After a quick tally it seems I’ve only been to 17 UK zoos in the past 5 years which surprised me but there’s a few on the list that I’ve been to a LOT recently.
1. Chester - fairly predictable. Good exhibits, comprehensive collection, vigorous and exciting expansion. I struggle with the crowds and could do with a better map but other then that no complaints.
2. Whipsnade - perhaps a little sentimental given ZSL’s general decline, and it’s not the same without it’s wolves, but the elephant herd, hippos, gaur and bongos keep it in the top running for me beyond my personal attachements, and I look forward to seeing the new aquarium built.
3. Cotswold’s - went on a whim not expecting much and was blown away. Beautiful park with a great sense of character. I was already won over by the time I’d finished the walled garden so the rest of the collection was really just a victory lap for it - in particular the reptile house and the wooded section of the zoo.
4. Hamerton - my local is going from strength to strength this year! It seems as soon as I finish up one visit they announce themselves as the sole European holders of yet another marsupial and I have to start making an opening in my calendar all over again. If I wasn’t such a sucker for aesthetics it would undoubtably rank higher, but as it stands every visit I find myself wishing it would have a good tidy up and find a better situated/more attractive paddock for the zebras.
5. Yorkshire Wildlife Park - I put off visiting for ages because despite the polar bears it always seemed limited in it’s collection - which is true. I found you can do the whole park in the space of an hour or so but the magic of the place is surely in how pleasant it is to keep going round even if it isn’t overflowing with animals, but considering how fast and how well it’s growing it’s probably the collection I’m most excited about on this list. Aside from the polar bears highlights for me were the giant otters and baboons.
6. London - I’m surprised I’ve ended up placing London Zoo this far down, if I was making this list a few years ago it may have taken the top spot. However, since then I’ve been to Schonbrunn and Blijdorp, and London has lost a few of my favourite species and announced the closure of the aquarium which has knocked the rose-tinted goggles off a bit. Despite that I still stand by the quality of the individual enclosures at the zoo, in particular the tigers, and the Philippine crocodiles, Blackburn pavilion and bokyboky keep it fighting for me, even without the aardvarks.
7. Linton - a zoo from my childhood recently revisited, it feels quite timeless and from a purely aesthetic standpoint it’s probably the most beautiful zoo on the list, a real secret garden kind of feeling. I’d be happier if they used some of the land given over to either pasture or tortoises a little better - some of the big cat enclosures seem are on the small side, in particular the snow leopards made me a little uneasy.
8. Twycross - a remarkable collection with some excellent enclosures, but hampered by a lot of rather poor enclosures and nearly as many empty ones. However the new chimp enclosure is very impressive, the planned tiger exhibit seems exciting and if they can do something interesting with the former elephant enclosure and carry out some serious improvements on their other great ape exhibits I can see Twycross moving quickly up my list.
9. Colchester - purely for the collection. Most of the exhibits and presentation of animals left me cold, and I’ve never been to a zoo with so many dead ends. But mandrills, spotted hyena and sun bears are enough to leave me planning a return trip. That said I’d be much more interested in seeing how a zoo like Yorkshire or Whipsnade would approach exhibiting Colchester’s collection then I am at actually seeing it at Colchester if that makes sense?
10. Dudley - lovely if unusual zoo with a great sense of history. It certainly seems to be making better use of it’s Lubetkin’s than ZSL is. Stand outs were the penguins, lemurs and what is probably the best lorikeet walkthrough I’ve been through. However the sea lions in the moat left me a little uneasy, and the new orangutan exhibit can’t come soon enough, as the current exhibit is inexcusable. However assuming the necessary improvements are made and in the longer term they manage to return bears to the Ravine once again this collection will likely be bumped up a few places on the list.
