 10:00 on the dot on a weekday when the kids are in school it was like that old KitKat advert with the pandas. Just about everything was out and about and active, stopping just short of getting the roller skates out.
 
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