TBF, they did hang on to some cranes and flamingos. But yes, birds would have been a better memorial, IMHO, than the attractive, but conservationally meaningless, domestic fish exhibit.
Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo news 2017
- Thread starter banham.tiger
- Start date
I wonder what they have planned with the Scarlett Ibis enclosure as the enclosure that used to hold the Golden Marmoset's has been empty for a while I believe. It may be just coincidence but on my last two visits the slope up to the penguin indoor viewing area (the part they hold birthday parties) was also closed off.
With the binturong/small-clawed otter enclosure, was there any indication what they were doing with the area cleared? That enclosure is always been rather bizarrely used as I believe it used to hold primate species also!
This area was confirmed as the seperate housing for Tiaga by a keeper I spoke to. This area would be used if/when tiger cubs were born to start with before they were given access to the larger enclosure.
1:0 Blue Duiker calf born on the 29th of September. It has been named Aladdin.
Blue Duiker calf arrives! - ZOO NEWS - Colchester Zoo
Blue Duiker calf arrives! - ZOO NEWS - Colchester Zoo
Does anyone happen to know if the Francois Langur? They were moved off-show in April 2015 according to the zoos website and I'm pretty sure they were going to redevelop the area which currently houses the Lion Tailed Macaques but I haven't seen them since. Does anyone know if they still at the zoo?
Any idea on where the zebra has arrived from?
Zooreviewsuk
Well-Known Member
Okay so yesterday I made the 5 hour journey to Colchester Zoo, I had never been before and in many ways I enjoyed my day there but found myself getting stressed at getting lost and constantly spending time studying a map!
I'm gonna put up a full review later but something I found interesting. When looking at the inside of the Aardvark enclosure, there were four zoo employee's in there performing what looked to be an ultrasound on one of the Aardvark's. Could it be that they are expecting the pitter patter of baby Aardvark feet?
I'm gonna put up a full review later but something I found interesting. When looking at the inside of the Aardvark enclosure, there were four zoo employee's in there performing what looked to be an ultrasound on one of the Aardvark's. Could it be that they are expecting the pitter patter of baby Aardvark feet?
@Zooreviewsuk have you had any chance to type up your review? Interested to read what you thought!
Zooreviewsuk
Well-Known Member
I will upload it tonight.
Thinking about it, I've got more bird species than Colchester Zoo.
Zooreviewsuk
Well-Known Member
4th December - Colchester Zoo Review
So last Monday I decided to make the 5 hour drive from Lytham down to Colchester Zoo. I only expected it to take me about four hours as it was only 280 miles away but the traffic on the last 30 miles was a nightmare. Not related to the zoo, but the road that your sat nav will take you up to the Zoo, is currently closed, so you have to go on a 3m detour to find the zoo, there are no diversion signs up to the Zoo which is a shame. Someone at the Zoo should have thought about this, as the signs on the road take you to the closed road.
I arrived at the Zoo shortly after 10.30, so I had 6 hours to explore until the park closed.
Being a member at Chester and Edinburgh, I was able to use one of my free entry day's which saved me the on the door price of £17.99. If you book in advance you can save money and pay £15.24 for entry, which given the size of the Zoo, is an excellent entry fee in my book.
I entered the park and immediately headed to the Capuchin section, sadly the windows were so condensed I couldn't really see anything.
I then followed the path around which came to a rainforest section, inside was an Iguana sat on a radiator and some turtles. According to the Map there was a Sloth and some form of Monkey on the other side of this building but I couldn't see anything. When I exited the building I had my first experience of being lost for the day, (sadly it wasn't going to be the first time). I appeared to see nothing but dead ends and closed buildings. After five minutes of trying to find my bearings, I realised I was by the Jungle Playroom and Discovery Centre, which was also closed. With this I realised I needed to double back on myself and walk back through the exhibit I had just been through (but via an outside part) to get back on the main track. The outside section I think is where the Sloth and Monkey should be but there was nothing around but it was very cold.
Now back on the main track, I saw a building called Worlds Apart, this was an indoor exhibit which in the first room had a pair of Anaconda, who were curled up under the heat lamps so I couldn't get a good picture. The next room had a Komodo Dragon and an Iguana in, and both of these exhibits looked quite large and there was also a viv with some Poison dart frogs in as well.
I really liked the exhibits in the Worlds Apart as they were great for pictures. Into the second room there was a massive tank with Red Bellied Piranha's and a walk over bridge where I could see Pacu and Stingray.
The next room took me through a walkthrough where there were Sloth, Golden Lion Tamarin's and Tamandua's. The Golden Lion Tamarin's were very active but the Sloth were asleep and too high in the indoor section to get an image of. I didn't get to see the Tamandua which was upsetting for me, as these were an animal I hadn't seen before and was really looking forward to seeing.
As I left World's Apart I could go straight on for the Penguin's and Squirrel Monkey's or right to the Sea Lion's and Orangutan's.
I decided to head right and the Sea Lion feed was just starting. I like that there was an above water level and underwater viewing and it was really good that the underwater viewing was well lit and clear, for me this is one of the best Sea Lion exhibits I have seen.
As you leave the building to the Orangutan's, you are greeted with a Aquarium display in the Orangutan building, sadly this was fenced off for maintenance so I didn't get to see what was in there.
Both the Orangutan's were inside, but I walked around their whole exhibit which looked a nice size, although the outside viewing was all condensed so if they were out you wouldn't have seen much.
It was time to double back again ! and this time head to the Penguin and Squirrel Monkey's. Inside the Squirrel Monkey building, I was greeted by my second viewing of a Komodo Dragon (This seemed to be the theme of the day, they seemed to have enclosure's everywhere). The Squirrel Monkey's were indoors and had just been fed, so it was advantage photo's as they were quite still eating.
As I walked into the Penguin section, part of the inside section was fenced off for a private school party, who were feeding the Penguin's. This meant I couldn't really see them except for under the water. I didn't mind too much but it's a shame there wasn't an opportunity for the public to see this.
As you exit on the "Inca Trail" there were a few more Penguin's outside in a separate part, and you walk past an exhibit which was empty but the design looked like it previously housed some sort of Cat or Carnivorous species (I asked a worker there but they were non too helpful), does anyone know what used to be there?
Now this is the next section where I got lost, the park has the option to go straight on or left to view the Bears. I opted to walk to my left to head up to the Bear house, as I was told it was too cold for them outside. The bears were resting inside and there was also a Hornbill in the enclosure, inside the Bear house.
Now leaving the bears I got lost, I wanted to view the Monkeys and Butterfly house, and thought I would head back down the path I was on. Getting confused with poor signage I actually found myself walking through the Leopard section to get back to the bottom, but unfortunately there was no Leopard to see and part of the section was closed off.
As I got back on the main track, I was at the Mangabey Monkey and Butterfly House. I didn't go in the Butterfly House, but the Monkey's were all huddled up inside and too far away to get a photo. I didn't see the Spider Monkey's either.
On the outside section of the Managbey Monkey you can look across into the Madagascar exhibit and I decided I would explore this next (fatal error of my day)
I was immediately lost and the map didn't appear to offer any help.
I found myself walking around an Otter exhibit where I couldn't see any, followed by a Binturong exhibit where I also couldn't see any. The path went along a Gelada Baboon section where they were all getting fed and I spent five minutes here watching them feed, and also trying to work out where I actually was.
I decided that at this point I would follow signs for the Lost Madagascar Train, as I thought I would at least then get my bearings again.
I passed a collection of Flamingo's and another Otter exhibit, this time for Smooth coated Otter's but sadly as with the order of the day, there was nothing to see here!
The path came out by a closed coffee shop which was a shame as it was freezing and I found myself by the Aardvark burrow's. Getting lost and trying to find my way round this section where I saw little to no animal's took around 40 minutes of my day and I was lost and stressed, it was annoying but the whole set up of the park was kind of confusing for me, but I at least knew where I was.
As it was middle of the day the Aardvark's were inside. I went into the burrow section and four keepers were performing an ultrasound on one of the Aardvark's. I was hoping to ask one of them if she was pregnant or expecting soon, but I couldn't find a keeper to confirm this. The Aardvark's kept getting in the way of the keepers, but look so cute and cuddly! I got one image of the Ultrasound taking place but it wasn't too clear.
Following the path around, I arrived at the train station for the Madagascar train ride, but first I decided to view the Tiger's.
They had 3 tiger's which were in two separate sections, one a youngster they hoped to breed from and a Male and a hybrid female on the other side. I got there just in time for the Tiger talk which was interesting and one of the Tiger's was sat eating when I got there so I got a good photo of him/her
I followed the path down to the deer and Warty pigs and they had a large exhibit. I couldn't see the deer, but the pigs were all scurrying around looking for food and digging here and everywhere.
Walking back down the path, the Nature area was closed, but I followed it to the train pick up stop where there was a Bush Dog enclosure which it said was new for 2017. Sadly the Bush Dogs were another animal that eluded being seen.
I thought I would get a coffee from the Tiger Cafe whilst waiting for the next train, but as with the non visibility of animals on the day, it appeared that most catering establishments were also closed.
On the train, you head up to the Madagascar exhibit to go through the walkthrough lemur exhibit and the driver informed us on the left were Wolves (nope can't see any), then Hunting Dogs (yep you guessed it nothing), Vultures (surprise, surprise nothing) and Jackals (well we got the whole home run, nothing to see here either). As we approached the Lemur walkthrough we did see Flamingo's on the left and as we entered the area, there was apparently Otters and a Binturong on our right, but again not visible to see. (It reminded me of Jurassic Park when Sam Neill and co go in the jeeps and see no dinosaurs).
The train journey lasts 5 minutes before you get to the walkthrough and the walkthrough is quite small with Ring Tailed Lemur's and Red Bellied Lemur's. Sadly as with the build up of getting there, apart from a Lemur nose sticking out the house, there was nothing to see here as they were all huddled up inside.
I decided not to take the train back and exited the exhibit by the Meekat section.
I finally found a coffee shop open and decided to have a sandwich and a drink for lunch. It was now 1pm and having been in the park 2 and a half hours, I feel I must have spent an hour wandering around being lost, 30 minutes seeing no animals and an hour of actually seeing animals. The fact animals were not out is not the zoo's fault but when there is no real inside viewing when they are not for a number of the exhibit's it is disappointing. I was most disappointed to find out the only way to view the Jackal's is by the road train, so I wasn't going to be seeing these today and these were one of the animals I was most looking forward to seeing as I hadn't seen them in a collection before.
Now fed and watered, I decided to stick to the main outer path to save getting lost again and would look to view the Lions, and Lorikeets before heading down to the African section. I decided against heading to the Petting zoo section, as I wanted to get to the Elephant and Giraffe public feeding and not miss out.
The Lion's enclosure is being rebuilt or at least improved and therefore were all inside. The inside does not make good photo viewing as the windows are all dark and have stickers over them, which makes getting a clear photo difficult.
Opposite the Lion's was a Fennec Fox, such beautiful animal's I sat and watched one playing for a good five minutes.
I left the Lion section and wandered around the Lorikeet walkthrough where one decided to give me a present of a poop on me. I opted not to buy a pot of nectar for £1 as I have done this many a time before at other zoo's. It was very warm in there and they had two types of Lorikeets in there, plus some small Turtle in the river section.
Leaving this area I headed down to the African section. The Map gives the impression this is a massive exhibit, and would take some exploring, in fact on the map it takes up half the zoo, and given it had taken me 3 hours (minus an hour getting lost) made me think there would be a lot to explore and I may run out of time. I was wrong however and the map is deceptive, as the African section is relatively small.
As you walk in with the Giraffe house on your left and Elephant house on your right, there is a large paddock on the left which has Giraffe, Rhino, Zebra, Ostrich and some form of Antelope (I think Eland).
The Zoo has maneless Zebra, a type I had only previously see at Peak Wildlife Park.
On the opposite side there are two African Elephant's.
As you walk past these paddocks you have the option to go right to the Petting Zoo section, which has a Wallaby and Goat walkthrough and Giant Tortoise, or left to some African themed animals.
With it 20 minutes until the Giraffe and Elephant feed, I opted to go left to make sure I was back for the feed.
The first African animal is the striped Hyena, a species that I had seen before at Twycross before they moved that animal one. The Hyena's were all down the bottom of the exhibit, so I couldn't really get a photo of them.
Next were the Mandrill who were not long fed so were active, before you got to the Crane's on the left and Warthog's on the right. I didn't see any Warthog's on this occasion.
Next there was a paddock which contained L'hoest Monkey and Dik Dik but sadly the Monkey's were all inside and couldn't be seen and the Dik Dik was also nowhere to be seen.
Opposite this exhibit, there was a Cheetah exhibit, I don't know how many they have, but I only saw the one, that was walking around the perimeter of the enclosure, looking bored.
I headed back for the Public feed of the Giraffe and Elephant which is included in the entry fee. I found this probably the best perk of the Zoo and as I had never fed an Elephant before I found it very enjoyable and how soft it's trunk was when it took the leaf off me.
Leaving the African section to the right, I entered a building which had a number of empty Tanks and Viv's upstairs which according to them previously had snakes and Turtle's in, and a collection of Ants were in the final Viv.
Walking down the stairs you see Pygmy Hippo's. For me I don't know if these have outside access but I couldn't see any and the indoor pens looked quite small. Both Hippo's seemed happy but I felt that they could do with an upgrade.
There was also an African Rock Python in this section, who was like most other snakes today, curled up under his heat lamp.
There was also a collection of Pata's Monkey behind the Hippo's. These looked really aggressive and were fighting over each other.
The path behind the Monkey's was closed off, so I don't know if this is where the Vulture's were, but I explored for a bit and couldn't find anyway to get to the Vultures so presumed they were currently off show which was a shame.
Leaving this section of the park I realised I was back at the Aardvark section where I was lost before! I realised that in getting lost earlier I missed a whole host of animals up to Leopard earlier, so I decided to head back this way.
The Wolves and Hunting Dogs were out playing at the top, and one Wolf which appeared to only have one ear was sleeping. I got one nice photo of another wolf.
Opposite this section was another collection of Komodo Dragon's (I think the fourth collection I came across on the day so far).
There was also some Condor's in this section but they were all hidden high up so couldn't really get any photo's.
The path follows round to a Burmese Python who's viv was being cleaned so he was not in there, whilst the Gibbon's in the next section were again inside and not really visible.
This brought me out by the Cimpanzee's. The whole collection were inside and they had no access to the outside section today, where it appeared a lot of building work was going on and it was mainly fenced off.
Opposite the Chimps was a Crocodile who was chilling in the water.
I left this section about 3.30 and it was starting to get a bit dark and cold, so I thought I would try and see if I could see the Anteater, Panda and Leopard.
The Anteater was inside and snuggled up, whilst the Red Panda was not to be seen. Having spent 15 minutes trying to view the Leopard, this again eluded me.
I decided to get a cup of tea in the Penguin cafe before leaving which was close by, only to find that no food was being served at this time, so a drink only it was.
With light fading fast I decided to head home, at 3.45pm, 45 mins before the Zoo closed, so I feel the 4.30 closing time was half an hour later than needed as it was pretty much dark at 4pm.
Overall Thoughts
I think Colchester Zoo has a good collection of animals and some species I hadn't seen at other zoo's but whether it was the time of year or because it was a cold day, a lot of them weren't in their outside exhibits and the indoor viewing was either not possible or not great.
Certain exhibits were very good, notably the Tigers, Worlds Apart, Pengins, Sea Lions, African Section of Paddocks and the Bears, but others left a lot to be desired like the Pygmy Hippo's, Leopards, Binturong, Lion's, Jackals and Mangabey Monkey.
I also found the map confusing and much of the day getting lost, so I feel it is a Zoo that you need to visit once or twice to get your bearings and this would be a shade offputting for first time visitors.
The lack of catering outlets open and ones that actually sold food was disappointing.
I didn't catch many of the talks, but the ones I did (Sea Lions, Tiger and Giraffe and Elephant Feed) were decent enough.
I did have an okay day on the whole, but feel I would need to visit again in the Spring to give it a more structured review.
Not seeing a number of the animals I wanted to disappointed me, as did getting lost and also finding it difficult to find somewhere open to eat and drink, but I feel this was down to weather, winter and not knowing the park.
At £18 it's good value for money in many ways and the collection is good with a number of good sized exhibits and a number of animals I've not seen before (and still haven't seen in a couple of cases).
I will review again in Spring, when hopefully those flaws are ironed out.
In future I would advise don't take a map just follow your nose, as the map will do nothing but confuse you and get you lost.
So last Monday I decided to make the 5 hour drive from Lytham down to Colchester Zoo. I only expected it to take me about four hours as it was only 280 miles away but the traffic on the last 30 miles was a nightmare. Not related to the zoo, but the road that your sat nav will take you up to the Zoo, is currently closed, so you have to go on a 3m detour to find the zoo, there are no diversion signs up to the Zoo which is a shame. Someone at the Zoo should have thought about this, as the signs on the road take you to the closed road.
I arrived at the Zoo shortly after 10.30, so I had 6 hours to explore until the park closed.
Being a member at Chester and Edinburgh, I was able to use one of my free entry day's which saved me the on the door price of £17.99. If you book in advance you can save money and pay £15.24 for entry, which given the size of the Zoo, is an excellent entry fee in my book.
I entered the park and immediately headed to the Capuchin section, sadly the windows were so condensed I couldn't really see anything.
I then followed the path around which came to a rainforest section, inside was an Iguana sat on a radiator and some turtles. According to the Map there was a Sloth and some form of Monkey on the other side of this building but I couldn't see anything. When I exited the building I had my first experience of being lost for the day, (sadly it wasn't going to be the first time). I appeared to see nothing but dead ends and closed buildings. After five minutes of trying to find my bearings, I realised I was by the Jungle Playroom and Discovery Centre, which was also closed. With this I realised I needed to double back on myself and walk back through the exhibit I had just been through (but via an outside part) to get back on the main track. The outside section I think is where the Sloth and Monkey should be but there was nothing around but it was very cold.
Now back on the main track, I saw a building called Worlds Apart, this was an indoor exhibit which in the first room had a pair of Anaconda, who were curled up under the heat lamps so I couldn't get a good picture. The next room had a Komodo Dragon and an Iguana in, and both of these exhibits looked quite large and there was also a viv with some Poison dart frogs in as well.
I really liked the exhibits in the Worlds Apart as they were great for pictures. Into the second room there was a massive tank with Red Bellied Piranha's and a walk over bridge where I could see Pacu and Stingray.
The next room took me through a walkthrough where there were Sloth, Golden Lion Tamarin's and Tamandua's. The Golden Lion Tamarin's were very active but the Sloth were asleep and too high in the indoor section to get an image of. I didn't get to see the Tamandua which was upsetting for me, as these were an animal I hadn't seen before and was really looking forward to seeing.
As I left World's Apart I could go straight on for the Penguin's and Squirrel Monkey's or right to the Sea Lion's and Orangutan's.
I decided to head right and the Sea Lion feed was just starting. I like that there was an above water level and underwater viewing and it was really good that the underwater viewing was well lit and clear, for me this is one of the best Sea Lion exhibits I have seen.
As you leave the building to the Orangutan's, you are greeted with a Aquarium display in the Orangutan building, sadly this was fenced off for maintenance so I didn't get to see what was in there.
Both the Orangutan's were inside, but I walked around their whole exhibit which looked a nice size, although the outside viewing was all condensed so if they were out you wouldn't have seen much.
It was time to double back again ! and this time head to the Penguin and Squirrel Monkey's. Inside the Squirrel Monkey building, I was greeted by my second viewing of a Komodo Dragon (This seemed to be the theme of the day, they seemed to have enclosure's everywhere). The Squirrel Monkey's were indoors and had just been fed, so it was advantage photo's as they were quite still eating.
As I walked into the Penguin section, part of the inside section was fenced off for a private school party, who were feeding the Penguin's. This meant I couldn't really see them except for under the water. I didn't mind too much but it's a shame there wasn't an opportunity for the public to see this.
As you exit on the "Inca Trail" there were a few more Penguin's outside in a separate part, and you walk past an exhibit which was empty but the design looked like it previously housed some sort of Cat or Carnivorous species (I asked a worker there but they were non too helpful), does anyone know what used to be there?
Now this is the next section where I got lost, the park has the option to go straight on or left to view the Bears. I opted to walk to my left to head up to the Bear house, as I was told it was too cold for them outside. The bears were resting inside and there was also a Hornbill in the enclosure, inside the Bear house.
Now leaving the bears I got lost, I wanted to view the Monkeys and Butterfly house, and thought I would head back down the path I was on. Getting confused with poor signage I actually found myself walking through the Leopard section to get back to the bottom, but unfortunately there was no Leopard to see and part of the section was closed off.
As I got back on the main track, I was at the Mangabey Monkey and Butterfly House. I didn't go in the Butterfly House, but the Monkey's were all huddled up inside and too far away to get a photo. I didn't see the Spider Monkey's either.
On the outside section of the Managbey Monkey you can look across into the Madagascar exhibit and I decided I would explore this next (fatal error of my day)
I was immediately lost and the map didn't appear to offer any help.
I found myself walking around an Otter exhibit where I couldn't see any, followed by a Binturong exhibit where I also couldn't see any. The path went along a Gelada Baboon section where they were all getting fed and I spent five minutes here watching them feed, and also trying to work out where I actually was.
I decided that at this point I would follow signs for the Lost Madagascar Train, as I thought I would at least then get my bearings again.
I passed a collection of Flamingo's and another Otter exhibit, this time for Smooth coated Otter's but sadly as with the order of the day, there was nothing to see here!
The path came out by a closed coffee shop which was a shame as it was freezing and I found myself by the Aardvark burrow's. Getting lost and trying to find my way round this section where I saw little to no animal's took around 40 minutes of my day and I was lost and stressed, it was annoying but the whole set up of the park was kind of confusing for me, but I at least knew where I was.
As it was middle of the day the Aardvark's were inside. I went into the burrow section and four keepers were performing an ultrasound on one of the Aardvark's. I was hoping to ask one of them if she was pregnant or expecting soon, but I couldn't find a keeper to confirm this. The Aardvark's kept getting in the way of the keepers, but look so cute and cuddly! I got one image of the Ultrasound taking place but it wasn't too clear.
Following the path around, I arrived at the train station for the Madagascar train ride, but first I decided to view the Tiger's.
They had 3 tiger's which were in two separate sections, one a youngster they hoped to breed from and a Male and a hybrid female on the other side. I got there just in time for the Tiger talk which was interesting and one of the Tiger's was sat eating when I got there so I got a good photo of him/her
I followed the path down to the deer and Warty pigs and they had a large exhibit. I couldn't see the deer, but the pigs were all scurrying around looking for food and digging here and everywhere.
Walking back down the path, the Nature area was closed, but I followed it to the train pick up stop where there was a Bush Dog enclosure which it said was new for 2017. Sadly the Bush Dogs were another animal that eluded being seen.
I thought I would get a coffee from the Tiger Cafe whilst waiting for the next train, but as with the non visibility of animals on the day, it appeared that most catering establishments were also closed.
On the train, you head up to the Madagascar exhibit to go through the walkthrough lemur exhibit and the driver informed us on the left were Wolves (nope can't see any), then Hunting Dogs (yep you guessed it nothing), Vultures (surprise, surprise nothing) and Jackals (well we got the whole home run, nothing to see here either). As we approached the Lemur walkthrough we did see Flamingo's on the left and as we entered the area, there was apparently Otters and a Binturong on our right, but again not visible to see. (It reminded me of Jurassic Park when Sam Neill and co go in the jeeps and see no dinosaurs).
The train journey lasts 5 minutes before you get to the walkthrough and the walkthrough is quite small with Ring Tailed Lemur's and Red Bellied Lemur's. Sadly as with the build up of getting there, apart from a Lemur nose sticking out the house, there was nothing to see here as they were all huddled up inside.
I decided not to take the train back and exited the exhibit by the Meekat section.
I finally found a coffee shop open and decided to have a sandwich and a drink for lunch. It was now 1pm and having been in the park 2 and a half hours, I feel I must have spent an hour wandering around being lost, 30 minutes seeing no animals and an hour of actually seeing animals. The fact animals were not out is not the zoo's fault but when there is no real inside viewing when they are not for a number of the exhibit's it is disappointing. I was most disappointed to find out the only way to view the Jackal's is by the road train, so I wasn't going to be seeing these today and these were one of the animals I was most looking forward to seeing as I hadn't seen them in a collection before.
Now fed and watered, I decided to stick to the main outer path to save getting lost again and would look to view the Lions, and Lorikeets before heading down to the African section. I decided against heading to the Petting zoo section, as I wanted to get to the Elephant and Giraffe public feeding and not miss out.
The Lion's enclosure is being rebuilt or at least improved and therefore were all inside. The inside does not make good photo viewing as the windows are all dark and have stickers over them, which makes getting a clear photo difficult.
Opposite the Lion's was a Fennec Fox, such beautiful animal's I sat and watched one playing for a good five minutes.
I left the Lion section and wandered around the Lorikeet walkthrough where one decided to give me a present of a poop on me. I opted not to buy a pot of nectar for £1 as I have done this many a time before at other zoo's. It was very warm in there and they had two types of Lorikeets in there, plus some small Turtle in the river section.
Leaving this area I headed down to the African section. The Map gives the impression this is a massive exhibit, and would take some exploring, in fact on the map it takes up half the zoo, and given it had taken me 3 hours (minus an hour getting lost) made me think there would be a lot to explore and I may run out of time. I was wrong however and the map is deceptive, as the African section is relatively small.
As you walk in with the Giraffe house on your left and Elephant house on your right, there is a large paddock on the left which has Giraffe, Rhino, Zebra, Ostrich and some form of Antelope (I think Eland).
The Zoo has maneless Zebra, a type I had only previously see at Peak Wildlife Park.
On the opposite side there are two African Elephant's.
As you walk past these paddocks you have the option to go right to the Petting Zoo section, which has a Wallaby and Goat walkthrough and Giant Tortoise, or left to some African themed animals.
With it 20 minutes until the Giraffe and Elephant feed, I opted to go left to make sure I was back for the feed.
The first African animal is the striped Hyena, a species that I had seen before at Twycross before they moved that animal one. The Hyena's were all down the bottom of the exhibit, so I couldn't really get a photo of them.
Next were the Mandrill who were not long fed so were active, before you got to the Crane's on the left and Warthog's on the right. I didn't see any Warthog's on this occasion.
Next there was a paddock which contained L'hoest Monkey and Dik Dik but sadly the Monkey's were all inside and couldn't be seen and the Dik Dik was also nowhere to be seen.
Opposite this exhibit, there was a Cheetah exhibit, I don't know how many they have, but I only saw the one, that was walking around the perimeter of the enclosure, looking bored.
I headed back for the Public feed of the Giraffe and Elephant which is included in the entry fee. I found this probably the best perk of the Zoo and as I had never fed an Elephant before I found it very enjoyable and how soft it's trunk was when it took the leaf off me.
Leaving the African section to the right, I entered a building which had a number of empty Tanks and Viv's upstairs which according to them previously had snakes and Turtle's in, and a collection of Ants were in the final Viv.
Walking down the stairs you see Pygmy Hippo's. For me I don't know if these have outside access but I couldn't see any and the indoor pens looked quite small. Both Hippo's seemed happy but I felt that they could do with an upgrade.
There was also an African Rock Python in this section, who was like most other snakes today, curled up under his heat lamp.
There was also a collection of Pata's Monkey behind the Hippo's. These looked really aggressive and were fighting over each other.
The path behind the Monkey's was closed off, so I don't know if this is where the Vulture's were, but I explored for a bit and couldn't find anyway to get to the Vultures so presumed they were currently off show which was a shame.
Leaving this section of the park I realised I was back at the Aardvark section where I was lost before! I realised that in getting lost earlier I missed a whole host of animals up to Leopard earlier, so I decided to head back this way.
The Wolves and Hunting Dogs were out playing at the top, and one Wolf which appeared to only have one ear was sleeping. I got one nice photo of another wolf.
Opposite this section was another collection of Komodo Dragon's (I think the fourth collection I came across on the day so far).
There was also some Condor's in this section but they were all hidden high up so couldn't really get any photo's.
The path follows round to a Burmese Python who's viv was being cleaned so he was not in there, whilst the Gibbon's in the next section were again inside and not really visible.
This brought me out by the Cimpanzee's. The whole collection were inside and they had no access to the outside section today, where it appeared a lot of building work was going on and it was mainly fenced off.
Opposite the Chimps was a Crocodile who was chilling in the water.
I left this section about 3.30 and it was starting to get a bit dark and cold, so I thought I would try and see if I could see the Anteater, Panda and Leopard.
The Anteater was inside and snuggled up, whilst the Red Panda was not to be seen. Having spent 15 minutes trying to view the Leopard, this again eluded me.
I decided to get a cup of tea in the Penguin cafe before leaving which was close by, only to find that no food was being served at this time, so a drink only it was.
With light fading fast I decided to head home, at 3.45pm, 45 mins before the Zoo closed, so I feel the 4.30 closing time was half an hour later than needed as it was pretty much dark at 4pm.
Overall Thoughts
I think Colchester Zoo has a good collection of animals and some species I hadn't seen at other zoo's but whether it was the time of year or because it was a cold day, a lot of them weren't in their outside exhibits and the indoor viewing was either not possible or not great.
Certain exhibits were very good, notably the Tigers, Worlds Apart, Pengins, Sea Lions, African Section of Paddocks and the Bears, but others left a lot to be desired like the Pygmy Hippo's, Leopards, Binturong, Lion's, Jackals and Mangabey Monkey.
I also found the map confusing and much of the day getting lost, so I feel it is a Zoo that you need to visit once or twice to get your bearings and this would be a shade offputting for first time visitors.
The lack of catering outlets open and ones that actually sold food was disappointing.
I didn't catch many of the talks, but the ones I did (Sea Lions, Tiger and Giraffe and Elephant Feed) were decent enough.
I did have an okay day on the whole, but feel I would need to visit again in the Spring to give it a more structured review.
Not seeing a number of the animals I wanted to disappointed me, as did getting lost and also finding it difficult to find somewhere open to eat and drink, but I feel this was down to weather, winter and not knowing the park.
At £18 it's good value for money in many ways and the collection is good with a number of good sized exhibits and a number of animals I've not seen before (and still haven't seen in a couple of cases).
I will review again in Spring, when hopefully those flaws are ironed out.
In future I would advise don't take a map just follow your nose, as the map will do nothing but confuse you and get you lost.
Pity the glass is too thin to permit a mixed sex group really....
It sounds like you are referring to the old Geoffroy's Cat exhibit.
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[QUOTE="TeaLovingDave, post:
It sounds like you are referring to the old Geoffroy's Cat exhibit.[/QUOTE]
Unless things have changed recently, the old Geoffroy's cat enclosure & the one next to it have been boarded up with plants placed in front of them for a year or so, so don't think it could be that. I think the Scarlet Ibis enclosure is empty now though?
It sounds like you are referring to the old Geoffroy's Cat exhibit.[/QUOTE]
Unless things have changed recently, the old Geoffroy's cat enclosure & the one next to it have been boarded up with plants placed in front of them for a year or so, so don't think it could be that. I think the Scarlet Ibis enclosure is empty now though?
Interesting review @Zooreviewsuk, sounds like a frustrating visit though!
Just one point though: the hyaena are spotted not striped, so you won't have seen them at Twycross recently
Just one point though: the hyaena are spotted not striped, so you won't have seen them at Twycross recently
A very interesting review @Zooreviewsuk although your photo labelled golden lion tamarin is actually a titi monkey (nice picture though).
Zooreviewsuk
Well-Known Member
Thanks for that. I didn't see them at Colchester either ha .
Zooreviewsuk
Well-Known Member
Thanks Tim, I blame signage, it had Golden Lion Tamarin on the exhibit! I have now changed the title in the Media section.
Surely they have FOUR elephants?