I was booked in for the pandas for 10am, so stayed the night next door in the holiday inn, well worth staying overnight.
Some notes first.
One of the Egyptian vulture off-show in the flamingo house (my daughter spotted that one)
Illiger's macaw in the former Alaotran gentle lemur enclosure.
Sofus the Patagonian sealion, still there, though an open travelling crate is placed in his enclosure.
There is a pair of goral still at the zoo.
Swamp wallabies have taken over the majority of the Whitson woods area.
The purple faced langurs have gone.
The rock hyrax have left the zoo, whilst their enclosure is being used for the gentoo penguins,but they will be back.
4.0 nyala in the enclosure next to the banteng, the former bactrian camel paddock
2 Taiwan beauty snake on show in the former galago exhibit.
Only the Victorian crowned pigeons remain in the aviary in the koala house, everything else moved down to brilliant birds.
I missed the Asian lions and Guinea baboons in the middle of the hill, also noted the monkey house with a few empty enclosures, barest it has been for a long while, the drill group looked great, but the first visit i have ever had, without seeing a Diana monkey
Other no shows for me were, Hamlyn's monkey, aardwolf, golden cat, Kirk's dik dik and lesser Malayan chevrotain.
The weather was damp and muggy, but i have never seen the zoo look so green and lush.
Finally, my introduction to pandamania, left me underwhelmed, not the pandas themselves though, lovely animals the 2 of them, especially the male, according to guide, one of the largest in captivity.
The whole set up, left me feeling a little empty, starting of by queuing in the rain for 20 minutes, ushered in to the indoor house, complete with flaking paint, broken downlights and bits of Confuciousiana, lamely cut out from A4 and stuck to the wall, really took the shine off my first encounter with the superstars of the zoo world.
In that house there really should be stand off barriers from the glass too!!!
The outdoor areas are far superior, beautifully landscaped and full of furniture, space well used, the public area equally finished to a high quality.
Why then, the need to let visitors indoor?, in my opinion, there is no need, give them their privacy, coupled with the large visitor viewing area outside, what is the need for separate ticketed entrance to see the pandas.
Close the house to the public and keep the visitors moving through the outside areas, there is plenty of space out front to accommodate a good 150-200 visitors at a time moving through.
I'm guessing the ticketing procedure is a PR move by the zoo
Still and all a good day as always.
Some notes first.
One of the Egyptian vulture off-show in the flamingo house (my daughter spotted that one)
Illiger's macaw in the former Alaotran gentle lemur enclosure.
Sofus the Patagonian sealion, still there, though an open travelling crate is placed in his enclosure.
There is a pair of goral still at the zoo.
Swamp wallabies have taken over the majority of the Whitson woods area.
The purple faced langurs have gone.
The rock hyrax have left the zoo, whilst their enclosure is being used for the gentoo penguins,but they will be back.
4.0 nyala in the enclosure next to the banteng, the former bactrian camel paddock
2 Taiwan beauty snake on show in the former galago exhibit.
Only the Victorian crowned pigeons remain in the aviary in the koala house, everything else moved down to brilliant birds.
I missed the Asian lions and Guinea baboons in the middle of the hill, also noted the monkey house with a few empty enclosures, barest it has been for a long while, the drill group looked great, but the first visit i have ever had, without seeing a Diana monkey
Other no shows for me were, Hamlyn's monkey, aardwolf, golden cat, Kirk's dik dik and lesser Malayan chevrotain.
The weather was damp and muggy, but i have never seen the zoo look so green and lush.
Finally, my introduction to pandamania, left me underwhelmed, not the pandas themselves though, lovely animals the 2 of them, especially the male, according to guide, one of the largest in captivity.
The whole set up, left me feeling a little empty, starting of by queuing in the rain for 20 minutes, ushered in to the indoor house, complete with flaking paint, broken downlights and bits of Confuciousiana, lamely cut out from A4 and stuck to the wall, really took the shine off my first encounter with the superstars of the zoo world.
In that house there really should be stand off barriers from the glass too!!!
The outdoor areas are far superior, beautifully landscaped and full of furniture, space well used, the public area equally finished to a high quality.
Why then, the need to let visitors indoor?, in my opinion, there is no need, give them their privacy, coupled with the large visitor viewing area outside, what is the need for separate ticketed entrance to see the pandas.
Close the house to the public and keep the visitors moving through the outside areas, there is plenty of space out front to accommodate a good 150-200 visitors at a time moving through.
I'm guessing the ticketing procedure is a PR move by the zoo
Still and all a good day as always.
and I was intruigued by the changes being made for the penguins.
