Joker22Hero
Well-Known Member
Hi guys,
After lurking on the forum for a few months and making a few smaller posts, I thought I'd introduce myself properly.
I loved animals more than anything else as a kid, visiting zoos all around Germany, Austria and even Italy with my parents. However, as I grew older, the frequency of visits waned as university induced stress increased while interest in zoos among my peers decreased.
What got me really back into zoos, was meeting my partner who enjoys animals and zoos almost as much as I do. I had since moved to the UK, but as travelling (and especially Japan) had always been my other main love, our first zoo together was Ueno Zoo in Tokyo 1.5 years ago, which is a truly astonishing collection for the 600 Yen (3 quid) entry fee! With rekindled passion, I visited 8 zoos in 2024 (Rotterdam, Taipei, London, Jersey, Cotswold, Nuremberg, Munich and Augsburg), almost by accident. This year, my travels are shaping up to be even more, and more consciously, zoo heavy, so I hope to be able to post some good reviews and information on here soon. My current ranking based on the zoos visited in the last 2 years (and 2015) is as follows:
In the next months, I'm planning to go to Chester, Pairi Daiza, and potentially Zoo Cologne, Colchester and Whipsnade (as well as Cotswold and London) so you might see me in the threads there.
Lovely to meet you all, and please let me know if there is another zoo I might like based on my ranking.
Best,
Joker
After lurking on the forum for a few months and making a few smaller posts, I thought I'd introduce myself properly.
I loved animals more than anything else as a kid, visiting zoos all around Germany, Austria and even Italy with my parents. However, as I grew older, the frequency of visits waned as university induced stress increased while interest in zoos among my peers decreased.
What got me really back into zoos, was meeting my partner who enjoys animals and zoos almost as much as I do. I had since moved to the UK, but as travelling (and especially Japan) had always been my other main love, our first zoo together was Ueno Zoo in Tokyo 1.5 years ago, which is a truly astonishing collection for the 600 Yen (3 quid) entry fee! With rekindled passion, I visited 8 zoos in 2024 (Rotterdam, Taipei, London, Jersey, Cotswold, Nuremberg, Munich and Augsburg), almost by accident. This year, my travels are shaping up to be even more, and more consciously, zoo heavy, so I hope to be able to post some good reviews and information on here soon. My current ranking based on the zoos visited in the last 2 years (and 2015) is as follows:
- Zoo Leipzig: This is cheating, as I haven't been since 2015, but have strong nostalgia for the zoo and still follow "Elefant, Tiger und Co" (its weekly "documentary") whenever I have the time. I've still never been as impressed by another exhibit again as when I first entered the Gondwanaland, with the African Savannah a close second.
- Taipei Zoo: The scale and backdrop of Taipei is hard to beat, seeing zebras in the foreground with the densely forested Taiwanese mountains in the background. While the presentation, and quality, of some exhibits is not up to European standards, the atmosphere of walking through dense jungle vegetation to then see the Orangutans and hear the Siamangs is breathtaking. Seeing some of their numerous Koalas being introduced for mating and chasing each other was another highlight.
- Zoo Nürnberg: Absolutely lovely backdrop in the forest, with expansive enclosures for rare ungulates, an amazing tropical house with Manatees and Sakis that are investigating your presence and an absolutely fascinating big cat house, as well as a lovely dolphin exhibit made this a sleeper hit for me.
- Ueno Zoo: Amazing species collection, astonishing value, basically a version of London with many more large animals for 10% of the entry price, including some rarities, but also some meh exhibits in terms of space for the animals.
- ZSL London: World class houses (Tiny Giants, Rainforest Life and Secret Life of Reptiles and Amphibians), plus the amazing theming for the lion enclosure, and generally a high level of animal welfare standards across the board, even if lacking some larger exhibits.
- Zoo Rotterdam: Decent all around, great aquarium and arctic development, but a shame that Amazonica gives the whole section a run down atmosphere. Overall, I had a good time but for some reason Rotterdam wasn't as memorable as most of the others on the list.
- Zoo Frankfurt: Grzimek house, aka the best nocturnal house I have been to, with lots of charismatic and rare species that I was lucky to see quite active. Large and still attractive terrarium, great new enclosures for apes and Andean bears, and acceptable rest of the zoo even if some exhibits are relatively old and small.
- Cotswold Wildlife Park: The only zoo I did not reach by public transport, so big disadvantage here. However, the walled garden with its variety of small species and lovely backdrop is a clear highlight. The rhino exhibit is amazing, and I got to see capybara babies, while no enclosure is truly bad.
- Wilhelma Stuttgart: Amazing lower part of the zoo, Terra Australis is the best collection of Australian animals I have seen, and the green houses have a lovely atmosphere with a super interesting collection of smaller mammals. The architecture of the moorish garden is breathtaking. The upper part of the zoo ranges between offensively bad (big cats, geladas, tapirs) to bafflingly unattractive (new ape house, new serval enclosure) to plain boring (the rest).
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park: Amazing exhibit design, loved Kilimanjaro Safari and the general theming of the African and Asian areas, but could use some more animal variety and and some more exciting species.
- Zoo Zürich
- Zoo Hellabrun München
- Zoo Augsburg
- Jersey Zoo
In the next months, I'm planning to go to Chester, Pairi Daiza, and potentially Zoo Cologne, Colchester and Whipsnade (as well as Cotswold and London) so you might see me in the threads there.
Lovely to meet you all, and please let me know if there is another zoo I might like based on my ranking.
Best,
Joker
