UK's Top 5 Zoos??

ANyhuis

ANyhuis

Well-Known Member
I will be in the UK in mid-March on a week-long trip with my daughter. I would badly like to get to see a few of the better zoos that I've never seen. But I ask you zoo fans from Britain (and elsewhere in Europe) -- what ARE the best zoos in the United Kingdom?

Just a couple years ago, I was over there and toured Chester and Whipsnade. On an earlier trip, I toured London, Marwell, and Edinburgh. So I'm curious, what have I missed of the UK's best zoos? I've heard good things about Bristol and Twycross too.

So to help me, it would be cool if some of you could list your 5 favorite (or 10 favorite) zoos in the UK. If enough of you do so, I'll accumulate your picks statistically and post the results of this informal poll. Thanks!
 
Hmmm.. tricky to say. I'm not sure that my top 10 in terms of quality would necessarily be the same as the 10 I'd advise you to visit!

I would say that my UK top five would be:

Chester
Edinburgh
London
Whipsnade
Paignton

With Marwell and Bristol just outside this.

There's then quite a wide mid-league where I would place Howletts, Port Lympne, Twycross, Colchester, Dudley and most of the safari parks, among others.


There are four I always find hard to place - they are superb, but not so large collections as those above - Newquay, Living Coasts, Cotswold and Highland. These would not necessarily make my top 5, but they'd be high up my list of recommendations for an overseas visitor!

Looking at what you've already done, maybe a (broadly) south-west tour would be a good idea (for part of your tour at least)? Cotswold-Bristol-Paignton-Living Coasts-Newquay would be a good batch (and there's plenty of smaller places if you have time to fill in!).
 
So you are visiting the uk now amigo ? well as i did with Mexico i shall give some reccomendations , I would definitely reccomend Howletts in Port Lympne in Kent , i was amazed by those two zoological gardens and i consider them the best in the world
 
Jose said:
So you are visiting the uk now amigo ? well as i did with Mexico i shall give some reccomendations , I would definitely reccomend Howletts in Port Lympne in Kent , i was amazed by those two zoological gardens and i consider them the best in the world
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Thanks to both of you! Please keep the recommendations coming!
 
After my trip of 10 zoos in 10 days last September I would say that it is very subjective and depends what you are looking for from the zoo as each zoo seems to fill different roles to play. Ruling out Longleat, being a safari park, my list would end up as

  1. Chester
  2. Ediburgh
  3. Howletts
  4. Marwell
  5. London
  6. Whipsnade
  7. Bristol
  8. Highland Wildlife Park
  9. Twycross
  10. Cotswold

Bear in mind this is a purely personal point of view and there are so many variables. Also you might notice I'm a bit biased towards RZSS parks!
 
My vote goes

1. Chester
2. London
3. Bristol
4. Paignton
5. Whipsnade or maybe Marwell

They're the ones that I feel are at the forefront in conservation, animal welfare research etc. maybe despite not having a huge amount of space.
 
i think to really get a tast of how different british zoos are, howletts and port lympne are a MUST VISIT. Also the usual Chester and Edinburgh should be visited, but i also reccomened
 
From a general point of view, I would say the top five would be:

1. Chester
2. Edinburgh
3. London
4. Whipsnade
5. Colchester/Marwell (but maybe I'm biased!)

My personal top five, excluding Longleat and the New Forest OOW Park if we're not including safari parks and wildlife centres, would be Marwell, Port Lympne, Howletts, Cotswold Wildlife Park and Edinburgh. However, that is purely my tastes and I haven't visited Whipsnade, Colchester, Belfast, Twycross and Dudley major collection wise!
 
Chester, Edinburgh, Marwell, Port Lympne and London would make up my top five with Paignton, Whipsnade, Howletts, Bristol and Durrell also being quite high on the list.
 
I think Anyhuis, your trip must be based on two criteria, geography of course, i don't know how much time you have here in the UK, but you do not want to waste too much time travelling.
Secondly, i would advise on collections with animals that are not on show, or are rarely exhibited in North America.
Therefore for your zoo trips i would stick to the south east of England, based on these 2 criteria, and the collections to visit would be.

London - A great reptile and invertebrate collections and rare small mammals ZSL London Zoo - Experience one of the oldest and best loved zoos in England
Howletts - Rare langurs and gibbons, largest captive group of gorilla, good collection of cats Howletts Wild Animal Park - Kent - 20% discounts with tickets online - BBC Roar
Port Lympne - rare canids and cats, huge herd of black rhino and deer Port Lympne Wild Animal & Safari Park - Kent - 20% off tickets online - Family Fun Days Out - BBC Roar
Wildwood - Whilst in Kent, a good chance to experience British wildlife Wildwood Trust
Rare species conservation centre - Many unusual and rarely seen species http://www.rarespeciesconservationcentre.org/
Marwell - Great hoofstock collection and cat collection Marwell Wildlife: Home
Cotswold wildlife park - Lovely park with good collection of lemurs and birds Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens
Whipsnade - Huge park, large herds of hoofstock ZSL Whipsnade Zoo
Colchester - Excellent general collection - Colchester Zoo - Welcome to one of Europe's finest zoos

I may not have included some of the best zoos in the UK, but it is a representation, a cross section of the diversity of collection in these shores, and not too much travelling.
 
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It depends if you want to visit safari parks aswell. I would say these are top,

1: Chester
2: London
3: Edinburgh
4: Knowsley safari park
5: Colchester
6: Marwell
7: Whipsnade
 
Last few years, I visited the zoos around the country and obviously my favourite zoo is Chester Zoo, which is one of the best zoos in UK.

1. Chester
2. Marwell
3. London
4. Whipsnade
5. Colchester
6. Port Lympne
7. Edinburgh
 
kiang said:
I think Anyhuis, your trip must be based on two criteria, geography of course, i don't know how much time you have here in the UK, but you do not want to waste too much time travelling.
Secondly, i would advise on collections with animals that are not on show, or are rarely exhibited in North America.
Therefore for your zoo trips i would stick to the south east of England, based on these 2 criteria, and the collections to visit would be.

London - A great reptile and invertebrate collections and rare small mammals ZSL London Zoo - Experience one of the oldest and best loved zoos in England
Howletts - Rare langurs and gibbons, largest captive group of gorilla, good collection of cats Howletts Wild Animal Park - Kent - 20% discounts with tickets online - BBC Roar
Port Lympne - rare canids and cats, huge herd of black rhino and deer Port Lympne Wild Animal & Safari Park - Kent - 20% off tickets online - Family Fun Days Out - BBC Roar
Wildwood - Whilst in Kent, a good chance to experience British wildlife Wildwood Trust
Rare species conservation centre - Many unusual and rarely seen species Rare Species Conservation Centre - Home screen
Marwell - Great hoofstock collection and cat collection Marwell Wildlife: Home
Cotswold wildlife park - Lovely park with good collection of lemurs and birds Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens
Whipsnade - Huge park, large herds of hoofstock ZSL Whipsnade Zoo
Colchester - Excellent general collection - Colchester Zoo - Welcome to one of Europe's finest zoos

I may not have included some of the best zoos in the UK, but it is a representation, a cross section of the diversity of collection in these shores, and not too much travelling.
Click to expand...

i have been to all but wildwood and colchester and i agree with those choices. Mabey visit the otter owl and wildlife park or birdland as well, does youre daughter a keen zoo-gooer? because if not chessington WOA has a theme park and a zoo (as does flamingoland yorkshire). If you really want to make it to chester and edinburgh then drive, im sure you've drived further to US Zoos!:)

Hope this helps!
:cool::cool::cool:;)
 
My Top Five:

1. Chester Zoo
2. Highland Wildlife Park
3. Colchester Zoo
4. Cotswold Wildife Park
5. ZSL Whipsnade
 
My personal choice would be...

1. Chester Zoo
2. Edinburgh
3. London
4. Howletts/Port Lympne
5. Marwell/Colchester

With recommendations for Bristol,Whipsnade , Twycross and Blackbrook
:)
 
Thank you, folks! Would anyone else (particulary those of you from the UK) want to weigh in on this topic?

To help me decide which English zoos to visit on my upcoming March tour of the UK, I'm asking you to list what you "think" are the Top 5 zoos in England:
 
From a wanna be photographer the best 5 zoo's are the following.

Blackpool zoo
Edinburgh zoo
Paington zoo
Bristol zoo
Port Lympne

I know everyone as said the usual big zoo's but as I said these are my top 5 for photography as the bigger zoo's seem to have less shubbery and more open space so you can see the animals from all angles(not having ago about this)

But if it's a large variety in the collections that you want to see, then it would have to be the big 5 zoo's only
 
I would not have put Port Lympne on a top five list for photographers - lots of mesh (that you often can't get up close to), a wooded site giving tricky light coniditions, and a lot of animals only visible from a moving truck.

It's a good place, though!
 
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