I visited the zoo today (02.06.13) and was very impressed.
It was a fairly warm Sunday afternoon so the place was packed. I can understand why as it is free and is in a park which seems to be a very important recreational resource for the people of Lille.
I got the impression that Lille has a fairly large population of people who are economically and socially disadvantaged and I think it is great that the zoo has free entry along with lots of signage and interpretive materials
It is the only zoo I have ever been to with security personel wandering around but I didn't see any bad behaviour. On the contrary, most people seemed to be observing everything very closely with great interest.
I could only spend about half an hour there as I went before getting the train to London and my friend really hates zoos so I had a quick look and saw almost everything.
The first enclosure is a red brick and wooden fence enclosed red panda enclosure. It is nicely planted with lots of foliage and mature trees and is a typical red panda enclosure.
As the pictures from Marc show there is then a path lined by traditional cages and low walled enclosures. There are no longer coatis here - their enclosure is empty and under rennovation but there are various birds including parrots, kookaburras and snowy owls, binturong, fishing cat in a nicely planted enclosure, capuchin monkeys (who are normally on a spacious island but for reasons unknown have been temporarilly moved) and saki monkeys. Meerkats have an open enclosure which is a bit tacky in design and there is a typical enclosure for crested porcupine and yellow mongoose. Parallel to this narrow avenue - which was very crowded - is a newish looking aviary style enclosure for lemurs - red and black and white ruffed and ring-tailed. It's quite attractive.
At the end of this avenue is the tropical house. I didn't have time to see inside as they wisely staggared entry to avoid it getting too full but I did see two giant tortoises outside in an unspectacular walled paddock. On the end of the house is a fairly spacious aviary for great grey owl with lots of signage and educational and fun things about owls.
Here you can see some of the citdel walls; the park surrounds a fortress. There are lots of large mature trees and dense foliage around the zoo which means it is a pleasure to walk around with twists and turns of the path and views of the larger enclosures through the undergrowth. An enclosure marked as housing Asian species is currently empty but at the top of the zoo is a lake with islands for white-handed gibbon, siamang and - currently elsewhere - capuchin monkeys. Also white pelicans and terrapins as well as ducks and geese. The islands are attractive with lots of branches and climbing equipment and there is lots of foliage around the edge of the path and signage placed on tree stumps which I liked.
Then you come to the two larger paddocks. One for South American animals - a large paddock with alpaca, mara, capybara, lowland tapir and a fenced off 'island' in the middle for macaws which I din't like. Otherwise a fine if under landscaped space. There are a couple of side pens with emperor (from memory) and upland geese.
Across the path from this is a winding and narrowish, but not too small, paddock for white rhino, eland and zebra. I wonder if smaller species might be better but it didn't seem too bad. Viewing is from above but a wide bank of foliage and a moat separates the public from the animals and you have a sense of discovery to an extent which pleasently surprised me in such a small zoo.
So that's everything. It was quite a contrast to Antwerp and Blijdorp where I went on Friday - yes, I managed to do do both in one day - but it was an unexpectedly nice experience and I recommend a visit if you happen to be in Lille. Although to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the city itself.
). In the same building there are different kinds of monkeys: Pygmy Marmosets, Emperor Tamarins, White-lipped Tamarins. 
