Zoo trip to the Beauval area

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Perseus6

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone,

I'm leaving on a trip this Friday to see Beauval zoo. My itinerary looks like this. Saturday and Sunday visit Beauvall, on Monday an Tuesday visit La Vallée Des Singes and Wednesday visit zoological reserve of the Haute-Touche.
I'm looking for some tips and tricks, things to look out for. Any help or tips is much appreciated!
If someone has some advice or stories they like to share I'm all ears!
Thanks in advance!

Sincerely,
Perseus6
 
I haven't been to Beauval in many years, but I do have three pieces of advice:

- Don't miss the bird show - missing out on this is the biggest regret from my visit, as it looks unbelievable in videos and is probably the best in Europe
- The Harpy Eagles and Douc Langurs are the most commonly mentioned species as major lifeticks not to miss out on, but another lovely primate kept at Beauval which isn't discussed enough is the Moustached Monkey, a scarcely kept guenon and a really nice species. They are kept in the long row of primate enclosures between the chimpanzees and tigers which is currently known as 'the Monkey Pathways,' but on my visits had the much more interesting name of 'Primates Peculiarities.'
- In terms of a route, Beauval gets ridiculously busy after lunchtime (based on my own visits and what regulars I met at the zoo told me on said visit), so I would recommend making your way towards what interests you first and getting it out of the way, although of course allow yourself to take in some of the other interesting animals and exhibits you pass on route. For me, this meant going to the pandas, as at the time of my visit I had never seen them before, via the big cats, orangutans and Australian animals, and that worked for me very well so I would recommend it. That said, making your way to the hippos and the dome first via the savannah and sea lions, for example, would work just as well.

That is all I can think of, but no doubt regulars and locals will be able to give you much better advice. Beauval is an amazing zoo and probably one of the best in Europe, but sadly there are some fairly poor enclosures ('the Big Cat Woodlands,' known on my visit as 'Carnivores, Curiosities and Oddities,' is probably one of the worst rosters of carnivore enclosures in Europe), so another tip I would give to help get the most enjoyment out of your visit is to temper your expectations and don't assume every enclosure will be perfect, or else you will be disappointed. By lowering the standard a little, you are bound to be amazed, as the best Beauval has to offer truly is remarkable.
 
Beauval does indeed get awfully busy, so be there at opening time ;). I personally first visited the bird greenhouse and then made my way to the greenhouse & hippo aviary. Those are still relatively quiet in the early morning.

Many older parts are (like Pairi Daiza) not made for loads of visitors, so if you are a big ape fan, I would first visit those buildings, they get awfully cramped.

In La Vallee des Singes it can sometimes be challenging to find the primates in their enclosures, so visiting around feeding times can help (especially the chimps are hard).

May I ask why you don't visit France's best zoo on the trip? Doué la Fontaine is close to Beauval (and much more worth a visit than a second day in Beauval). Or have you been there recently?
 
lintworm said:
May I ask why you don't visit France's best zoo on the trip? Doué la Fontaine is close to Beauval (and much more worth a visit than a second day in Beauval).
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I'm going with my parents so I had to make choices. Doué la Fontaine is 1 hour 40 min by car from Beauval. They're willing to drive me near certain areas or drop me off at a zoo and them doing their own thing. So I looked at collections. La Vallee des Singes has 3 primate species I haven't seen and Bonobos which would make it the 7th holder in EU I've seen.
And zoological reserve of the Haute-Touche has Gaur and mostly other hoof stock animals I haven't seen around 10 species of mammals alone. So It's not about not wanting to see more about realism. And I've seen all the mammals at least in the collection(most of the collection with a horizontal read) of Doué la Fontaine. But I did think about it.
So they don't want to drive me that much while still staying there.
 
Perseus6 said:
I'm going with my parents so I had to make choices. Doué la Fontaine is 1 hour 40 min by car from Beauval. They're willing to drive me near certain areas or drop me off at a zoo and them doing their own thing. So I looked at collections. La Vallee des Singes has 3 primate species I haven't seen and Bonobos which would make it the 7th holder in EU I've seen.
And zoological reserve of the Haute-Touche has Gaur and mostly other hoof stock animals I haven't seen around 10 species of mammals alone. So It's not about not wanting to see more about realism. And I've seen all the mammals at least in the collection(most of the collection with a horizontal read) of Doué la Fontaine. But I did think about it.
So they don't want to drive me that much while still staying there.
Click to expand...

To be fair, mammal rarities are (except ecotherms) the worst way to assess whether Doué is worth a visit :p, as it's strength lies in the extremely good (and unique) exhibits and general atmosphere. But anyway, both Obterre and la Vallee des Singes are very much worth a visit too, so no bad choices really. I am not sure how quick a visitor you are, so while big, you probably won't need 2 days there. It is also a zoo that is best not visited with the expectation of being an extremely good zoo. It is neither Pairi Daiza nor a bigger version of e.g. Zurich or Burgers' Zoo, but rather an oversized French countryside zoo ;).
 
Kalaw said:
I haven't been to Beauval in many years, but I do have three pieces of advice:

- Don't miss the bird show - missing out on this is the biggest regret from my visit, as it looks unbelievable in videos and is probably the best in Europe
- The Harpy Eagles and Douc Langurs are the most commonly mentioned species as major lifeticks not to miss out on, but another lovely primate kept at Beauval which isn't discussed enough is the Moustached Monkey, a scarcely kept guenon and a really nice species. They are kept in the long row of primate enclosures between the chimpanzees and tigers which is currently known as 'the Monkey Pathways,' but on my visits had the much more interesting name of 'Primates Peculiarities.'
- In terms of a route, Beauval gets ridiculously busy after lunchtime (based on my own visits and what regulars I met at the zoo told me on said visit), so I would recommend making your way towards what interests you first and getting it out of the way, although of course allow yourself to take in some of the other interesting animals and exhibits you pass on route. For me, this meant going to the pandas, as at the time of my visit I had never seen them before, via the big cats, orangutans and Australian animals, and that worked for me very well so I would recommend it. That said, making your way to the hippos and the dome first via the savannah and sea lions, for example, would work just as well.

That is all I can think of, but no doubt regulars and locals will be able to give you much better advice. Beauval is an amazing zoo and probably one of the best in Europe, but sadly there are some fairly poor enclosures ('the Big Cat Woodlands,' known on my visit as 'Carnivores, Curiosities and Oddities,' is probably one of the worst rosters of carnivore enclosures in Europe), so another tip I would give to help get the most enjoyment out of your visit is to temper your expectations and don't assume every enclosure will be perfect, or else you will be disappointed. By lowering the standard a little, you are bound to be amazed, as the best Beauval has to offer truly is remarkable.
Click to expand...
I recommend too the Yellow-backed Duikers, currently the only pair in France and one of the rare breeding pairs in Europe.
It's better to go to the Chinese zone early in the morning, the animals are more active (not only the Giant Pandas, but also the Red Pandas, Snow Leopards...) and there are less visitors.
I advise you to see the cats and other carnivores in the morning, the monkeys and apes around midday (the feeding sessions of the apes are interesting, especially the gorillas).
 
Can I ask if the talks are worth it or not? I do speak some French but would prefer them to be in English of course.
 
Perseus6 said:
Can I ask if the talks are worth it or not? I do speak some French but would prefer them to be in English of course.
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There are a lot of panels with an English translation, in addition to the French main texts.
But I don't know any public talk in English language in Beauval or other French zoos.
 
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