Thank you for such great reviews LaughingDove, really been enjoying them
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Next review coming up shortly
LaughingDove’s Trip Through Europe – Summer 2015
- Thread starter LaughingDove
- Start date
Thanks
Next review coming up shortly
Aquatopia
After visiting Antwerp Zoo I still had some time left so I decided to visit Aquatopia which is an aquarium located on the other side of the same square as Antwerp Zoo. As always, some of my pictures can be seen in the gallery: Aquatopia Gallery. Aquatopia is on the corner of a regular block attached the rest of the building which is a Radisson Blu Hotel. The aquarium is spread over three floors, street level, a basement and one floor up. The building looks like any of the buildings around the square with some banners depicting fish etc. and this sign over the entrance.
The aquarium is divided into 12 sections (plus two sets of escalators) which are Rainforest, Submarine, Lab (young fish and smaller things like starfish, seahorses etc.), Educational Room (where there are displays at certain point during the day and an educational film playing), Mangrove, Swamp (reptiles), Coral Reefs, Lake Managua, Shark Tunnel, Sharkies Café, Prehistoric Hallway and the Gift shop. I have pictures of each of these sections in the gallery. The main attraction of the aquarium is a large shark tank with seven species of shark, several large fish species and Loggerhead Sea Turtle.
Tunnel through the main Shark and Turtle tank
Walkway over the top of the main Shark and Turtle tank
The aquarium has a total of 12 species of shark which I was given a leaflet about with the ’12 Shades of Grey’ showing the 12 shark species in the aquarium those are Nurse Shark, Zebra Shark, Grey Reef Shark, Blacktip Reef Shark, Banded Houndshark, Tawny Nurse Shark, Epaulette Shark, Small-spotted Catshark, Short-tailed Nurse Shark, Arabian Carpetshark, Grey Bamboo Shark, Brownbanded Bamboo Shark.
The aquarium wasn’t so fantastic but it was quite nice. There were lots of nice fish and other marine species as well as some Snakes, Turtles, Iguanas and Red Tegus in the swamp section and some Frogs and a Florida Softshell Turtle in the Rainforest section. There was nice decoration in the visitor area as well as in the tanks, with planting as well as other decoration to match the theme of the area as is shown here in a view in the Rainforest section:
Or in the Submarine for example:
And although it was nice in certain bits, at times I found it a little too excessive and at points when the theming took away from the actual exhibits I found it to be too much. The aquarium was also very dimly lit and while this was good in some areas, there were no windows anywhere and everything was enclosed in this one building so it felt like the whole place was rather dark.
Another thing that I found very annoying was the one way route system. There were no routes where going back was encouraged at all and usually if this is the case then I would just walk back along the paths that I came but because there were only escalators taking you up or down between floors this was not possible. Another minor annoyance is that there were tanks in the walls that the escalator went past so you could only view each of these tanks for a maximum of five seconds.
The other very annoying thing was the signage. In certain situations there was no common name in English but there was a scientific name or there was no English common name or scientific name. There were also a lot of species that were unsigned and many with signs on a screen with one screen for the whole main coral reef tank so it would have taken too long to see a whole list.
Another thing that I noticed was how empty the whole place was. In the entire aquarium there couldn’t have been more than a dozen people and this really contrasted with Antwerp Zoo which was very busy. Part of the reason could be the very nice (but extremely hot!) weather on the day that I visited so people would rather go outside than be in an indoor aquarium. But I wonder how much competition there is between these two places because you can literally see the entrance to one from the other and if you were only going to visit one of these two, the Zoo would be the obvious choice and it is better value for money too since for me to go to the zoo was €17.50 but the aquarium was €14.95 for something that is a tenth of the size of the zoo.
So to conclude, the aquarium wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t super fantastic. I’d say it’s probably worth a visit after visiting Antwerp Zoo though, especially if you like fish.
After visiting Antwerp Zoo I still had some time left so I decided to visit Aquatopia which is an aquarium located on the other side of the same square as Antwerp Zoo. As always, some of my pictures can be seen in the gallery: Aquatopia Gallery. Aquatopia is on the corner of a regular block attached the rest of the building which is a Radisson Blu Hotel. The aquarium is spread over three floors, street level, a basement and one floor up. The building looks like any of the buildings around the square with some banners depicting fish etc. and this sign over the entrance.
The aquarium is divided into 12 sections (plus two sets of escalators) which are Rainforest, Submarine, Lab (young fish and smaller things like starfish, seahorses etc.), Educational Room (where there are displays at certain point during the day and an educational film playing), Mangrove, Swamp (reptiles), Coral Reefs, Lake Managua, Shark Tunnel, Sharkies Café, Prehistoric Hallway and the Gift shop. I have pictures of each of these sections in the gallery. The main attraction of the aquarium is a large shark tank with seven species of shark, several large fish species and Loggerhead Sea Turtle.
Tunnel through the main Shark and Turtle tank
Walkway over the top of the main Shark and Turtle tank
The aquarium has a total of 12 species of shark which I was given a leaflet about with the ’12 Shades of Grey’ showing the 12 shark species in the aquarium those are Nurse Shark, Zebra Shark, Grey Reef Shark, Blacktip Reef Shark, Banded Houndshark, Tawny Nurse Shark, Epaulette Shark, Small-spotted Catshark, Short-tailed Nurse Shark, Arabian Carpetshark, Grey Bamboo Shark, Brownbanded Bamboo Shark.
The aquarium wasn’t so fantastic but it was quite nice. There were lots of nice fish and other marine species as well as some Snakes, Turtles, Iguanas and Red Tegus in the swamp section and some Frogs and a Florida Softshell Turtle in the Rainforest section. There was nice decoration in the visitor area as well as in the tanks, with planting as well as other decoration to match the theme of the area as is shown here in a view in the Rainforest section:
Or in the Submarine for example:
And although it was nice in certain bits, at times I found it a little too excessive and at points when the theming took away from the actual exhibits I found it to be too much. The aquarium was also very dimly lit and while this was good in some areas, there were no windows anywhere and everything was enclosed in this one building so it felt like the whole place was rather dark.
Another thing that I found very annoying was the one way route system. There were no routes where going back was encouraged at all and usually if this is the case then I would just walk back along the paths that I came but because there were only escalators taking you up or down between floors this was not possible. Another minor annoyance is that there were tanks in the walls that the escalator went past so you could only view each of these tanks for a maximum of five seconds.
The other very annoying thing was the signage. In certain situations there was no common name in English but there was a scientific name or there was no English common name or scientific name. There were also a lot of species that were unsigned and many with signs on a screen with one screen for the whole main coral reef tank so it would have taken too long to see a whole list.
Another thing that I noticed was how empty the whole place was. In the entire aquarium there couldn’t have been more than a dozen people and this really contrasted with Antwerp Zoo which was very busy. Part of the reason could be the very nice (but extremely hot!) weather on the day that I visited so people would rather go outside than be in an indoor aquarium. But I wonder how much competition there is between these two places because you can literally see the entrance to one from the other and if you were only going to visit one of these two, the Zoo would be the obvious choice and it is better value for money too since for me to go to the zoo was €17.50 but the aquarium was €14.95 for something that is a tenth of the size of the zoo.
So to conclude, the aquarium wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t super fantastic. I’d say it’s probably worth a visit after visiting Antwerp Zoo though, especially if you like fish.
The next day, after visiting Antwerp Zoo and Aquatopia was the longest drive of the trip: a roughly 650 km (approximately 400 mile) drive from Antwerp to Leipzig. The following day was a visit to Leipzig Zoo. As always, some more of my pictures of the zoo can be seen in the gallery: Zoo Leipzig Gallery and for an idea of the layout of the zoo, see the map from the zoo website: http://www.zoo-leipzig.de/fileadmin/dateien/PDF/Ihr_Zoobesuch/Zooplan/map_of_the_zoo_2015.pdf
Leipzig Zoo
I spent pretty much the whole day in the zoo and thoroughly enjoyed it (though saying that is pretty superfluous as I always enjoy a visit to any zoo) and I enjoyed Leipzig more than most zoos. There have been various views on the zoo posted on ZooChat but I personally thought it was fantastic.
Gondwanaland was the highlight of the zoo for me. It is basically a vast indoor rainforest and the closest thing I have seen to a rainforest since I have actually been in one with fantastic planting that wouldn’t be out of place in the best botanical garden as well as the animals.
View across Gondwanaland
I really liked the range of free-roaming species with 21 species of bird, 8 amphibian species, 5 reptile species and 1 mammal species with nice numbers of them and I felt this really complimented the species in enclosures which I thought blended very well into the general greenery and there weren’t any obvious cages at all. The boat ride was also good giving an additional view of Gondwanaland from the artificial rivers, as did the raised walkway. Overall, a brilliant exhibit in my opinion and although you could criticise the name ‘Gondwanaland’ because it’s not completely accurate for the species in the exhibit, I didn’t really have a problem with it as it is an excuse for putting all sorts of things in together that suited the general rainforest and it also ties in with what is shown in the tunnel area at the entrance and the tunnel part of the boat ride.
Raised Walkway in Gondwanaland
View from the Boat Ride in Gondwanaland
Though Gondwanaland wasn’t the only good exhibit in Leipzig Zoo by any means and I also really liked the whole Africa section. ‘Kiwara Savannah’ and Kiwara Kopje’ were very nicely themed but not too over themed in my opinion and although I still have some reservations about the mix in ‘Kiwara Kopje’ with Cheetahs, Patas Monkeys and Black Rhinos, there was signage explaining how the exhibit suited the needs of all three species with areas for each species to get away from the other two so only time will tell how successful the mix is. My experience of the Africa section was probably helped by the fact that it was very African weather (yes, I realise this is a generalisation. I have seen snow in Africa three times) with full sun and a clear blue sky with temperatures in the 30s (degrees C) getting as high as 35 (!).
View of part of ‘Kiwara Savannah’ and ‘Kiwara Kopje’
View of part of ‘Kiwara Kopje’ (this is the area where the Cheetahs and Patas Monkeys can get away from the Rhino and the Patas Monkeys can get away from the Cheetahs in the trees)
The style of pathways around the Savannah which I thought gave a very nice feel to this section of the zoo
(Split post because of number of images)
Leipzig Zoo
I spent pretty much the whole day in the zoo and thoroughly enjoyed it (though saying that is pretty superfluous as I always enjoy a visit to any zoo) and I enjoyed Leipzig more than most zoos. There have been various views on the zoo posted on ZooChat but I personally thought it was fantastic.
Gondwanaland was the highlight of the zoo for me. It is basically a vast indoor rainforest and the closest thing I have seen to a rainforest since I have actually been in one with fantastic planting that wouldn’t be out of place in the best botanical garden as well as the animals.
View across Gondwanaland
I really liked the range of free-roaming species with 21 species of bird, 8 amphibian species, 5 reptile species and 1 mammal species with nice numbers of them and I felt this really complimented the species in enclosures which I thought blended very well into the general greenery and there weren’t any obvious cages at all. The boat ride was also good giving an additional view of Gondwanaland from the artificial rivers, as did the raised walkway. Overall, a brilliant exhibit in my opinion and although you could criticise the name ‘Gondwanaland’ because it’s not completely accurate for the species in the exhibit, I didn’t really have a problem with it as it is an excuse for putting all sorts of things in together that suited the general rainforest and it also ties in with what is shown in the tunnel area at the entrance and the tunnel part of the boat ride.
Raised Walkway in Gondwanaland
View from the Boat Ride in Gondwanaland
Though Gondwanaland wasn’t the only good exhibit in Leipzig Zoo by any means and I also really liked the whole Africa section. ‘Kiwara Savannah’ and Kiwara Kopje’ were very nicely themed but not too over themed in my opinion and although I still have some reservations about the mix in ‘Kiwara Kopje’ with Cheetahs, Patas Monkeys and Black Rhinos, there was signage explaining how the exhibit suited the needs of all three species with areas for each species to get away from the other two so only time will tell how successful the mix is. My experience of the Africa section was probably helped by the fact that it was very African weather (yes, I realise this is a generalisation. I have seen snow in Africa three times) with full sun and a clear blue sky with temperatures in the 30s (degrees C) getting as high as 35 (!).
View of part of ‘Kiwara Savannah’ and ‘Kiwara Kopje’
View of part of ‘Kiwara Kopje’ (this is the area where the Cheetahs and Patas Monkeys can get away from the Rhino and the Patas Monkeys can get away from the Cheetahs in the trees)
The style of pathways around the Savannah which I thought gave a very nice feel to this section of the zoo
(Split post because of number of images)
Leipzig Zoo Part 2
I also liked Pongoland, the ape exhibit, despite the fact that I’m usually not interested in apes in zoos at all (the fact that it had free-flying birds helped of course
)
View across to Pongoland, with some of the outdoor areas in front and the main building behind.
Additionally, the aquarium was also very good, as was the bird house, and I really liked the mixed flamingo aviary.
Part of the large flamingo aviary with two flamingo species, six waterfowl species, two ibis species and a spoonbill
Having said that about the very good exhibits that dominated the zoo, there was one area that I thought wasn’t so good, namely the part of the zoo with Owl Aviaries, Red Pandas, Snow Leopards, Dall Sheep, Przewalski’s Horse, Maned Wolves, a few Deer and the Domestics section. This section looked run down and tired with many ugly looking enclosures and the enclosures for snow leopards were to a much lower standard than the rest of the zoo. Luckily, a new development is under construction of a Himalayas area where the Snow Leopards and Red Pandas will be moving to.
Snow Leopard enclosure to a much lower standard than the rest of the zoo
And of course no review of Leipzig Zoo would be complete without mentioning the species that the zoo is most famous for, the Chinese Pangolins:
They really are fantastic animals and I thought it was very good that the Zoo advertised the feeding time to give visitors a good chance of seeing them.
The other main attraction in the Elephant Temple where the Pangolins are held is the daily Asian Elephant bath where visitors can watch an elephant swimming underwater through underwater viewing and this was a really spectacular view:
So I thought Leipzig Zoo was really good overall and is definitely a must visit zoo. I think it has improved a lot recently and is nearing the end of the zoo’s master plan which was displayed in a small shed for visitors to see. I would rate Leipzig Zoo very highly - in the top ten zoos that I have personally visited - and although it can’t compete on diversity and number of species with the Berlin collections, if you disregard the species list, I thought Leipzig was better in terms of exhibit quality than either zoo in Berlin which are often rated much more highly by zoo nerds (though taking the number of species into account as well as the quality of the zoo, I think the Berlin zoos beat Leipzig). So a really great zoo overall!
I also liked Pongoland, the ape exhibit, despite the fact that I’m usually not interested in apes in zoos at all (the fact that it had free-flying birds helped of course
) View across to Pongoland, with some of the outdoor areas in front and the main building behind.
Additionally, the aquarium was also very good, as was the bird house, and I really liked the mixed flamingo aviary.
Part of the large flamingo aviary with two flamingo species, six waterfowl species, two ibis species and a spoonbill
Having said that about the very good exhibits that dominated the zoo, there was one area that I thought wasn’t so good, namely the part of the zoo with Owl Aviaries, Red Pandas, Snow Leopards, Dall Sheep, Przewalski’s Horse, Maned Wolves, a few Deer and the Domestics section. This section looked run down and tired with many ugly looking enclosures and the enclosures for snow leopards were to a much lower standard than the rest of the zoo. Luckily, a new development is under construction of a Himalayas area where the Snow Leopards and Red Pandas will be moving to.
Snow Leopard enclosure to a much lower standard than the rest of the zoo
And of course no review of Leipzig Zoo would be complete without mentioning the species that the zoo is most famous for, the Chinese Pangolins:
They really are fantastic animals and I thought it was very good that the Zoo advertised the feeding time to give visitors a good chance of seeing them.
The other main attraction in the Elephant Temple where the Pangolins are held is the daily Asian Elephant bath where visitors can watch an elephant swimming underwater through underwater viewing and this was a really spectacular view:
So I thought Leipzig Zoo was really good overall and is definitely a must visit zoo. I think it has improved a lot recently and is nearing the end of the zoo’s master plan which was displayed in a small shed for visitors to see. I would rate Leipzig Zoo very highly - in the top ten zoos that I have personally visited - and although it can’t compete on diversity and number of species with the Berlin collections, if you disregard the species list, I thought Leipzig was better in terms of exhibit quality than either zoo in Berlin which are often rated much more highly by zoo nerds (though taking the number of species into account as well as the quality of the zoo, I think the Berlin zoos beat Leipzig). So a really great zoo overall!
After Leipzig, we headed back to Warsaw, but because the drive would have been a bit too long to do in only one day, we stopped for a night in Poznan. Unfortunately, there was no time to visit either of Poznan’s Zoos but I visited both zoos in June and I wrote reviews from those visits here:
http://www.zoochat.com/170/my-thoughts-poznan-nowe-zoo-412614/
http://www.zoochat.com/170/my-thoughts-poznan-stare-zoo-412825/
So that’s the end of my summer trip. I hope you have enjoyed reading my reviews
http://www.zoochat.com/170/my-thoughts-poznan-nowe-zoo-412614/
http://www.zoochat.com/170/my-thoughts-poznan-stare-zoo-412825/
So that’s the end of my summer trip. I hope you have enjoyed reading my reviews
devilfish
Well-Known Member
I hope you have enjoyed reading my reviews
They've been brilliant and it's been a pleasure to follow your travels. Looks like you timed your RSCC visit perfectly - any earlier and you'd have missed some of the recent developments; any later and you'd have missed some of the animals.
Thoroughly enjoyed the thread
Thanks for taking the time LaughingDove.
Thanks for taking the time LaughingDove.
Thanks
Yes, I was very pleased that I managed to get to RSCC just in time. At one point Hamerton was considered instead of RSCC and Wingham but I'm pleased I went with the latter two in the end.
Yes, I was very pleased that I managed to get to RSCC just in time. At one point Hamerton was considered instead of RSCC and Wingham but I'm pleased I went with the latter two in the end.