Summer holiday

Sneeuwpanter

Sneeuwpanter

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Hi ,

This summer i will go to France. I will be staying in the Elzas and Lake Annecy. Does anyone have recommendations for some regional zoos. One at each stay...max 1/1.5 hours drive.

On the way back i will return to Zooparc de beauval.
 
Sneeuwpanter said:
Hi ,

This summer i will go to France. I will be staying in the Elzas and Lake Annecy. Does anyone have recommendations for some regional zoos. One at each stay...max 1/1.5 hours drive.

On the way back i will return to Zooparc de beauval.
Click to expand...

Hello! In this area the best french zoo is the Mulhouse Zoo, a very beautiful zoo with a nice collection of rarities and good enclosures.

Which animals or enclosures are you interested in? Near Beauval you have Zoo Haute-Touche (big zoo but not for dedicate very much time with a nice environment and also a nice collection), the Aquarium de Tourainne, also very beautiful and the butterfly house in Parc Floral de la Source de Orleans, a nice collection of birds and butterflies.
 
Thanks for your reaction...Zoo Haute-Touche lists Gaur on their website, but their not listed on zootierliste.de. Any idea about the size of the herd ? Nice collection of asian hoofstock. I will add this to my itinerary
 
Sneeuwpanter said:
Thanks for your reaction...Zoo Haute-Touche lists Gaur on their website, but their not listed on zootierliste.de. Any idea about the size of the herd ? Nice collection of asian hoofstock. I will add this to my itinerary
Click to expand...
They have a nice group, I don't remember how many exactly, but I think that is of more or less 5-7 animals. They live with sambars (at least last time I was there)
 
Haha you set me up with a dilemma. I glossed over the fact that zoo Haute-Touche is near Beauval, but i've got an appartement booked in Saint-Aignan for 2 nights with a day in between to visit Beauval...but now i also want to visit Zoo Haute-Touche...Luckely i've visited Beauval in 2022...so i will likely visit Zoo Haute-Touche in the morning and at least try and see the golden snub-nosed monkeys and the new south america aviary at Beauval...at least if i get my non-zoonerd friend to agree
 
Sneeuwpanter said:
Thanks for your reaction...Zoo Haute-Touche lists Gaur on their website, but their not listed on zootierliste.de. Any idea about the size of the herd ? Nice collection of asian hoofstock. I will add this to my itinerary
Click to expand...

Oops they are listed at zootierliste.de as Obterre. 2.2 in 2022
 
Where in the Elzas will you be staying? While Parc-animalier de Saint-croix isn’t in the same department, it does border and isn’t a very long drive away from say perhaps strasbourg. (I also think Mulhouse looks great as well, haven’t been yet, so can’t say which one is better)
 
We are staying in Mittelwihr near Colmar. I also saw Parc animalier de Sainte Croix which is a little further...Zoo Mullhouse is opening Horizon Afriqué in Augustus and we are visiting in early July so i'm torn
 
From Annecy you can go to Les aigles du Léman near the Swiss border. The visit likely won't be very long, but going to see the Lac Léman is worth it anyway.

Another possibility would be to go to Villars les Dombes near Lyon, which is another bird park, and it's quite bigger, but it's farther away from Annecy. It's located in the Dombes area, a swamp regions with many lakes, and the zoo is all around a big lake with a lot of local waterfowl fauna.

If you want to see the Mont Blanc, there's Merlet, which is a park with a few free roaming animals (less than 10 species I believe) and wonderful views. I wouldn't call it a zoo, it's more like a great mountain hike with ibexes.

PS : It's Alsace, not Elzas. ;)
 
Visited Zoo Mulhouse today. I was dissapointed. A lot of dated exhibits and smaller than i had expected...Also it was almost 30 degrees so a lot of no shows or animals sleeping in the shade (not the zoos fault).On the other hand the admissions fee was just 11.50. I took less than 50 pictures today normaly i take would 200+ in a new zoo.
Hopefully my alcoholfree irish red ale will make up for it.
 
Sneeuwpanter said:
Visited Zoo Mulhouse today. I was dissapointed. A lot of dated exhibits and smaller than i had expected...Also it was almost 30 degrees so a lot of no shows or animals sleeping in the shade (not the zoos fault).On the other hand the admissions fee was just 11.50. I took less than 50 pictures today normaly i take would 200+ in a new zoo.
Hopefully my alcoholfree irish red ale will make up for it.
Click to expand...
I had the exact opposite impression of Mulhouse. Excellent Polar Bear and Musk Ox exhibits did it for me. Also Malay Tapir
 
A lot of exhibits at Mulhouse are indeed dated but that's what makes the charm of the visit for me. The park itself is gorgeous but I wouldn't visit on a hot summer day.

I read somewhere that the entrance fee will be 20 euros once Horizon Afrique opens.
 
I visited the Mulhouse Zoo in April, and I really enjoyed my visit. Apart from the Amur leopard, the maned wolf, the bush dog and the blue-throated macaw, I was able to see all the animals. The park was charming, and I was particularly impressed by its botanical collection. I was able to see the polar bears very close to the glass, which was impressive, and the crowned sifakas were very active, as were the arctic foxes. Honestly, no enclosure seemed out of place or unsuitable to me. Even the smallest cages for the tamarins, monkeys, lemurs and gibbons didn't bother me; on the contrary, I saw the most active gibbon I've ever seen, and the cages themselves offered sufficient space. The old exhibits, for me, were the charm of this visit. Also, there were very few people there that day, which was very nice. I would recommend the Mulhouse Zoo to any zoo enthusiast.
 
Sneeuwpanter said:
Hi ,

This summer i will go to France. I will be staying in the Elzas and Lake Annecy. Does anyone have recommendations for some regional zoos. One at each stay...max 1/1.5 hours drive.

On the way back i will return to Zooparc de beauval.
Click to expand...
If you go to Mulhouse, you’re a shortish train ride from Basel, which imho is a terrific zoo experience and well worth the effort
 
FBBird said:
If you go to Mulhouse, you’re a shortish train ride from Basel, which imho is a terrific zoo experience and well worth the effort
Click to expand...

I visited Basel Zoo 3 years ago. Indeed a terrific zoo. At the moment i'm already in Annecy
 
Had a lovely day today at Domaine des Fauves. A small zoo specializing in predators specificly a lot of cat and owl species. For me the first time seeing coyote's. Which you had to pay a 2,- extra charge to go with a keeper to the coyote and artic wolves enclosures. Spent 5 hours there ,2 hours of which was spontane watching the tour de France on my mobile waiting to see the coyote's
 
Sadly due to a medical issue with my friend we have to cut our vacation short. So no Zooparc Beauval for me this yeat.
 
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