adrian1963
Well-Known Member
MY TWYCROSS ZOO VISIT 2ND AUGUST 2011
After arriving on a short distance coach trip (on coach 8.20am and arrived 10.15am) I was surprised to see hardly anyone around was expecting to find large groups of day trippers but hey better for me.
On entering the zoo the first thing that I noticed was they still had the same monkey blocks/houses (as I call them) these I think should be updated to allow the monkeys much more room in the outside area as they are still the same very thin and long corridors if they were to give the outside a little update then I can’t see why these blocks could not last a long time.
On to the chimp’s enclosures all I can say about these without putting the zoo down is why not use the land to the side of the elephant enclosure to build one big chimp enclosure as this land seems to be wasted at present.
The Sea Lion and Penguin pools next these seem to be a little small for the species and there was a notice on the enclosures letting visitors know that they were currently having problems with algae which was quite apparent as you looked in the pool it was bright green in both cases.
Gorilla’s enclosures next as for the outside area I found these to be very adequate at present what with climbing and hiding places along with a nice open area didn’t venture into the indoor area.
Mother was being very protective with the youngster today and you had to be quick to get any photographs.
Orang-utans these again have what is at the moment a very adequate outside area and they have a very nice climbing frame on which the youngster was really enjoying it as the parents looked on from the top of the frame. Other then this there is no other climbing frames just a few nets attached to the climbing frame, I think a few more bits of wood or anything for the Orang’s to climb or hide in would be slight improvement
Elephant enclosure as like the Gorilla and Orang-utan enclosures I very rarely go inside so this just for the outside area only this looks very good except for one thing there is unfortunately no grassed area 70% is what looks like building sand/rocks and 30% water a little greenery would make all the difference here but like most zoos nowadays when building a new elephant enclosure grass is no longer acceptable (why?)
Giraffe again a very small outside area with very little in the way of greenery this makes for stark viewing as the enclosure looks very bare and barren
Aviaries these I did like unlike most of the enclosure’s around the zoo most of the aviaries were very well stocked with shrubs and other plants that actually made the viewing a lot better and gave the birds a chance of a bit of privacy as well.
Facilities these I found to be top class no matter where you are in the zoo grounds you are not far from somewhere you can buy food and drink, able to rest or go to the toilet unlike some zoo’s where you have to walk around half the zoo to find a toilet
The Staff where very friendly and very active with the public no matter what questions you had for them they would try their very best to get you an answer, the way they interacted with the very young children was great to see (after asking parents’ permission)
Overall I enjoyed my visit but considering these claims to be the best collection of primates, monkeys and apes in the UK then a little money is needed to bring it back to a much needed better standard. It has hardly changed since my last visit about 12 years ago but the collection does hold many species I had not seen until I visited. A few empty enclosures if they would have put up notices telling the public what was going on would help
Good points many different species of monkeys, primates and apes also a great mixture of other species around the zoo and quite a few babies on show
Will defiantly visit again for species alone this is well worth the admission price
Zoo guide £2.50 again why not put that in with the admission price
Staff and Facilities get a 9/10
Zoo gets 6/10
After arriving on a short distance coach trip (on coach 8.20am and arrived 10.15am) I was surprised to see hardly anyone around was expecting to find large groups of day trippers but hey better for me.
On entering the zoo the first thing that I noticed was they still had the same monkey blocks/houses (as I call them) these I think should be updated to allow the monkeys much more room in the outside area as they are still the same very thin and long corridors if they were to give the outside a little update then I can’t see why these blocks could not last a long time.
On to the chimp’s enclosures all I can say about these without putting the zoo down is why not use the land to the side of the elephant enclosure to build one big chimp enclosure as this land seems to be wasted at present.
The Sea Lion and Penguin pools next these seem to be a little small for the species and there was a notice on the enclosures letting visitors know that they were currently having problems with algae which was quite apparent as you looked in the pool it was bright green in both cases.
Gorilla’s enclosures next as for the outside area I found these to be very adequate at present what with climbing and hiding places along with a nice open area didn’t venture into the indoor area.
Mother was being very protective with the youngster today and you had to be quick to get any photographs.
Orang-utans these again have what is at the moment a very adequate outside area and they have a very nice climbing frame on which the youngster was really enjoying it as the parents looked on from the top of the frame. Other then this there is no other climbing frames just a few nets attached to the climbing frame, I think a few more bits of wood or anything for the Orang’s to climb or hide in would be slight improvement
Elephant enclosure as like the Gorilla and Orang-utan enclosures I very rarely go inside so this just for the outside area only this looks very good except for one thing there is unfortunately no grassed area 70% is what looks like building sand/rocks and 30% water a little greenery would make all the difference here but like most zoos nowadays when building a new elephant enclosure grass is no longer acceptable (why?)
Giraffe again a very small outside area with very little in the way of greenery this makes for stark viewing as the enclosure looks very bare and barren
Aviaries these I did like unlike most of the enclosure’s around the zoo most of the aviaries were very well stocked with shrubs and other plants that actually made the viewing a lot better and gave the birds a chance of a bit of privacy as well.
Facilities these I found to be top class no matter where you are in the zoo grounds you are not far from somewhere you can buy food and drink, able to rest or go to the toilet unlike some zoo’s where you have to walk around half the zoo to find a toilet
The Staff where very friendly and very active with the public no matter what questions you had for them they would try their very best to get you an answer, the way they interacted with the very young children was great to see (after asking parents’ permission)
Overall I enjoyed my visit but considering these claims to be the best collection of primates, monkeys and apes in the UK then a little money is needed to bring it back to a much needed better standard. It has hardly changed since my last visit about 12 years ago but the collection does hold many species I had not seen until I visited. A few empty enclosures if they would have put up notices telling the public what was going on would help
Good points many different species of monkeys, primates and apes also a great mixture of other species around the zoo and quite a few babies on show
Will defiantly visit again for species alone this is well worth the admission price
Zoo guide £2.50 again why not put that in with the admission price
Staff and Facilities get a 9/10
Zoo gets 6/10
