Aquatis in Lausanne was somewhere that I had on my long list to visit then removed. However, a visit to the Swiss Alps on the Saturday had unintentionally turned into a mountain hike. I won’t bore you with that story other than to say the Swiss Alps are beautiful and glaciers taste delicious.
My unplanned hike meant that I was looking for a relatively easy last day in Switzerland, so I decided a modestly sized aquarium would be just the thing. Having previously scrubbed Aquatis from my list, it was back on mostly because I didn’t have anything better to do.
Unlike most aquariums, Aquatis focuses mostly on freshwater, with only two tanks, one for the Mediterranean and the obligatory Great Barrier Reef tank representing salt water environments. my heart is with the sea, but luckily, I have grown a lot more interested in freshwater recently, partly because I plan to get a tank – or maybe five - when I get back home. So I was ready to really enjoy Lausanne. And I did, mostly, though I’m not sure it was really worth the roughly $A50 it cost.
The aquarium’s strongest part is the opening section themed around the Rhone River (which flows out of Lake Geneva, on which Lausanne sits), though I didn’t like the repeated use of mirrors and low lighting, which had the effect of repeatedly making me think the space was bigger than it was. There are mostly high quality sections for Africa, Asia and Australia (of which the highlight was the desert crocodile, a species I didn’t even know existed), followed by a really quite dated and disappointing Amazon hall, which made for an underwhelming and abrupt end. I don’t regret going, but I doubt I’d bother again without a major new development.
The next day I crossed into France and stopped over in Mulhouse. At the risk of causing an international incident, Mulhouse still shows traces of its long-lost German heritage, having had its formative period when Alsace was part of the German Empire. It feels like a mid-tier German zoo, with its lush planting (it is also a botanical garden), slight air of being neglect (of structures, not animals) and cast of charismatic rarities, including sifakas, okapis, owl-faced monkeys, sand cats, clouded leopards, yellow-footed rock-wallabies and sadly unseen bush dogs. The wallabies didn’t appear to recognise an Australian accent. The zoo’s great strength is its primate collection, though nearly all are housed in sub-standard, well-furnished but clearly too small exhibits.
One thing made me slightly worry for Mulhouse, which was very quiet on the Monday I visited: I don’t think I’ve ever been in a zoo where so many animals seemed startled to have a visitor. Mulhouse animals stare back.
From Mulhouse, it was on to Besancon. It’s a small zoo with a modest collection, dominated by primates, and with a noticeable crossover with Mulhouse - both house such oddballs as the rock-wallabies and sifakas, making me suspect there’s a close relationship between the two. To be honest, Besancon is mostly an unremarkable zoo, with most enclosures in the main zoo section consisting of wire cages of varying size but otherwise identical design,
Of course it’s more than what amounts to a high-end backyard set-up, because it’s in a CASTLE. FunkyGibbon, reminding himself of where I was headed, asked to confirm that Besancon was ‘Le Dudley’. Almost, but not quite. A zoo in a castle is exponentially cooler than a castle in a zoo
Like any good castle, it does its best to kill you before you get inside. Google Maps wasn’t showing any buses that took me to the gates so I walked, including what felt like a vertical ascent up the north face of Everest. As I was taking a rest and contemplating scratching a last will and testament into the dirt path, a bus passed me on the way up.
Maybe Google could focus on getting transit directions to work properly on Maps before they fiddle around anymore with AI? Just a suggestion.
The citadel - all of it, not just the zoo - is worth the mortality risk . In addition to the animal exhibits, there’s also the castle ramparts (not recommended for the vertigo-inclined) and two museums, of which I only had time for the brilliant Museum of the Resistance and Deportations. Anybody of a historical bent should allow 2 hours in here in addition to the zoo.
There’s honestly not a lot that’s exceptional about the zoo other than its setting, but it’s a pleasant couple of hours. Be careful when visiting to ensure you see everything - there’s exhibits scattered in at least five different areas, including the geladas and Nubian ibex in the front moat and the nocturnal house, aquarium and insectarium (which also houses lots of frogs). The two macropod exhibits are also tucked in different spots to the majority of the outdoor exhibits, and I *think* the zoo is supposed to have colobus monkeys but I never saw them, so maybe I didn’t find everything.
I’m still two zoos behind but this post feels long enough so… more anon.
but it's common to cite whether or not the communication came from someone *at* a collection in question without naming anyone (by the abbreviation MA or phrase Mitarbeiter) so I thought you might be able to clarify whether that would apply here, as the entry currently lacks that abbreviation.
given he's the one with doubts about credibility.
albeit the Austrian portion!
