GaiaZOO Kerkrade How do I get to Gaiapark please?

[chizlit]

I want to visit Gaiapark at the end of November. I will be arriving by train from Cologne , and the end station is Kerkrade, from there how do I get to the zoo please?

I wrote an email to the zoo, and they said it just a 1.5km walk from the train station, this might be ok for me on a warm spring or summer day, but I don't want to be walking too far in the cold winter! So is there a bus / tram to the zoo from the train station.

 

[willem]

Take bus 28 to bus stop "entree gaiapark". For some cash i'll be your guide!

 

[Toddy]

chizlit, I am so sorry! I just realised that I completely forgot to reply to your PM. Anyway, I think I can help you:

Do not take the train to Kerkrade! Instead, take the train from Aachen to Heerlen. From there you can take the bus nr. 28 directly to the zoo. It departs every 20 minutes approx. Forget about reading the Dutch bus schedules! They are written in some kind of kryptic kode from "The Matrix". The bus ride takes approx 25. minutes. The bus stop is named GaiaPark (ask the bus driver). However, you have to leave early from Cologne if you want to have enough time at GaiaPark.

BUT, I would choose NOT to visit GaiaPark late in November if I were you. GaiaPark is strichtly an outdoor attraction with a lot of tropical animals that can only be seen outdoors but not in cold weather. There are many more zoos in the Cologne-area where I think you would have a much better time late in November.

In your PM you asked me if Dortmund Zoo was worthwhile visiting. I certainly think so! Their house for anteaters, tamanduas, armadillos and sloths is not big but certainly a must-see for zoo-enthusiasts. I am not sure how many of them you have seen but in your PM you mention Cologne Zoo, Wuppertal Zoo and Duisburg Zoo, all of which are worthwhile to see again and way better suited for winter visits than GaiaPark.

Others I can recommend are Frankfurt Zoo (easily reached from Cologne with ICE or perhaps IC). I have not seen Krefeld Zoo myself but that is also a suggestion I would make as well as the Allwetterzoo Münster. If you are into reptiles that I would suggest the Aquazoo Düsseldorf.

Both Cologne, Wuppertal, Duisburg, Dortmund and Frankfurt I know for sure are better suited for that time of year, and I think it is the same with Krefeld and Allwetterzoo Münster ("Allwetter" means "all weather" ). I think that GaiaPark is a great zoo but really not suited for the colder seasons. I would save it for another and warmer time if I were you. That is just my advice

Hope this helps and sorry for the late reply!

 

[willem]

Actually bus 28 does leave from kerkrade as well... But Toddy's right about leaving very aerly to arrive in time, and about the fact that Gaiapark is mainly an outdoor zoo with close to non indoor attrations...

 

[Toddy]

I know that it leaves from Kerkrade as well, the train/bus connection just worked better from Heerlen when I visited. Might not always be so, though. Just my personal experience

Yes, I hate to be a downer, but I really don't think that GaiaPark in November is a good idea. Also, since the zoo already closes in 16.00 in November you will hardly have any time to not see the animals.

 

[chizlit]

Thanks for the replies, but I guess I have some thinking to do now!

The first obvious question will be, can I still see indoor quarters of animals that can't go out in the cold? If I can do this then I don't mind visiting in November, it's not just the animals that wants to keep warm.....

I was aiming to leave Cologne about 8.00am to be at the zoo by about 10am, so I would have a good amount of time there.

As for the other options, I will go to Krefeld since it's a zoo I haven't been to yet, and the pix look good in the gallery, while I'm there I might stop in Duisburg as it's so near, but it depends on what time I have, but is there anything exciting to see since I was there last December?

My other option will be to go to Zoom rather than Gaiapark, I know it's got a few bad remarks on here, but I like the look of it, but then again it would be better in the spring and even better still when Asia is opened.

 

[Toddy]

Here is a list of the animals that you can see indoors in GaiaPark:

Woolly monkeys
White-fronted marmosets
Black spider monkeys
Brown capuchins
White-lipped tamarins
Squirrel monkeys
Lowland gorillas
Black-crested mangabeys
Rothchild's giraffes
Greater kudus
Springboks

But I woulden't visit GaiaPark to see the indoor quarters for the animals as they are not very inspiring. But of course you would probably also be able to see the cold-resistent animals, such as przewalskii wild horses, aurochs, wild boars, iberian wolves, lynx, wolverines, musk oxen and reindeer. Still, you would miss many of the main attractions such as pygmy hippo, red river hog, bongo, cheetah, african wild dog, lowland tapir, capybara, bat-eared fox, meerkat and white rhino.

ZOOM is sort of the same as GaiaPark in regards to mostly being an outdoor attraction. Of course that is fine in the Alaska theme but Africa will probably be a bit boring as you can hardly see any animals indoors here. And of course Asian won't open until 2010.

Still, If you haven't seen Frankfurt Zoo I would strongly recommend you to go there! It is easily reached from Cologne hand has many exciting indoor exhibits with a lot of zoological rarities. There is the Grzimek House, Asian Cat Jungle, Exotarium, Bird House, Monkey House and brand new Borgori-Wald. And if not then I have heard good things about the Allwetterzoo in Münster...

 

[IceQueen]

Gaiapark is not that bad in November, I've been there in every season. Indoor enclosers you can visit or see through a window: some monkeys, goriila's, giraffes, rhino's. I think most of the animals will be visible, especially in the European part. The only problem will probably be the tropical birds in the Amazonian part. And it's no fun in the rain, but few zoo's are fun in the rain
But I would recommand a visit in the spring or summer, because it's such a beautiful zoo in that time of year. It was voted most beautiful zoo in the Netherlands/Benelux twice in a row for a reason (by zoosite and vistors).

 

[chizlit]

Sadly it looks like I will have to admit defeat on the Gaiapark idea, but it gives me an excuse to return in Spring!
Seems like Munster is the best option, as I can hopefully get a cheap HappyDay Ticket there as it's in NRW,but to get to Frankfurt the cost of ICE trains is far too much for me.
All in all I hope to have a good time as I will see 2 new zoo's and maybe Duisburg again if I have time, then next year I can return for Gaiapark and the new hippo house in Cologne.

Thanks to everyone who's helped.

 

[IceQueen]

Still, you would miss many of the main attractions such as pygmy hippo, red river hog, bongo, cheetah, african wild dog, lowland tapir, capybara, bat-eared fox, meerkat and white rhino.

Most of those animals will be outside in November, it's not as cold here as in Denmark, you know

@Chizlit: good idea to return in Spring for Gaiapark, it's worth a visit, you won't be disapointed!

 

[chizlit]

Most of those animals will be outside in November, it's not as cold here as in Denmark, you know

@Chizlit: good idea to return in Spring for Gaiapark, it's worth a visit, you won't be disapointed!

Now I'm getting confused!
I figure that the tempreture in Holland is much like England, and I know at my local zoo (Dudley) in the winter I can still see most of the animals outside, so I think maybe the best idea will be to look at the weather the night before, if it's cold and wet then go to Munster , if it looks like being a sunny day then maybe I can try Gaiapark.

 

[Toddy]

Most of those animals will be outside in November, it's not as cold here as in Denmark, you know

@Chizlit: good idea to return in Spring for Gaiapark, it's worth a visit, you won't be disapointed!

Actually, I just checked the web and the average temperature in november is 7 degrees celsius in Denmark and 9 degrees celsius in the southern Holland. So it is only a little warmer!

Anyway, I agree with IceQueen. First of all because of the cold weather but also because the zoo is much more beautifull when the trees and plants are green

I also think that Duisburg again would be a good idea since you can never get enough of that boto! I usually sit in Rio Negro at least 1,5 hours when I am in Duisburg.

 

[jwer]

I also think that Duisburg again would be a good idea since you can never get enough of that boto! I usually sit in Rio Negro at least 1,5 hours when I am in Duisburg.

If it weren't so bloody hot in there, i'd sit there the whole day and not be bored...

 

[john]

In summer you will not see the brown capuchins.

 

[Toddy]

So chizlit, did you have a nice trip? I am curious to hear which zoos you ended up seeing?

 

[chizlit]

So chizlit, did you have a nice trip? I am curious to hear which zoos you ended up seeing?

Yes Toddy I had a great trip thanks!
I visited Krefeld and Duisburg on Thursday and Munster on Friday.
So it was 2 new zoo's for me, one I'd very much like to visit again and one I'd be in no real hurry to go back to next year, but it might surprise you to know it was Krefeld that got my vote (and naturally Duisburg, but I already been there 2 times before).
I will have to return to the Cologne area next year to see Hippodome in Koln and try to get to Gaiapark...........

 

[Toddy]

Yes Toddy I had a great trip thanks!
I visited Krefeld and Duisburg on Thursday and Munster on Friday.

Great to hear. Could you tell me what you generally thought of Münster and Krefeld? Both are zoos that I have not visited myself but are high on my wish-list.

I will have to return to the Cologne area next year to see Hippodome in Koln and try to get to Gaiapark...........

Yes, you really should. GaiaPark is very interesting (especially in the summer) and I myself am looking very much forward to seeing the Hippodome. Cologne Zoo usually has a high exhibit standard so I am expecting much from this new construction.

 

[chizlit]

OK Toddy I'll try, firstly I don't want to upset anyone who loves Munster, but after reading their website I was expecting so much more from this zoo.
The all weather bit I didn't understand at all, firstly not much was undercover, and then the layout of the zoo made it hard to understand where to go for a first time visitor, there were different coloured arrows pointing in all directions! So much so that I realised after leaving the zoo that I totally missed seeing the tigers!
The other minus point was a very poor leopard area, I hope this gets looked at soon.
The plus points were most of the animals seemed to have at least quite good spaces to live in, I thought the bears who usually have a raw deal in zoo's have good areas.
I also liked the African paddock area, mainly because it had wildebeasts!


The free range lemur / colobus monkey area was spacious and I'm sure would be good in warmer weather, but there was only one monkey out on my visit.
I just managed to see a fleeting glimpse of the new hand reared baby rhino, there is a keeper in with the baby it seems all day.
I enjoyed seeing the dolphin, although I'm not sure I like the idea of them being in zoo's.

Krefeld on the other hand surprised me because I wasn't expecting much from it, but was delighted by what I thought was a small zoo, but it looked like it was well cared for and loved by the staff.
The big news here is the birth of 4 cheetahs, the mother was looking after them well, despite her pen having many big lenses pointing her way.

The only thing I didn't like at Krefeld was the elephant enclosure, it was far too small, and just over the way there's a large paddock that they would love to roam in (from memory containing zebras).

I saw a snow sheep for the first time, never even heard of this one before, but I really liked them.
The zoo are trying to raise money for a big gorilla garden project, and I wish them well for this in the future, the current indoor gorilla / orang house looked pretty good to me.

So next time you are in NRW area I'd advise a trip to Krefeld, if you have the time to spend a couple of hours on a train to get to Munster (from Koln), then do it (especially if you like horses!), but it wouldn't be my first choice for the area.

 

[Johnny]

I also didn't like munster much, but how did you manage not to understand the all weaher concept? There are only two routes, both portrayed by their own colours. If you had first done the good weather route and then the bad weather route you would have seen everything.

 

[chizlit]

I also didn't like munster much, but how did you manage not to understand the all weaher concept? There are only two routes, both portrayed by their own colours. If you had first done the good weather route and then the bad weather route you would have seen everything.

Maybe I'm just dumb and can't (or won't )follow signs, there just seemed to be arrows in all directions, and if I had followed the good weather arrows I still would have missed out some things as the arrows didn't always point to everywhere.
If I had paid 12.50 euro and it was a really wet day and only used the good weather route I think I would have wanted my money back.

Perhaps I was a little harsh on the zoo, I didn't dislike it, just that the website built it up to be something more special than it was, they maybe shouldn't concentrate on what they think is a special concept of an all weather zoo (which it isn't), and shout more about their collection which is pretty good.