Mega zoo tour at Netherlands

Chlidonias said:
Pfft, a bus?! Today's zoo-goers...

*shakes head sadly*
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You need to preserve your energy for Prague. That is a zoo that needs effort. It's big, and has steep hills.

Metro halfway from the centre then bus the rest. Keep your people power for getting to the European reptiles!
 
CGSwans said:
You know there’s a bus that runs right to the Prague Zoo entrance?
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Indeed I do :p it was a deliberate choice taken as a means of getting a "feel" for Prague and the Czech Republic on our first full day there. The first portion of the walk took us through the Old Town, followed by a sedate walk through two parks (the more regimented and ornamental Letna Park, and then the massive and thickly wooded Stromovka) and finally a brief walk through the suburb of Troja to the zoo itself. We set off early and after a large breakfast, took our time and indulged in a little bird-watching enroute.

Maguari said:
You need to preserve your energy for Prague. That is a zoo that needs effort. It's big, and has steep hills.

Metro halfway from the centre then bus the rest. Keep your people power for getting to the European reptiles!
Click to expand...

Didn't struggle too much, truth be told - the main issue was the intense heat on the day we visited, which left most of those reptiles sheltering away from view :p and which definitely sapped our energy a little. Still got the whole place thoroughly finished within a day, though.

Chlidonias said:
I'm interested in if he walked the 8.2km back afterwards as well.
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We did :p it goes without saying we were bloody hungry by the time we got back to the city centre!
 
Now it's time to calculate prices.
Day 19: train from Amsterdam Airport to Den Haag Centraal - 9,60

Day 20: train from Den Haag Centraal to Arnhem - 20,40
Burgers Zoo - 22,50
Back from Arnhem to Den Haag Centraal - 20,40

Day 21: train from Den Haag Centraal to Best - 19,60
BestZoo - 11
Transport (I hope to find one less complicated than the one provided by AWP!) from Best to Volkel - approx 11,51
Zie-Zoo - 9,75
Back from Volkel to Den Haag Centraal (I dind't found any info, I suppose it will be around 20)

Day 22: train from Den Haag Centraal to Zwolle - 21,80
Zwolle bird market - 10
Back from Zwolle to Den Haag Centraal - 21,80

Day 23: train from Den Haag Centraal to Apeldoorn - 20
Apenheul - 22,50
Back from Apeldoorn to Den Haag Centraal - 20

Day 24: train from Den Haag Centraal to Amsterdam - 12,80
Artis - 21
Natural History Museum inside the aquarium building of Artis - I hope it don't ask for a separate fee!!
Hortus Botanicus 9,50 (the most expensive botanical garde that I've knew ever!!!)
Back from Amsterdam to Den Haag Centraal - 12,80

Day 25:
Train from Den Haag Centraal to Harderwijk - 18
Dolfinarium Harderwijk - 28,50
Train from Harderwijk to Den Haag Centraal - 18
Train from Den Haag Centraal to Bruxelles-Midi - 9

Day 26:
Train from Bruxelles-Midi to Cambron-Casteau - 9,90
Pairi Daiza - 34
Train from Cambron-Casteau to Bruxelles-Midi -9-90
Otherwise, if I manage to get the B-Excursion with combined train-entry ticket, suggested by migdog, I will save some money, but I calculate at maximum for preventing inconveniences...

Day 27:
Train from Bruxelles-Midi to Antwerpen - 7,70
Antwerp Zoo - 26,50
Train from Antwerpen to Bruxelles-Midi - 7,70

Day 28:
Bruxelles Natural History Museum -7
Combined train-bus from Bruxelles-Midi to Brussels-Charleroi South (Airport) - 15,90

The food, plus a margin for small transports inside city, maybe some thing to buy, some invit to dinner to my hosters, etc - I hope to have enough with 200 € (9 days)

Total: 477,26 (trains + zoos) + 200 (food + items) = around 700 €
I hope it worth the effort! The rest will depend on the luck and how collaborative are the animals - and the zoo staff for let me seeing something behind the scenes (Tataupa tinamou and yellow-headed gecko at Burgers, giant squirrel, woolly opossum and Virginia opossum at Best, egyptian mongoose, giant pouched rat and steppe marmot at Zie-Zoo, rare amphibians at Antwerpen, palestine mole rat and raptors at Pairi Daiza). Probably I will not see any of these animals, but even without these will be a nice experience. I'm illusionated :) Wish me luck!

Edited by my fail on calculating cost :oops:
 
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Unless you are intending to have sit-down meals at classy restaurants every night I think you’ll come in safely under budget on food, and I mean by hundreds of euros.
 
Opps, yes, what a silly error - I put one more zero! 100 €, not 1000, for food!!!! Let's be 200 € for avoid any problem. That give a much more satisfactory final price of about 700 € for the whole trip :)
 
Yes, €200 is a prudent guess. I’d suggest you also want an ‘oh s***’ budget line for something going wrong, most notably your accom falling through. There is for instance a well-rated hostel in Den Haag where a six bed dorm runs to only €22 a night. Having €200 up your sleeve protects you against such a cancellation.
 
@Kakapo
I saw no Palestine mole rats neither they were signed during my trip in July in Pairi Daiza. I was able to pet the woolly opossum and tamandua in Best the owner is a very kind person. But he told me that the Virginia opossum is kept in his home. Not sure about flying squirrels was not interested in seeing them since I saw them in Wroclaw and Singapore
 
Thanks again. Yes, better to be prudent, but I hope that my hosting will not fail! I will bring more money for avoid the hosting fail.
The palestine mole rats are behind scenes, so it's logic that you didn't see it. I hope to get luck in Best. It's the only European zoo that keeps woolly opossum, so much more valuable than tamandua, hehe. I think many North American zoochatters would be striked about us Europeans being excited by Virginia opossums, hehe.
 
Will arrive at 19th at night and will visit Apenheul on 23th. All the dates are detailed six posts ago :-) Thanks for the tip!
 
Yesterday and today the last zoos that I writed to, asking for the possibility of a visit behind the scenes, replied me negatively :-( Zie-zoo keep their Gambian pouched rats and Egyptian mongooses breeding now, so that's why they are behind the scenes. But the most important miss will be the very rare and wished raptors and amphibians of Belgian zoos, almost unique chances of get photos of thes species.. Sigh, we cannot have everithing in life :(
 
I forgot to inform you that September is "kwartjesmaand" in Artis. Back in the nineteenth century you could visit the zoo for a "kwartje" (a quarter guilder, 25 cent) in September. Nowadays the entrance fee is reduced with 25% in this month, so €17,25 instead of €23,00 (or €23,75 if you want to visit Micropia as well).

The Natural History Museum of Artis is within the aquarium building with no extra entrance fee. Don't get high hopes though, it's really small! There are some small permanent exhibits and a larger temporary exhibit.

Have a nice trip next week! I hope you enjoy your stay in the Netherlands and Belgium.
 
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What a pity! I was back from my trip to Netherlands and Belgium almost one week before you. We could have visited some zoo together if we had met there. Anyway, this time I just visited one and focused more on wildlife and just visiting the countries (there are so many good zoos there that I was unable to decide which ones visit)

I look forward to see how was your trip and hope you were able to see most of the species that you wanted. I'm sure you enjoyed Burgers' Zoo even without the seals and duikers, as the themed areas are good enough to make you forget about those two species ;)
 
Hello! I came back from my trip. I will put here in some days a short resume of my impressions and adventures, and some species lists.

aim_foliksta, yes is a shame that we can't meet here! My trip was announced here in Zoochat since many months ago, is a shame that you just saw it too late - otherwise we could have match dates for travel together.

I really enjoyed Burgers zoo without the seals and duikers, tough of course I would have been enjoyed a lot more with these wished species. Before my trip, Burgers zoo replied me that they're focusing on biomes and not in species, but if they want to get rid off of the animals that are not in exhibits that form part of the Biomes, they could have choose the pest meerkats or the too common Jackass penguins at the entry instead the rare treasures of ringed seals and blue duikers :(
 
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