Have been back from Belgium for a few days now, still need to sort out my many, many photos!
I went to the zoo on Tuesday, and can happily say it's a great zoo! Despite being smaller than ZSL London, it felt like it really packed a lot more into it's space. I was there from opening to closing, so 10am-6pm. Assumed there would be time, as it is smaller than London, to do a loop and then have time for some revisits to some areas, but as it was one loop took nearly the entire day, with the Bird House having to be a bit of a rush to see before it closed.
Seeing Amahoro was truly special. I knew she would be bigger than the Western Lowland Gorillas I'm used to seeing, but I wasn't expecting her to be so black in comparison with the other gorillas. A very special animal
Also managed to see my other target species for the day, the Black and Rufous Sengi (though not a great view), the Markhor (which did a little headbutting just to make the visit extra memorable), Okapi, Collared Pratincoles (think only one female that came outside), Owl-Faced Monkeys, Scaly-sided Mergansers, Nutria. Bongos and Dik-Dik were no-shows, but they're not uncommon in the UK.
Was very pleased to see Sam, the young bull elephant originally from Whipsnade. Have never seen young bull elephants interacting before, so to see two getting bolshy with each other was quite the sight, though Max (originally from Prague) did throw a large stick over his back, which headed towards us visitors, thankfully it fell a little short and hit the railings instead.
It was interesting to compare this zoo with London, which is only 20 years older and also has numerous historic buildings. I feels like Antwerp have got a better handle on how to use and repurpose their older buildings than London, with much less dead and wasted space. Am not usually an aquarium person, but the one here was nice and airy feeling, with the large tank at the end providing a nice focal point; made me miss London's now-closed aquarium, even though it was very dark in comparison, and not nearly as inviting a-space as the Antwerp one.
The Giraffe/Elephant house is truly something that needs to be seen to be believed! And having an elephant silently come through a door into one of the inside pens, and suddenly be 'there' so close was very special
I liked the monkey house, though wasn't so sure about the replica Benin Bronzes on the walls of the the enclosure currently housing the Spider Monkeys.
The bird house was rushed as it was the end of the day, so likely missed some species. Am not sure how I feel about keeping birds in vivaria (namely the small glass-fronted enclosures on the left side), though it was interesting seeing the old 'dark corridor' enclosures that now hold the museum specimens, can only imagine what that area was like when it still held birds.
The indoor Sub-Antarctic Penguin exhibit did feel a bit small, but of the few exhibits of this type I've seen I don't think any have felt roomy. Same with the elephant and Rhino enclosures, it's a little surprising to find both such large species in a small city zoo, but for a few youngsters who will presumably move on after a few years once they reach maturity, the spaces are probably fine for temporary holdings.
I did get chance to pop back to see Amahoro outside at the very end of the day, without anyone else around.
All in all, a great zoo, and one I hope to return to again some day, especially if they are going to redevelop the stretch next to the train station, with maybe a nice new nocturnal house to replace Nocturama?
(The rest of Antwerp was also wonderful, and deserves a return trip too, there was too much to do on such a short trip!)
Sounds like the system they have at ZSL London now, make and pay for order then collect from a different counter, good to know that is how it works here too, to avoid getting confused in a new place
