Somehow missed this thread entirely, sorry for my lateness!
It’s another one where relevant closures at Chester (both of the big tropical houses) makes it really difficult for me to vote or comment. This felt like it should be a really strong category for Prague, but the more I think about it, the more I realise that a lot of exhibits that feel as though they should qualify, at least in part, for tropical forests, actually belong to temperate, mountains or wetlands better.
While the Indonesian Jungle is a really nice exhibit as a whole, with a solid nocturnal section, some gorgeous aquaria and a great binturong enclosure, the actual ‘tropical greenhouse’ section falls short of the rest of Europe’s elite, such as Chester. Almost no free-rangers bar a few barbets and tree frogs and a linear pathway which hinders immersion and results in a lot of congestion. There are no moments where you feel surrounded by greenery or within a rainforest, which is largely the point of a tropical house. I think the gorillas should count, and Dja is absolutely amazing, with the best indoor gorilla enclosure I’ve seen, a good outdoor section, excellent educational features and some really choice smaller species accompanying them. I assume that Chambal counts and it’s absolutely amazing. A few relevant aviaries in Rakos’ and the Pheasantry for a delightful species selection, all in adequate enclosures bar the hornbills who are clearly much better off at Chester. I don’t think that Darwin or the salamanders would count here? There is of course a lot more than this (a few vivariums and the great Fishing Cat enclosure in the feline pavilion for instance), but not much which particularly stands out from memory.
Overall, this is one of the few categories where I feel Chester actually has more on offer than Prague, and what is included among that is of a much higher standard as well; the best Jaguar enclosure in Europe, numerous great hornbill and primate enclosures, the Giant Otters, and two greenhouses that actually have free-flying birds! I unfortunately struggle to justify a vote for Prague here, unless of course I am being too harsh in terms of what counts and what doesn’t and the Czech collection has considerably more than I recall.
