Netherlands trip

oflory

oflory

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10+ year member
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Hi all,

I'm considering a trip to the Netherlands to specifically see the cuscus at Ouwehands and visit Burgers, as they seem to very close to each other.

What else should I be thinking of adding to the itinerary? Am very keen on rarities, mammals, birds and herps (not so fussed by fish or inverts).
 
oflory said:
Hi all,

I'm considering a trip to the Netherlands to specifically see the cuscus at Ouwehands and visit Burgers, as they seem to very close to each other.

What else should I be thinking of adding to the itinerary? Am very keen on rarities, mammals, birds and herps (not so fussed by fish or inverts).
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How long will you stay in the Netherlands?
 
oflory said:
Not long at all, will probably be over a weekend, so two or three days. I'm in London, so easy to get there and back.
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Oh ok that's short.
Burgers is going to take you a full day in my opinion.
I have never been to Ouwehands so can't tell for sure if it's a full day zoo or not but I doubt it. With public transport maybe you could combine it with Amersfoort although it's not quite a rarity hotspot. If you're driving you could go to Apenheul or elsewhere, it's not the biggest country out there.

I visited Rotterdam, Artis, Apenheul and Avifauna. I think species wise Avifauna and Rotterdam are the more interesting two.
Avifauna might be less impressive as a zoo, but it has a good deal of interesting species (lots of hornbills, on-show Guianan cock-of-the-rocks, a Kiwi if you're lucky...). Rotterdam is a real zoo, with ABC's and while it might not have all the rarities it used to have, it still has quite a few rare reptiles, kittiwakes, and apparently Berring sea murres but good luck differenciating them from the regular ones.

And you have a train going straight from Rotterdam to Schipol, which was a good reason for me to visit it on my last day.

Hope this helps
 
Rayane said:
Oh ok that's short.
Burgers is going to take you a full day in my opinion.
I have never been to Ouwehands so can't tell for sure if it's a full day zoo or not but I doubt it. With public transport maybe you could combine it with Amersfoort although it's not quite a rarity hotspot. If you're driving you could go to Apenheul or elsewhere, it's not the biggest country out there.

I visited Rotterdam, Artis, Apenheul and Avifauna. I think species wise Avifauna and Rotterdam are the more interesting two.
Avifauna might be less impressive as a zoo, but it has a good deal of interesting species (lots of hornbills, on-show Guianan cock-of-the-rocks, a Kiwi if you're lucky...). Rotterdam is a real zoo, with ABC's and while it might not have all the rarities it used to have, it still has quite a few rare reptiles, kittiwakes, and apparently Berring sea murres but good luck differenciating them from the regular ones.

And you have a train going straight from Rotterdam to Schipol, which was a good reason for me to visit it on my last day.

Hope this helps
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That's very helpful! I'm quite a quick zoo visitor generally, but Burgers does look intense!
 
If you are looking for the rarities, last week I visited among others some smaller zoos in Netherlands. In Zie Zoo I was allowed to get very close to the enclosure of the only Side-Striped Jackals in Europe, in Beesd (Uilen-en Dierenpark De Paay ) I took a shots of the very last Lesser Grison in Europe and also very nice Pegu red squirrels, Overloon has Crab-eating raccoons..by the way a very nice zoo. To get there by public transport could be a bit tricky, try to check 9292.nl. I managed to see everything in Ouwehands during 3 - 4 hours with most time spent to observe Spotted Cuscus of course:-)). Bear in mind that there has been a farmers strike for about 2 weeks in Netherlands, so the travelling might be quite a problem.
 
Heya! Fun to hear you wanting to visit the Netherlands for a quick trip. I'd really recommend (for a 2-3 day stay) the following: Burgers' Zoo on one day and the other day (easily with public transport Rotterdam Zoo or Overloon.

If you rent a car you can combine Overloon with ZieZoo or Dierenrijk in one day
 
Public transport by train I found to be excellent whilst in Holland so think the "country" is your oyster.

Over a few days I picked up Rotterdam, Artis, Harderwijk and Burgers.

Looking at rarities, most I can think of have been listed above, the only other one I can think of would be Harbour Porpoise at Harderwijk. However this is dependent on your views on captive cetaceans and the collection has some nice but not so rare species including walrus and Stellers Sea Lion.

Agree with above that Burgers is a full day zoo also.
 
oflory said:
How easy is the cuscus to spot and is there a good time to find it?
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I've visited Ouwehands about 2-3 weeks ago. We saw the spotted cuscus when we visited the house at 11.15 am. But when we came back at 2 pm, the house with the cuscus was closed already.
So you'll be safe if you'll visit the nocturnal house before noon.

When I visited the cuscus was pretty easy to spot, but your eyes need to get used to the nocturnal setting at first!
 
Lucasberg said:
I've visited Ouwehands about 2-3 weeks ago. We saw the spotted cuscus when we visited the house at 11.15 am. But when we came back at 2 pm, the house with the cuscus was closed already.
So you'll be safe if you'll visit the nocturnal house before noon.

When I visited the cuscus was pretty easy to spot, but your eyes need to get used to the nocturnal setting at first!
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Thank you!
 
Lucasberg said:
I've visited Ouwehands about 2-3 weeks ago. We saw the spotted cuscus when we visited the house at 11.15 am. But when we came back at 2 pm, the house with the cuscus was closed already.
So you'll be safe if you'll visit the nocturnal house before noon.

When I visited the cuscus was pretty easy to spot, but your eyes need to get used to the nocturnal setting at first!
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The cuscus is normally easy to spot. I have only visited the house in the afternoons and it was always open, also 2 weeks ago.

You would need only 4 hours for Ouwehands and if you have a car that would give you the option to also visit de Paay (crap with rarities), Amersfoort or Apenheul.

Let me know when you come to Burgers', I might have time to show you around and increase your chance of finding rarities ;)
 
lintworm said:
You would need only 4 hours for Ouwehands and if you have a car that would give you the option to also visit de Paay (crap with rarities), Amersfoort or Apenheul.
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I highlight suggest Apenheul of these three, Depaay is not worth it unless you reaaaally don't mind animals in bare conditions
 
Ursus said:
I highlight suggest Apenheul of these three, Depaay is not worth it unless you reaaaally don't mind animals in bare conditions
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I agree, but combining Apenheul and Ouwehands on one day is somewhat challenging given the relatively short opening time of both parks in October, even with a car. That is the only reason De Paay would be an option for me, if you want to make it a full day of zooing...
 
I'm booked - 8th-9th October! Early flight into Amsterdam means I can get to Ouwehands when it opens. Going to have a think about De Paay - it does look pretty barren on Zoochat pictures but the grisons are tempting. I won't have a car, so it may not be realistic.

Then will have a night in Arnhem, see Burgers when it opens and be back in Amsterdam for supper before a late flight.

@lintworm , I'll let you know my fine-tuned plans closer to the time!
 
oflory said:
I'm booked - 8th-9th October! Early flight into Amsterdam means I can get to Ouwehands when it opens. Going to have a think about De Paay - it does look pretty barren on Zoochat pictures but the grisons are tempting. I won't have a car, so it may not be realistic.

Then will have a night in Arnhem, see Burgers when it opens and be back in Amsterdam for supper before a late flight.

@lintworm , I'll let you know my fine-tuned plans closer to the time!
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With public transport I also would say to skip De Paay because it's almost impossible to reach it without a car.... sorry.
I would recommend to visit Ouwehands and then maybe Amersfoort on day one and then Burger's Arnhem on day 2.
 
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