First visit to Twycross for about 18 months (even though it's on my door step). I'm strapped for time at moment but want to give so I'm trying a slightly different style of review. Hope it works...............
Driving in, no queues (great), cat park not waterlogged (great), car park modelled on Sea of Tranquility (not so great).
Walk towards entrance building (try to ignore “Boardman Hubris Aviary” as it’ll put me in a bad mood), bloody hell it’s noisy in here, adults in kids play zone thang (that’s different, ahh “parentally supervised”, avoids litigation I suppose).
Through entrance kiosks (no maps, no problem, I know my way around), straight up (Conservation Way, whatever) to peel off left to check out new tiger enclosure. Oh, I can’t turn left there, never mind I’ll turn left after the De Brazza’s (nice size group with young again), oh it’s blocked off nowadays (maybe I could have done with a map after all), never mind I’ll turn left near the orangs (without looking at the enclosure/inhabitants, too depressing), oh it’s blocked off nowadays. Finally turn left after the parrot aviaries (one, lovely, lone Vasa out).
Nice playground (seriously) where Langur House used to be (god, I miss their smell), kangaroos inside, glad to see otter enclosure wasn’t killed by tiger enclosure. Tiger enclosure, big (enough) but bloody hell it’s fugly (really fugly). Functional but little attempts at prettying up (maybe that’s the Twycross way now?), funnily enough none of those trees shown in the artist’s impression are present, indoor dens nicely done though. general impression? Marginally bigger/better than the sort of enclosure for tigers you’d see at a “UK Championship level zoo” (maybe that’s where Twycross is now?).
Wonder what’s in the old enclosure that used to house the Mogadon Chimps? Oh Mara (is anybody even trying?). Nevermind, let’s enjoy the smell of the Lemur House, oh that’s blocked off. Never mind, let’s trudge past a load of empty space (wait a minute, that’s becoming a thing here) to see the Tufted Deer. And relax, one’s out and it’s gorgeous. Go down to bottom (there used to be ground hornbills there you know) and double back to see some Lemurs, maybe I can go inside (alas not).
Okay, gorillas, bit cramped inside the visitor area but always nice to see Gorilla gorilla (no youngsters on view?). Right chimps next, oh no “exit only”, millisecond dilemma -do I traipse back where I came from and add a massive unnecessary loop to my visit or ignore the sign (no brainer, coming through!!!). I like this enclosure, it’s really good only let down by the (too narrow) visitor area which is really bad.
Out through the in door (wasn’t that a Led Zep album?), giraffes next (two of), now mixed with Nyala (none seen). Giraffes doing the neck banging dominance wrestle thang, good to watch, I’ll stroll down the far end to get a better view (works) and then go along bottom of rhino paddock to join up with martens (doesn’t work, no entry, grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!). Retrace steps warning others following in my footsteps that they’re wasting their time.
Look into elephant, I mean rhino house, quite pleased I’ve now got a rhino around ½ hour drive from home. “Monkeys of the Amazon” next, none outside, I’ll see them inside (no I won’t, no entry now). Quite a few zebras now (four? five?). Bonobos good value with usual shenanigoats ensuing amongst them. Callitrichids House next, blimey another lot of walking with little to view. Callitrichids down to four species now (when I was a lad….). All inside, never mind… oh mind (another no entry for the insides). Francois Langur (always nice), tortoises (dull, for me), empty enclosure (used to be Bat-eared Foxes), Dik-dik (four of) very nice.
Owls (nice enclosures, meh species), L’hoests (with bouncy youngster), martens (no show), Seriema, Bush Dogs (always good value and I like the enclosure conversion -if you squint and look towards the rock back drop you can pretend you’re at Tierpark). Walkthrough aviary (meh and when I was a lad……), flamingo/pelican lagoon works, penguins (they’ve given up making excuses that green is temporary), can’t be bothered walking over there for tapirs, etc.
How do I get out of here, not through there, oh that way! Past lorikeets, towards gibbons (Siamang on pole outside) Colobus (nice), Crowned Lemur (nice). Let’s check out Butterfly House (where’s all the side exhibits gone????), Pets Corner (can’t be bothered, bet I find out there’s something nice in there when I get home). That’ll do for today, hope the car park doesn’t mess my suspension.
Conclusions? Curate’s Egg (good, bad, ugly and fugly). Gonna take forever to get everything up to muster? Forever doomed to play catch up unless big grants/rich donor? Don’t tell me about the conveyor belt of x year plans that come along every y years.
Can’t say I didn’t enjoy it but might think different if I’d come a long way (it’s 30 minutes away). If anyone much north of me asked I’d say they’d be better off heading to Yorkshire Wildlife Park unless they’re jonesing for a primate fix. See you again Twycross (in another 18 months), wonder if you’ll change my mind next time.
Driving in, no queues (great), cat park not waterlogged (great), car park modelled on Sea of Tranquility (not so great).
Walk towards entrance building (try to ignore “Boardman Hubris Aviary” as it’ll put me in a bad mood), bloody hell it’s noisy in here, adults in kids play zone thang (that’s different, ahh “parentally supervised”, avoids litigation I suppose).
Through entrance kiosks (no maps, no problem, I know my way around), straight up (Conservation Way, whatever) to peel off left to check out new tiger enclosure. Oh, I can’t turn left there, never mind I’ll turn left after the De Brazza’s (nice size group with young again), oh it’s blocked off nowadays (maybe I could have done with a map after all), never mind I’ll turn left near the orangs (without looking at the enclosure/inhabitants, too depressing), oh it’s blocked off nowadays. Finally turn left after the parrot aviaries (one, lovely, lone Vasa out).
Nice playground (seriously) where Langur House used to be (god, I miss their smell), kangaroos inside, glad to see otter enclosure wasn’t killed by tiger enclosure. Tiger enclosure, big (enough) but bloody hell it’s fugly (really fugly). Functional but little attempts at prettying up (maybe that’s the Twycross way now?), funnily enough none of those trees shown in the artist’s impression are present, indoor dens nicely done though. general impression? Marginally bigger/better than the sort of enclosure for tigers you’d see at a “UK Championship level zoo” (maybe that’s where Twycross is now?).
Wonder what’s in the old enclosure that used to house the Mogadon Chimps? Oh Mara (is anybody even trying?). Nevermind, let’s enjoy the smell of the Lemur House, oh that’s blocked off. Never mind, let’s trudge past a load of empty space (wait a minute, that’s becoming a thing here) to see the Tufted Deer. And relax, one’s out and it’s gorgeous. Go down to bottom (there used to be ground hornbills there you know) and double back to see some Lemurs, maybe I can go inside (alas not).
Okay, gorillas, bit cramped inside the visitor area but always nice to see Gorilla gorilla (no youngsters on view?). Right chimps next, oh no “exit only”, millisecond dilemma -do I traipse back where I came from and add a massive unnecessary loop to my visit or ignore the sign (no brainer, coming through!!!). I like this enclosure, it’s really good only let down by the (too narrow) visitor area which is really bad.
Out through the in door (wasn’t that a Led Zep album?), giraffes next (two of), now mixed with Nyala (none seen). Giraffes doing the neck banging dominance wrestle thang, good to watch, I’ll stroll down the far end to get a better view (works) and then go along bottom of rhino paddock to join up with martens (doesn’t work, no entry, grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!). Retrace steps warning others following in my footsteps that they’re wasting their time.
Look into elephant, I mean rhino house, quite pleased I’ve now got a rhino around ½ hour drive from home. “Monkeys of the Amazon” next, none outside, I’ll see them inside (no I won’t, no entry now). Quite a few zebras now (four? five?). Bonobos good value with usual shenanigoats ensuing amongst them. Callitrichids House next, blimey another lot of walking with little to view. Callitrichids down to four species now (when I was a lad….). All inside, never mind… oh mind (another no entry for the insides). Francois Langur (always nice), tortoises (dull, for me), empty enclosure (used to be Bat-eared Foxes), Dik-dik (four of) very nice.
Owls (nice enclosures, meh species), L’hoests (with bouncy youngster), martens (no show), Seriema, Bush Dogs (always good value and I like the enclosure conversion -if you squint and look towards the rock back drop you can pretend you’re at Tierpark). Walkthrough aviary (meh and when I was a lad……), flamingo/pelican lagoon works, penguins (they’ve given up making excuses that green is temporary), can’t be bothered walking over there for tapirs, etc.
How do I get out of here, not through there, oh that way! Past lorikeets, towards gibbons (Siamang on pole outside) Colobus (nice), Crowned Lemur (nice). Let’s check out Butterfly House (where’s all the side exhibits gone????), Pets Corner (can’t be bothered, bet I find out there’s something nice in there when I get home). That’ll do for today, hope the car park doesn’t mess my suspension.
Conclusions? Curate’s Egg (good, bad, ugly and fugly). Gonna take forever to get everything up to muster? Forever doomed to play catch up unless big grants/rich donor? Don’t tell me about the conveyor belt of x year plans that come along every y years.
Can’t say I didn’t enjoy it but might think different if I’d come a long way (it’s 30 minutes away). If anyone much north of me asked I’d say they’d be better off heading to Yorkshire Wildlife Park unless they’re jonesing for a primate fix. See you again Twycross (in another 18 months), wonder if you’ll change my mind next time.
but it will obviously have no bearing on visitor numbers whatsoever...they'll just keep coming willnilly. Having visited since the sixties though I'd say there have definately been some major improvements in recent years under the current management, though some of them, like the Chimpanzee housing and Elephant departures have been very long overdue. But I think all this recent fencing is something of a backward step.
Sorry again for not being clear.