Which zoo in Germany to go to this December?

gulogulogulo

gulogulogulo

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I have been to a lot of zoos, including a few in Germany. I have been banging on to my partner since we got together during COViD that German zoos are better than UK ones in general.

We are planning a trip to the Xmas markets in Essen this December. I want to show her how good German zoos are.

I have narrowed it down to Wuppertal, ZOOM Gelsenkirchen, Krefeld (because of the Mountain anoa), Aquazoo Dusseldorf, Tierpark und Fossilium Bochum as the possibles; as she wants to go to one I haven’t been to (which therefore rules out Koln, Duisburg and Dortmund). Have I missed any out?

It needs to be within an hour or so travel distance from Essen (not car), and needs to be the best ones available.

What would you great zoochatters choose if in my situation?

Thanks for your help!

Regulators, please feel free to put this in a different section!!
 
Given you are visiting in winter, I would let it depend on the weather too :p.

If it is horrible weather, Aquazoo Dusseldorf would be my bet, which is a fine aquarium + terrarium. No superfancy exhibits but 100+ smaller ones which are all fine and some lovely designed.

Otherwise I would probably suggest ZOOM Gelsenkirchen which has a large "Alaska" section with plenty of animals that would be outside still (though there are a number of European stand ins ;)). The Africa & Asia sections both have an indoor house too and generally the enclosures are nice enough. It is a bit of a budget Hannover/Leipzig with on average more space for the animals.

A few years ago I would have suggested Wuppertal, but that place suffers from significant financing problems, so isn't that great anymore with a lot of enclosures that would need some work and an animal collections that has been downscaled considerably. Still a lovely zoo for its surroundings, but you would need to love (steep) hills.
 
lintworm said:
If it is horrible weather, Aquazoo Dusseldorf would be my bet, which is a fine aquarium + terrarium. No superfancy exhibits but 100+ smaller ones which are all fine and some lovely designed.
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I'd second this one whether the conditions were poor or not! Moreover, the Aquazoo could easily be combined with Krefeld I reckon.
 
lintworm said:
Given you are visiting in winter, I would let it depend on the weather too :p.

If it is horrible weather, Aquazoo Dusseldorf would be my bet, which is a fine aquarium + terrarium. No superfancy exhibits but 100+ smaller ones which are all fine and some lovely designed.

Otherwise I would probably suggest ZOOM Gelsenkirchen which has a large "Alaska" section with plenty of animals that would be outside still (though there are a number of European stand ins ;)). The Africa & Asia sections both have an indoor house too and generally the enclosures are nice enough. It is a bit of a budget Hannover/Leipzig with on average more space for the animals.

A few years ago I would have suggested Wuppertal, but that place suffers from significant financing problems, so isn't that great anymore with a lot of enclosures that would need some work and an animal collections that has been downscaled considerably. Still a lovely zoo for its surroundings, but you would need to love (steep) hills.
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Thanks for the advice Lintworm. I was favouring Wuppertal, even with the hills, as on zootierliste they have a lot of interesting species including some we don’t get in UK (including Baird’s tapir, Siberian ibex, Asiatic golden cat, Indian leopard, Yak, Gordon’s wildcat plus several birds), and my partner loves cats too so has quite a few of them. Interesting though your comments about it not being as good as it was.

ZOOM does look good as well.
 
Dassie rat said:
Krefeld is the only ZTL collection with a mountain anoa
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Yes, a big draw, but I know what my partner is like for thoughts on how natural and how good the enclosures are. Are Krefeld of Wuppertal better than Dortmund or Duisburg in this regards, for instance?
 
gulogulogulo said:
Are Krefeld of Wuppertal better than Dortmund or Duisburg in this regards, for instance?
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I'd say that, from best to worst, it runs Wuppertal/Dortmund/Duisburg/Krefeld; there are exhibits at Dortmund that are better than some at Wuppertal, and similarly some at Krefeld superior to some at Duisburg, but on average I'd say the above is how things fall out.
 
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