Come on, the scientific name (Iguana iguana) is a giveaway and one of the easiest to memorise.
Completely agree on De Paay though.
Snowleopard's 2019 Road Trip: Netherlands, Belgium, France & Germany
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- Start date
Come on, the scientific name (Iguana iguana) is a giveaway and one of the easiest to memorise.
Completely agree on De Paay though.
As far as Ouwehands goes, I think that Marcel Boekhoorn is indeed pretty much the answer as to why Ouwehands has become so much more popular in the last years and has been able to get giant pandas. That and other Dutch zoos not being interested in and not having the funds or the facilities to house giant pandas as they are really expensive and the standards are high. A guide at Blijdorp once told me Blijdorp had at some point been consulted about the giant pandas, presumably back when the negotiations to get pandas to the Netherlands were still ongoing, but that they refused as they simply couldn't afford it (nor the cost of building the required enclosures nor the high maintenance costs that come with giant pandas).
I agree with your sentiment about Ouwehands - that is a very nice zoo for families (and with the huge indoor playground they are very family amusement-oriented indeed) but that, while it does have some interesting species and exhibits, it leaves something to be desired for non-family visitors and zoo nerds. That said, I haven't visited since before the pandas came (I already saw giant pandas at Pairi Daiza and to be honest I found them quite lackluster) and plan to visit again in the future.
With regards to Overloon, that zoo is actually the next one that I plan to visit and your review is making me look forward to going there again even more. It sounds like the place has become even more enjoyable than it was a couple years ago.
Come on, the scientific name (Iguana iguana) is a giveaway and one of the easiest to memorise.
Yeah, this is where being (or becoming) familiar with scientific names will pay dividends.
To be honest, with reptiles in particular, I tend to mentally work on scientific names anyway, as the common names tend to be variable and I spend so much time looking at them in non-English speaking countries, to the point where I often struggle to recall an English name for a species..!
And in fact, probably around 90% of the German and Dutch words I recognise are animal names (or components thereof) from all the time spent trying to spot a Loeffelhund or a Wasbeer.
That said, as I posted upthread, I do think zoos should always have multiple languages for common names on signage - but if the scientific name is there you have an automatic means to bypass the issue if you need it.
I agree with your opinion on De Paay. It is a horrible zoo that should either be closed down or taken over and completely refurbished by someone who has a clue about what they're doing.
Leerdam is one of those mainly undiscovered gems of the Dutch zoo world. Just image what a major zoo could do with the same skill, knowledge and effort that went into this tiny aquarium.
I don't entirely agree with you on Ouwehands, as I already told you in person. All your points are good, from the ABC species focus to the mess in theming to problems with certain exhibits. It is not a zoo that I "should" like based on my usual preferences. Yet I found some pleasant surprise in the messy setup, something positively quircky in the way many exhibits are constructed and there's a certain charm to the place that I still don't really understand. Maybe I like Ouwehands because I'm so familiar with it, maybe because I've seen it improve considerably from up close over the past years or maybe because I appreciate how they actively use behavioural study to improve their animal's welfare.
Ouwehands, in its current state, is certainly not among the very best Dutch zoos. However, I would still count it as one of my favourite Dutch zoos.
AquaZoo Leerdam is indeed completely run by volunteers. It started in 1991 with an aquarium and terrarium show during the easter holidays, organised by the local aquarium club 'De Discus' with around 150 members and was called 'ga in Leerdam naar de haaien' translated as: go to the sharks in Leerdam. But that name had a double meaning in Dutch, because 'naar de haaien gaan' also means going down while you are in trouble. It was such a succes that they kept it going, firstly on sundays only, but since 2003 they have an official zoo permit. Off course the exhibits have changed a bit but being an aquarium club, the type of exhibits can be put in different categories: terraria (aquaterraria/palludaria with poison frogs are very popular in this kind of clubs), saltwater aqaria and freshwater. Freshwater with a division in biotope aquaria who mimic a specific area with the plants, fishes and landscape as close as nature and the mixed tanks with beautiful planting (worldwide known as Dutch style aquarium). Within those aquarium clubs even judged come ones a year to judge aquariums from people who want to have their aquarium/terrarium/pond judged. A score will be made regarding 1. biological issues: animal & plant health, are the animals & plants kept correctly (good size exhibit, group animals in groups, pair animals in pairs, are the animals & plants not bothering each other (not all species of fish should live in the same area of the aquarium, or one plant should not overgrow another). 2. Esthetics: how does it look, is there some field of depth, does it look natural, is everything clean and well taken care off. And finally 3. Technique: this should be adequate for the exhibit and their inhabitants and safe. With all of this an aquarium club can improve their members aquariums together with sharing knowlegde. So that's probably why the level of exhibits is so high, even though (but thanks to) dependence on volunteers.
I saw this zoo for the first time about twenty years ago. Then they had a real passion for white animals: white tigers, lions, alligator, pythons and other whites.Luckily it's already gone. I really like this zoo, especially hornbills aviaries and bears enclosures - Barenbos is superb.
The lions are the only ones remaining (bar maybe one python?), anyway this zoo has seen some significant often shortlived changes in the past 20 years. One of them was to keep only animals from Eurasia, but this idea was quickly ditched when Boekhoorn took over and the Kiangs were replaced by Zebra that were already kept next doors
.It is noteworthy that all the Berenbos bears are all rescue animals, mainly Eastern Europe and Russia.
It's a mislabelled Lesser Grison in fact, so even more elusive
but the reputation of the place is such that even this wasn't enough to draw me there when I visited the Netherlands in January 2018!
SabineB
Well-Known Member
I myself are totally unstable in my liking Ouwehands or not. But I generally agree that it is not as great as it appears on paper. I guess with the brownbear forest it is best to visit in spring because then there is a lot going on in this enclosure which I truely like.
Funny enough the Gorilla 'Adventure' is one of the reasons (next to the sun bears off course
) to visit Rhenen. Although I totally agree that the Gorilla house is a literal pain in the butt for visitors, I do consider it to be one of the best suited Gorilla installations for bachalor groups for the very reasons you hated it. It offers maximun possibilities for the males growing up to get away from each other and have their own quiet spaces.I am personally most annoyed by the strange built, this weired hollowness, that transmits all noises into virtual pandemonium.
Anyways, kudos for this monster of a trip plus all the writing about it.
This is pretty much the case of big chunk of herp species, isn't it? Non-existent in zoos but almost "throwaway" animals in the private sector.
I myself are totally unstable in my liking Ouwehands or not. But I generally agree that it is not as great as it appears on paper. I guess with the brownbear forest it is best to visit in spring because then there is a lot going on in this enclosure which I truely like.
Funny enough the Gorilla 'Adventure' is one of the reasons (next to the sun bears off course
I am personally most annoyed by the strange built, this weired hollowness, that transmits all noises into virtual pandemonium.
Anyways, kudos for this monster of a trip plus all the writing about it.
Somehow this building always reminds me of weird 70s SF movies, including the Planet of Apes series.
I totally agree with Sabine on the fact that this building is a good thing for the apes and I totally agree with Snowleopard that is a rather bad thing for the visitors.
I think Ouwehands is an interesting zoo with a very appealing entrance but with a most inconsistent series of buildings.
Only when rereading your review a second time I noticed this one : in fact the Serpentarium is operated by the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp.
DAY 23: Monday, August 5th (2 zoos)
I'm just going to answer a few comments before embarking on the latest reviews. First up, @Shorts and @Maguari , it is an interesting perspective in that you guys have become adept at learning the Latin names for many species as you've visited loads of zoos in nations where English is not the main language. Or maybe you just like figuring out the names! For me, I've visited almost all of my zoos in Canada, the USA or Australia and thus learning Latin names has never been something I've needed to really be conscious about. Every zoo I went to had all the signs entirely in English, although some of the zoos in the southern USA do have partly Spanish signs. Now I've had to work a bit harder because I've traveled through 4 nations where English is not the dominant language on zoo signs. If I do come back to Europe in a few years then I'll have to get you guys to teach me Latin via an online course. Obliviscatur eius...
@KevinB I think that if you enjoyed ZooParc Overloon a couple of years ago then you will certainly like it just as much again and I highly recommend a visit. It does run out of steam towards the end, but for the most part it's a good little zoo.
@Mr. Zootycoon Thanks for your comments and it was great to meet you in person. You'll make a cameo appearance in a review the next day!
@Stefan Verhoeven Aquazoo Leerdam has some fantastically-designed fish tanks, as if they were genuine works of art, and thanks for the history behind the place. It's well worth visiting, but adding it in to a day with other zoos makes sense. Perhaps my big Euro trip is tempting you to go out and see more zoos?
@Arek and @lintworm Thanks for the information in regards to Ouwehands and I enjoyed seeing what appeared to be almost a dozen bears. One of them, named Igor, had a very dark coat and then a distinctive white ring around his neck.
@TeaLovingDave , @SabineB , @Philipine eagle and @HOMIN96 , I appreciate all of the comments. Cheers!
The last few days have had a frenetic pace, with many smaller zoos, but beginning today there will be 2 zoos, 1 zoo, 1 zoo, 1 zoo and 1 zoo for the next 5 days. It’s time to visit the big guns! I find that seeing a group of smaller zoos in a day (perhaps 4 or 5) is actually easier physically because there are breaks when I’m driving to the next stop. The really big zoos are a bit more energy sapping, due to the fact that it’s a relentless walking day and I’m on my feet all the time. I better be prepared…
Zoo/Aquarium # 76: Apenheul Primate Park (Apeldoorn, NL)
If I’m going to end up touring more than 90 zoos on this truly amazing European adventure, then there is a strong possibility that Apenheul will be my favourite zoo of the lot. It won’t go down as the best zoo simply because it’s a half-day affair (I was there 4 hours) and the whole place is pretty much only primates, but Apenheul is so completely awesome that for sheer enjoyment it could be my number one choice. Here is yet another European zoo with a free map and I also purchased an English guidebook that is 48 pages and rather tiny. Once again there are interesting things in the book that might or might not be written in a North American guidebook. For example, L’Hoest’s Monkeys have blue testicles, Red-capped Mangabeys “genital bits become pink and very swollen”, and the Brown-headed Spider Monkeys “females have a long, pink protrusion hanging from their behinds: not a penis, but a clitoris”. I’m fine with all those remarks, but my guess is that Europeans are a little more casual when it comes to frank discussion about sex and body parts on primates. Maybe North American zoos should add that kind of literature to their own signs rather than telling me how porcupines don’t shoot their quills for the millionth time.
Not to get too far off track, but Apenheul was a delight to visit and anyone going on a zoo trip to the Netherlands simply has to stop in at this zoo that opened in 1971. After parking, there is a long walk through a nice park to where the zoo is, building anticipation as gibbons hoot and lemurs scream at one another with their raucous cries. I’ve typed out the 35 primate species listed in the guidebook, in the approximate order that visitors see them in the zoo (apart from a few changes). I think that 17 of the species are ones that visitors can see with essentially zero barriers, in a free-ranging environment.
Primate species list (35 species): Black-capped Squirrel Monkey, Yellow-breasted Capuchin, Paraguayan Howler Monkey, Crowned Sifaka, Lac Alaotra Bamboo Lemur, Ring-tailed Lemur, Red Ruffed Lemur, Black and White Ruffed Lemur, Crowned Lemur, Red-bellied Lemur, Blue-eyed Black Lemur, Bonobo, Bornean Orangutan, East Javan Langur, Red-capped Mangabey, Lion-tailed Macaque, Barbary Macaque, Western Lowland Gorilla, L’Hoest’s Monkey, White-faced Saki Monkey, Golden-headed Lion Tamarin, Northern White-cheeked Gibbon, Silvery Marmoset, Pygmy Marmoset, Emperor Tamarin, Goeldi’s Monkey, Colombian Red Howler, Gray-legged Night Monkey, Colombian White-faced Capuchin, Brown-headed Spider Monkey, Bengal Hanuman Langur, Coppery Titi, Golden Lion Tamarin, Guianian Bearded Saki and Woolly Monkey.
There are also some White-belted Black and White Lemurs, Pied Tamarins and Northern Talapoin Monkeys, so technically Apenheul has an astonishing 38 species of primate. Is there another zoo in the world with as many as this Dutch facility? When I’m done this entire trip, I think that I’ll end up possibly seeing 55 species of primate in the month-long trek. One mild disappointment is that of those 38 species at Apenheul, there are three of them that are currently off-show. The Golden Lion Tamarins, Guianian Bearded Sakis and Woolly Monkeys are at the zoo but behind-the-scenes because there is a major construction project occurring. All three of those species are getting brand-new exhibits, plus a restaurant is getting either built or refurbished (with a great view of the monkeys from the patio) and there will also be a new playground. I don’t mind seeing zoos with construction going on as I want to see progress and renewal occurring on a regular basis.
The very first exhibit is a forest with exactly 89 Black-capped Squirrel Monkeys running around in all directions and a keeper told me that monkeys are left out at night and they basically fend for themselves and only come in when they choose to. Some are way up high in the trees, while others are scampering on the visitor pathway, and the whole thing is simplistic and utterly, totally brilliant. There are capuchins on a densely-planted island that is overgrown with weeds, Paraguayan Black Howler Monkeys seemingly miles up in the sky as little dots at the tops of trees before they start roaring away and crashing into the undergrowth. A walk-through lemur exhibit is dominated by Ring-tailed Lemurs, with some of them scent-marking all of the signs in the area. It’s hilarious to see the lemurs rubbing their backsides against the signs and then humans come along and touch the exact same spot where the lemur just was. I saw all but one (Bamboo Lemur) in the walk-through, and there are Crowned Sifakas bouncing around their enclosed habitat. Visitors look down on Bonobos, but the exhibit is huge, and the group was active during my visit. Again, Bonobos display very well in zoos. There is a series of Bornean Orangutan exhibits that opened in 1999, and there are 4 islands connected by 10 km of ropes and nets in an impressive setup, along with 4 indoor rooms, and this zoo certainly knows how to showcase great apes.
The whole place is fantastic and it’s intriguing that there are around 500,000 annual visitors and yet Apenheul is only open 7 months of the year. There are many splendid areas of this zoo, from the Northern Talapoin Monkeys looking puny in their vast habitat, to the East Javan Langurs traveling over a bridge to one of the orangutan islands (but not mingling with the orangs), to seeing the Dououcoulis in their darkened, indoor exhibit with no glass or barriers of any kind except for a small wooden wall about knee height. I put out my hand initially to see where the glass was as it’s pitch-black in there, and I had a monkey hissing at me….great stuff! There’s a ‘Tree-Top Walk’ area with a handful of free-ranging species and I had at least 6 Colombian Red Howler Monkeys within six feet of me and they didn’t seem that bothered by my presence. There is even a walk-through exhibit with Bengal Hanuman Langurs crashing on the roof and in with humans, but just don’t pull on their tails because that’s what it says on the sign by the entrance. What North American zoo would let visitors mingle with Douroucoulis, Red Howlers and Hanuman Langurs with very limited to basically zero barriers? I’m not sure that it would ever occur. There are Coppery Titis and Golden-headed Lion Tamarins, plus White-faced Sakis and Emperor Tamarins and Goeldi’s Monkeys all free-ranging in blocked-off sections of the forest. If I ever make it back to Cleveland Zoo and see those marmosets and tamarins in the tiny, shoebox-sized exhibits in the Rainforest Building I’ll tell them to mount an escape and head to the Netherlands where primates run wild!
Of course, I couldn’t miss the Lowland Gorilla feeding session, which is 25 minutes in length and fascinating to see. The two keepers spoke in Dutch, naturally, and so I couldn’t understand what was being said, and much of the time is simply a keeper tossing large carrots and chunks of lettuce to great apes…but nevertheless a fine time was had by all. It was pretty cool to see all the gorillas (maybe a dozen?) slowly emerge from the dense foliage and receive tossed vegetables, although in truth some of the L’Hoest’s Monkeys snatched food right from under the slow-moving gorilla noses. The zoo also has a few other mammal species (Sahara Barbary Sheep, coatis, Capybara, Linne’s Two-toed Sloth, Southern Pudu) but they are for the most part unnoticed and there isn’t any kind of infringement on the focus almost exclusively on primates.
Apenheul is well worth visiting and it’s probably my favourite zoo of the trip just because I really enjoy mammals, and specifically primates, but then so do most people and when I left the place was incredibly congested. The Lowland Gorilla exhibit here is practically worth the price of admission, apparently around 1 hectare/2.5 acres in size and it is almost certainly the highest-quality gorilla exhibit anyone reading this will ever see. The outdoor section at least…because the indoor area is aesthetically ugly and surprisingly small. Someone told me that the keepers enjoy the building as it is compartmentalized and the gorillas have many options with all of the different little rooms, but I do fear for some of the primates at Apenheul when the zoo closes down for 5 months of the year. I hope that the indoor areas are of an adequate size and a lot of enrichment is provided. In the summer, with all the trees and flowers blooming, this is one of the great zoos of the world for anyone even remotely interested in primates.
I then drove 30 minutes north to a Dolphinarium to check out some marine mammals.
Zoo/Aquarium # 77: Dolfinarium Harderwijk (Harderwijk, NL)
Dolphinarium Harderwijk is located in a tourist-heavy area of the Netherlands and it opened in 1965 and so has been around for a long-enough time to be a very well-known establishment. Called the ‘Dolfinarium’ in Dutch, the big Dolphin Dome and pool opened in 1969 and it made me think of many other dolphin-related arenas that all seemed to crop up during the 1960s and 1970s. However, very few aquatic facilities are building such things these days and in many ways the era of big dolphin shows is coming to an end. Back in 1970 this place had a million visitors, and there has been at least a couple of Orcas here in the past. Those days are long gone, with visitor numbers now hovering just over 500,000 even though at least three signs say that the facility is the ‘largest marine park in Europe’. Is that true? What about Loro Parque?
I was thrilled to not only have free parking (the machines were broken) but also a free ticket to this expensive park via @jwer (thanks mate!) and I entered with a grin on my face. That soon evaporated as Dolfinarium Harderwijk is basically a low-budget SeaWorld. The thing with the SeaWorld parks is that even for zoo nerds they can take a minimum of 3 hours and can also be a 7-hour visit because there is so much to see and do. Hardwerwijk has California Sea Lions in a show arena, Common Bottlenose Dolphins that can only be seen in the 1969 dome (although I saw two in a small side pool that seem to be there to satisfy public curiosity), a Harbour Porpoise exhibit (seen from afar as once again only show times allow close-up viewing), a couple of pools for Harbour Seals and Grey Seals, and some impressively-huge Steller’s Sea Lions in a pair of adequate exhibits. There’s a big stingray/small shark petting tank that looks almost identical to one at SeaWorld San Diego, and everything I’ve mentioned takes very little time to tour and it’s all a bit disappointing. There aren’t many aquarium tanks, or a variety of other animals, or even some aviaries dotting the grounds.
Just when I was thinking that this place was a total bust, including a limited set of options even for kids with not many rides or entertaining areas whatsoever other than a big waterpark area off to the side, I strolled over to the far reaches of the park and there saw the best dolphin set of pools that I’ve ever gazed upon in my life. Hardwerwijk has the standard Dolphin Dome 1960s outdated pool indoors, but the outside lagoon area is fantastic. If a zoological establishment insists in maintaining cetaceans, even though public sentiment is now clearly against such practices, why not do it in the same style as Harderwijk? Then, for the second time today, after the gorilla feeding session, I sat down and watched a presentation. This whole trip I’ve barely done anything like that and then suddenly twice in the span of a few hours! Maybe I’m turning into @ANyhuis There is a terrific Pacific Walrus exhibit with 4 of the massive blobs and I saw the 15-minute show that appeared to have next to zero emphasis on conservation and 100% emphasis on entertainment. The walruses did tricks like cover their faces, or pretend to answer a cellphone, or burp loudly, or shoot water at little kids, and it was all done in an old-school approach. One interesting moment was when a couple of the walruses took turns sliding onto a scale like Jabba the Hutt. One walrus was 700 kilos/1,550 pounds while the biggest walrus in the park was 1,400 kilos/3,100 pounds. Seeing such immense creatures interacting out of water with their trainers was truly fascinating, although I’m always conflicted with the ‘tricks’ that they do. For zoo nerds, seeing the walruses and dolphins in the lagoon area of the park is very interesting, and some folks would also like to spend time watching the Harbour Porpoise(s) and Steller’s Sea Lions. There isn’t a lot else there, but considering I got in for free and it was a great day overall…then I was a contented man. I kept having great flashbacks to my morning visit at Apenheul.
What’s coming up in the next 4 days? Well, I tossed my original itinerary out the window! Now I’ve got a certain Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem, then Tierpark Hagenbeck, and then a couple of rather obscure little places in Berlin to all add up to an astounding line-up of zoos. I better get ready to walk 10 km per day…
I'm just going to answer a few comments before embarking on the latest reviews. First up, @Shorts and @Maguari , it is an interesting perspective in that you guys have become adept at learning the Latin names for many species as you've visited loads of zoos in nations where English is not the main language. Or maybe you just like figuring out the names! For me, I've visited almost all of my zoos in Canada, the USA or Australia and thus learning Latin names has never been something I've needed to really be conscious about. Every zoo I went to had all the signs entirely in English, although some of the zoos in the southern USA do have partly Spanish signs. Now I've had to work a bit harder because I've traveled through 4 nations where English is not the dominant language on zoo signs. If I do come back to Europe in a few years then I'll have to get you guys to teach me Latin via an online course.
Obliviscatur eius...@KevinB I think that if you enjoyed ZooParc Overloon a couple of years ago then you will certainly like it just as much again and I highly recommend a visit. It does run out of steam towards the end, but for the most part it's a good little zoo.
@Mr. Zootycoon Thanks for your comments and it was great to meet you in person. You'll make a cameo appearance in a review the next day!
@Stefan Verhoeven Aquazoo Leerdam has some fantastically-designed fish tanks, as if they were genuine works of art, and thanks for the history behind the place. It's well worth visiting, but adding it in to a day with other zoos makes sense. Perhaps my big Euro trip is tempting you to go out and see more zoos?
@Arek and @lintworm Thanks for the information in regards to Ouwehands and I enjoyed seeing what appeared to be almost a dozen bears. One of them, named Igor, had a very dark coat and then a distinctive white ring around his neck.
@TeaLovingDave , @SabineB , @Philipine eagle and @HOMIN96 , I appreciate all of the comments. Cheers!
The last few days have had a frenetic pace, with many smaller zoos, but beginning today there will be 2 zoos, 1 zoo, 1 zoo, 1 zoo and 1 zoo for the next 5 days. It’s time to visit the big guns! I find that seeing a group of smaller zoos in a day (perhaps 4 or 5) is actually easier physically because there are breaks when I’m driving to the next stop. The really big zoos are a bit more energy sapping, due to the fact that it’s a relentless walking day and I’m on my feet all the time. I better be prepared…
Zoo/Aquarium # 76: Apenheul Primate Park (Apeldoorn, NL)
If I’m going to end up touring more than 90 zoos on this truly amazing European adventure, then there is a strong possibility that Apenheul will be my favourite zoo of the lot. It won’t go down as the best zoo simply because it’s a half-day affair (I was there 4 hours) and the whole place is pretty much only primates, but Apenheul is so completely awesome that for sheer enjoyment it could be my number one choice. Here is yet another European zoo with a free map and I also purchased an English guidebook that is 48 pages and rather tiny. Once again there are interesting things in the book that might or might not be written in a North American guidebook. For example, L’Hoest’s Monkeys have blue testicles, Red-capped Mangabeys “genital bits become pink and very swollen”, and the Brown-headed Spider Monkeys “females have a long, pink protrusion hanging from their behinds: not a penis, but a clitoris”. I’m fine with all those remarks, but my guess is that Europeans are a little more casual when it comes to frank discussion about sex and body parts on primates. Maybe North American zoos should add that kind of literature to their own signs rather than telling me how porcupines don’t shoot their quills for the millionth time.
Not to get too far off track, but Apenheul was a delight to visit and anyone going on a zoo trip to the Netherlands simply has to stop in at this zoo that opened in 1971. After parking, there is a long walk through a nice park to where the zoo is, building anticipation as gibbons hoot and lemurs scream at one another with their raucous cries. I’ve typed out the 35 primate species listed in the guidebook, in the approximate order that visitors see them in the zoo (apart from a few changes). I think that 17 of the species are ones that visitors can see with essentially zero barriers, in a free-ranging environment.
Primate species list (35 species): Black-capped Squirrel Monkey, Yellow-breasted Capuchin, Paraguayan Howler Monkey, Crowned Sifaka, Lac Alaotra Bamboo Lemur, Ring-tailed Lemur, Red Ruffed Lemur, Black and White Ruffed Lemur, Crowned Lemur, Red-bellied Lemur, Blue-eyed Black Lemur, Bonobo, Bornean Orangutan, East Javan Langur, Red-capped Mangabey, Lion-tailed Macaque, Barbary Macaque, Western Lowland Gorilla, L’Hoest’s Monkey, White-faced Saki Monkey, Golden-headed Lion Tamarin, Northern White-cheeked Gibbon, Silvery Marmoset, Pygmy Marmoset, Emperor Tamarin, Goeldi’s Monkey, Colombian Red Howler, Gray-legged Night Monkey, Colombian White-faced Capuchin, Brown-headed Spider Monkey, Bengal Hanuman Langur, Coppery Titi, Golden Lion Tamarin, Guianian Bearded Saki and Woolly Monkey.
There are also some White-belted Black and White Lemurs, Pied Tamarins and Northern Talapoin Monkeys, so technically Apenheul has an astonishing 38 species of primate. Is there another zoo in the world with as many as this Dutch facility? When I’m done this entire trip, I think that I’ll end up possibly seeing 55 species of primate in the month-long trek. One mild disappointment is that of those 38 species at Apenheul, there are three of them that are currently off-show. The Golden Lion Tamarins, Guianian Bearded Sakis and Woolly Monkeys are at the zoo but behind-the-scenes because there is a major construction project occurring. All three of those species are getting brand-new exhibits, plus a restaurant is getting either built or refurbished (with a great view of the monkeys from the patio) and there will also be a new playground. I don’t mind seeing zoos with construction going on as I want to see progress and renewal occurring on a regular basis.
The very first exhibit is a forest with exactly 89 Black-capped Squirrel Monkeys running around in all directions and a keeper told me that monkeys are left out at night and they basically fend for themselves and only come in when they choose to. Some are way up high in the trees, while others are scampering on the visitor pathway, and the whole thing is simplistic and utterly, totally brilliant. There are capuchins on a densely-planted island that is overgrown with weeds, Paraguayan Black Howler Monkeys seemingly miles up in the sky as little dots at the tops of trees before they start roaring away and crashing into the undergrowth. A walk-through lemur exhibit is dominated by Ring-tailed Lemurs, with some of them scent-marking all of the signs in the area. It’s hilarious to see the lemurs rubbing their backsides against the signs and then humans come along and touch the exact same spot where the lemur just was. I saw all but one (Bamboo Lemur) in the walk-through, and there are Crowned Sifakas bouncing around their enclosed habitat. Visitors look down on Bonobos, but the exhibit is huge, and the group was active during my visit. Again, Bonobos display very well in zoos. There is a series of Bornean Orangutan exhibits that opened in 1999, and there are 4 islands connected by 10 km of ropes and nets in an impressive setup, along with 4 indoor rooms, and this zoo certainly knows how to showcase great apes.
The whole place is fantastic and it’s intriguing that there are around 500,000 annual visitors and yet Apenheul is only open 7 months of the year. There are many splendid areas of this zoo, from the Northern Talapoin Monkeys looking puny in their vast habitat, to the East Javan Langurs traveling over a bridge to one of the orangutan islands (but not mingling with the orangs), to seeing the Dououcoulis in their darkened, indoor exhibit with no glass or barriers of any kind except for a small wooden wall about knee height. I put out my hand initially to see where the glass was as it’s pitch-black in there, and I had a monkey hissing at me….great stuff! There’s a ‘Tree-Top Walk’ area with a handful of free-ranging species and I had at least 6 Colombian Red Howler Monkeys within six feet of me and they didn’t seem that bothered by my presence. There is even a walk-through exhibit with Bengal Hanuman Langurs crashing on the roof and in with humans, but just don’t pull on their tails because that’s what it says on the sign by the entrance. What North American zoo would let visitors mingle with Douroucoulis, Red Howlers and Hanuman Langurs with very limited to basically zero barriers? I’m not sure that it would ever occur. There are Coppery Titis and Golden-headed Lion Tamarins, plus White-faced Sakis and Emperor Tamarins and Goeldi’s Monkeys all free-ranging in blocked-off sections of the forest. If I ever make it back to Cleveland Zoo and see those marmosets and tamarins in the tiny, shoebox-sized exhibits in the Rainforest Building I’ll tell them to mount an escape and head to the Netherlands where primates run wild!
Of course, I couldn’t miss the Lowland Gorilla feeding session, which is 25 minutes in length and fascinating to see. The two keepers spoke in Dutch, naturally, and so I couldn’t understand what was being said, and much of the time is simply a keeper tossing large carrots and chunks of lettuce to great apes…but nevertheless a fine time was had by all. It was pretty cool to see all the gorillas (maybe a dozen?) slowly emerge from the dense foliage and receive tossed vegetables, although in truth some of the L’Hoest’s Monkeys snatched food right from under the slow-moving gorilla noses. The zoo also has a few other mammal species (Sahara Barbary Sheep, coatis, Capybara, Linne’s Two-toed Sloth, Southern Pudu) but they are for the most part unnoticed and there isn’t any kind of infringement on the focus almost exclusively on primates.
Apenheul is well worth visiting and it’s probably my favourite zoo of the trip just because I really enjoy mammals, and specifically primates, but then so do most people and when I left the place was incredibly congested. The Lowland Gorilla exhibit here is practically worth the price of admission, apparently around 1 hectare/2.5 acres in size and it is almost certainly the highest-quality gorilla exhibit anyone reading this will ever see. The outdoor section at least…because the indoor area is aesthetically ugly and surprisingly small. Someone told me that the keepers enjoy the building as it is compartmentalized and the gorillas have many options with all of the different little rooms, but I do fear for some of the primates at Apenheul when the zoo closes down for 5 months of the year. I hope that the indoor areas are of an adequate size and a lot of enrichment is provided. In the summer, with all the trees and flowers blooming, this is one of the great zoos of the world for anyone even remotely interested in primates.
I then drove 30 minutes north to a Dolphinarium to check out some marine mammals.
Zoo/Aquarium # 77: Dolfinarium Harderwijk (Harderwijk, NL)
Dolphinarium Harderwijk is located in a tourist-heavy area of the Netherlands and it opened in 1965 and so has been around for a long-enough time to be a very well-known establishment. Called the ‘Dolfinarium’ in Dutch, the big Dolphin Dome and pool opened in 1969 and it made me think of many other dolphin-related arenas that all seemed to crop up during the 1960s and 1970s. However, very few aquatic facilities are building such things these days and in many ways the era of big dolphin shows is coming to an end. Back in 1970 this place had a million visitors, and there has been at least a couple of Orcas here in the past. Those days are long gone, with visitor numbers now hovering just over 500,000 even though at least three signs say that the facility is the ‘largest marine park in Europe’. Is that true? What about Loro Parque?
I was thrilled to not only have free parking (the machines were broken) but also a free ticket to this expensive park via @jwer (thanks mate!) and I entered with a grin on my face. That soon evaporated as Dolfinarium Harderwijk is basically a low-budget SeaWorld. The thing with the SeaWorld parks is that even for zoo nerds they can take a minimum of 3 hours and can also be a 7-hour visit because there is so much to see and do. Hardwerwijk has California Sea Lions in a show arena, Common Bottlenose Dolphins that can only be seen in the 1969 dome (although I saw two in a small side pool that seem to be there to satisfy public curiosity), a Harbour Porpoise exhibit (seen from afar as once again only show times allow close-up viewing), a couple of pools for Harbour Seals and Grey Seals, and some impressively-huge Steller’s Sea Lions in a pair of adequate exhibits. There’s a big stingray/small shark petting tank that looks almost identical to one at SeaWorld San Diego, and everything I’ve mentioned takes very little time to tour and it’s all a bit disappointing. There aren’t many aquarium tanks, or a variety of other animals, or even some aviaries dotting the grounds.
Just when I was thinking that this place was a total bust, including a limited set of options even for kids with not many rides or entertaining areas whatsoever other than a big waterpark area off to the side, I strolled over to the far reaches of the park and there saw the best dolphin set of pools that I’ve ever gazed upon in my life. Hardwerwijk has the standard Dolphin Dome 1960s outdated pool indoors, but the outside lagoon area is fantastic. If a zoological establishment insists in maintaining cetaceans, even though public sentiment is now clearly against such practices, why not do it in the same style as Harderwijk? Then, for the second time today, after the gorilla feeding session, I sat down and watched a presentation. This whole trip I’ve barely done anything like that and then suddenly twice in the span of a few hours! Maybe I’m turning into @ANyhuis There is a terrific Pacific Walrus exhibit with 4 of the massive blobs and I saw the 15-minute show that appeared to have next to zero emphasis on conservation and 100% emphasis on entertainment. The walruses did tricks like cover their faces, or pretend to answer a cellphone, or burp loudly, or shoot water at little kids, and it was all done in an old-school approach. One interesting moment was when a couple of the walruses took turns sliding onto a scale like Jabba the Hutt. One walrus was 700 kilos/1,550 pounds while the biggest walrus in the park was 1,400 kilos/3,100 pounds. Seeing such immense creatures interacting out of water with their trainers was truly fascinating, although I’m always conflicted with the ‘tricks’ that they do. For zoo nerds, seeing the walruses and dolphins in the lagoon area of the park is very interesting, and some folks would also like to spend time watching the Harbour Porpoise(s) and Steller’s Sea Lions. There isn’t a lot else there, but considering I got in for free and it was a great day overall…then I was a contented man. I kept having great flashbacks to my morning visit at Apenheul.
What’s coming up in the next 4 days? Well, I tossed my original itinerary out the window! Now I’ve got a certain Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem, then Tierpark Hagenbeck, and then a couple of rather obscure little places in Berlin to all add up to an astounding line-up of zoos. I better get ready to walk 10 km per day…
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ANyhuis
Well-Known Member
You could do worse!
Oh my gosh! I was a bit shocked when I heard that you had trekked all the way to Hamburg, but wow -- you're going even futher, to Berlin! What made you decide to do this? I had thought you were "only" doing the Ruhr Valley German zoos. Have you even considered going to Leipzig? This reminds me, by the way, of when you and I first met at the Indianapolis Zoo, where I raved about the Omaha Zoo -- and then next thing I heard, you had gone 10 hours out of your way to Omaha!
No way, I'm not even the one eyed man in the kingdom of the blind. I know about three species scientific* names -Natrix natrix, Iguana iguana and Gorilla gorilla (gorilla) -just enough knowledge for a cheap quip.
To be honest, I've never had a problem with lack of English names at the twenty to thirty European zoos I've visited (that said, I've never visited the sort of really tiny, really obscure, places you're visiting a lot of)Maguari, on the other hand, seriously knows his stuff.
*I also know they're scientific, not Latin, names.
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It is indeed, so well done for the inspirational reviews!
One of the few European zoos I have visited and definitely worth a visit in my opinion. I'd probably never see such a zoo like it again due to how unique it was. I'd also call it a "hidden gem" as although it's overshadowed by many other Dutch zoos, it's still impressive for what it has.
(BTW, I also visited Antwerp, Pairi Daiza, Cologne and Artis in Europe: most of the time was experiencing the rich history of Belgium, France (especially Paris, though I regret not going to the Jardin des Plantes) and Amsterdam.)
Also, I'm not sure if you already visited the zoo, but is Weltvogelpark Walsrode in your plans?