Well, my visit went fine. It was pretty warm when I visited and, as a consequence, it was quite busy aswell. I can't really say that I liked the zoo, however. Let me first say that there was nothing that was really bad in my eyes. All animals had plenty of space and the zoo looked well kept. There was nothing exciting about the zoo either. There was no special exhibitry, very little exciting education (with one notable exception that I will comment on down below) and a very generic animal collection. In fact, there was just one species I hadn't seen before (the black-throated forest dragon) and that doesn't happen a lot when I visit a new zoo.
There were some exhibits I just don't understand. The most striking of these is the flamingo aviary. Why built an aviary with such a large volume and just put one species in it that is never going to use that volume? How difficult can it be to get some scarlet ibisses, roseate spoonbills, inca terns or other birds that fit well with Chilean flamingos (when you take South-America as a theme, that is)? Another exhibit that was pretty disappointing to me was the new orangutan "rainforest". A zoo in the Netherlands that I visit regularly (Ouwehands Dierenpark Rhenen) has had an overhead climbing structure for orangutans for many years so that was nothing new to me and when I compare the Dublin one to the Rhenen one, the Rhenen one definitely wins for me. In Dublin, I haven't seen more than two "trees" connected to each other where Rhenen has at least three trees connected to each other, allowing for much more continuous climbing. I also think that adding more climbing material like ropes and nets would be benificial for the orangutans without compromising (and maybe even adding to) the rainforest feel of the exhibit. I like the combination of orangutan and siamang, but I don't think this exhibit is suited for the siamangs. There is too much travelling on the ground and too little possibilities for moving above ground in my opinion.
I did not dislike everything at the zoo. There were two exhibits that stood out in a positive way. The first one is the elephant enclosure. The exhibit looked large enough for the elephants, there was plenty of water for bathing, the design of the enclosure provided enough privacy for the elephants from each other and the public and the combination with blackbuck seemed to work out pretty well. The second exhibit that really stood out for me is (quite surprisingly) the children's farm. I always really appreciate it when zoos take the time and space to teach children that their meat and milk comes from live animals and this children's farm is among the best I've seen with two breeds of pig, chickens, the compulsory goats and sheep and even a Holstein Friesian dairy cow that is actually milked where the public can watch! Overall I thought that Dublin Zoo is a generic zoo with a generic collection in generic exhibits and I don't think I will visit again. I will, however, certainly visit the city of Dublin again because I really enjoyed the rest of my stay there!
Still thanks for the suggestion!