I have just returned from a trip to Germany in which I did seven zoos of the North-Rhine Westfalia region. It is a repeat of a trip I did twelve years ago. The zoos I visited were Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg, Munster, Cologne, Krefeld, Dortmund and Wuppertal. Unfortunately I couldn't do Dusseldorf Aquazoo as it is closed this year for major renovation work. I started at Gelsenkirchen or as the zoo is now known 'Zoom Erlebniswelt'. This is an entirely new zoo from the one I previously visited which was then called the Ruhr zoo. The zoo is split into three areas; Africa, Asia and Alaska and as you enter you are given a choice as to which you enter first. Each one has a one-way route so it's easy to navigate your way around and not worry about missing anything! I decided to do Alaska first and for me this is the best of the three. The whole area is well landscaped and planted although not all animals there are Alaskan. The bear enclosures are particularly good. Two Kamchatka bears, in particular, have a large pen with a huge waterfall and running stream which you can cross on a rickety bridge. Polar bears are also to be found here, including Antonia the dwarf, who it is nice to see has not been forgotten and given a lovely home in this revamped zoo. Striped skunk have a large area which you can view from inside a broken down school bus and European lynx can be viewed from a trappers cabin! Other notable animals here are North American tree porcupine, European elk and timber wolf. Canadian otters were also exhibited and had young although too early to be seen. Africa was my next port of call and again I was impressed. This area includes two large mixed paddocks. One houses Rothschild's giraffe, impala, blesbok, nyala, pink-backed pelican and Abyssinian ground hornbill and looked a little over-populated as certain areas were very muddy.The other has common eland, Grant's zebra, greater kudu, springbok, sable antelope and white rhino. Birds were also here in the form of marabou, griffon vulture and ostrich and this paddock looked in much better condition. The Jungle hall was also good. This has the indoor quarters for chimps and common hippos as well as enclosures for serval and a pair of red-tailed moustached monkey. It also has free-flying hammerkop. The outdoor chimp pen is also impressive with a large tree they can climb which, unfortunately, they did not use while I was there. Olive baboons, double-spurred francolin and spotted hyena are amongst other things you can see here. You can also take a boat ride which gets you closer to the rhino paddock, flamingos, hippo/sitatunga and baboons. One strange inhabitant here is porcupines, of the Indian variety! Lastly I visited Asia which was my least favourite area. It begins with by far the worst enclosure in the zoo and belongs to binturongs and is totally out of place in this new zoo. Amur tiger, red panda, bactrian camel and southern pig-tailed macaque have ok accomodation but this area is dominated by the ELE-tropenparadies. This is home to the Sumatran orangs and hanuman langurs that have two large islands they share. Inside they also have short-clawed otters as flat mates. Prevost's squirrels have a nice pen and the rest of the house is your usual tropical free-flight. A nice group of large fruit bats are here and were very vocal during the day and looked impressive flying about during the afternoon. Overall I loved this zoo. It was very visitor friendly and had plenty to entertain kids. It had an interesting if not huge collection of animals (sorry but as you can see from my notes i'm a bit mammal biased) and had very imaginative ways of showing them.
This sounds like an excellent trip; there can surely not be anywhere in Europe with such a high concentration of top zoos. And you didn't see Bochum (not top, but worth seeing) or Munster (a bit further out, but excellent). Did you do a zoo a day, or did some of these places double up?
I did do one zoo a day so I could take my time to look round properly. Wanted to do Rheine as well but the train trip would have taken about three hours plus a bus trip at the other end.
I have always had a soft spot for Duisburg zoo. My first visit here, back in 1991, was the first time I'd seen Commerson's dolphin, beluga, giant otter, fossa, hog badger (never again) and red river hog. Twelve years ago it was the turn of wolverine to make it's debut for me. The zoos most famous inhabitants though were the Orinoco dolphins and sadly today only one male remains. His home has been improved since my last visit and is part of the 'Rio Negro' house which is an extension off from the aquarium. I was pleased to see that the dolphin had an area he could get away from view and certainly had more room than he had in his previous 'tank'. This house also has free-roaming red-handed tamarins, channel-billed toucan, two-toed sloth and southern tamandua. Although the latter two I never saw. There is also a tank full of amazonian fish, an exhibit for wild guinea pig and one for golden tegu. The reticulated giraffe/southern ground hornbill house has been renovated since my last visit and includes an aviary for weaver birds. The outside paddock could still do with being bigger as could that of the South African elephants. Another popular part of the zoo is the Australian area where a nice group of breeding Queensland koalas are to be found. On the way into their house is a pen for Goodfellow's tree kangaroo, kookaburra, brush-tailed bettong and a very active pair of short-beaked echidna. In another pen are common wombat (who were a no-show all day) and next to this a large paddock for red-necked wallaby and emu. The Commerson's dolphin and beluga are no longer here and their old enclosure is closed off to the public and this area looks a bit of an eye-sore. They still have bottle-nosed dolphins and their show was very entertaining. It's good to see you no longer have to pay extra for this and that you can see them any time of the day. There is also a larger revamped enclosure for spectacled bears. A mum and a youngster born last autumn were showing off their climbing skills most of the day. Nearby there is also a nice set of pens for clouded leopards (a bit too good as I never saw one all day!) The aquarium isn't huge but has an impressive giant salamander in a recently renovated tank, while the reptile part at the end of the building is currently closed. A nice family group of giant otters also live here and have a good sized outdoor pen as well. The lion enclosure is a bit small and the house also has not so good exhibits for malayan binturong, european wild cat and a breeding group of fishing cat. The dwarf mongoose (of the east African variety) have a nice sized pen though and there is improved accomadation nearby for both european lynx and wild cat. As well as the elephant house the worst part of the zoo, for me, is the monkey house. Apart from the outside area for gorillas and the pygmy hippo enclosure the rest is pretty awful. Small pens both inside and outside have the following species; greater spot-nosed monkey, diana monkey, gelada baboon, lion-tailed macaque, king colobus, siamang, agile and white-cheeked gibbon and bornean orang. There are also inside pens for cotton-tops, golden lions and Goeldi's monkey. Two-toed sloth also have a free-run of this house. There is also an african area with a nice herd of damara zebra with white rhino and red river hog with watussi. Another paddock has marabou, griffon vulture and crested porcupine that seems to be missing an ungulate of some sort. Elsewhere there is a nice little pen for Kirk's dik-dik and kori bustard. Ruffed and ring-tailed lemurs have a nice walk-through. The latter sharing it's house with giant jumping rat. Fossa are also shown well here. Banded mongoose live in what appeared to be an abandoned enclosure full of long grass and a few logs and rocks. The house connected to them has been turned into a museum which is full of old signs, posters and news articles from the past and is well worth a look. Other interesting mammals seen here were mandrill, bongo, greater kudu and hunting dogs. Wolverine remain and are still the most active I have seen at any zoo. I do still like Duisburg and a lot has been done since my last visit. Certain areas look a bit neglected ( banded mongoose, bongo, raccoon) and others are desperate for improvement (elephants and primates) but the new parts look good, so hopefully the zoo will still be an exciting one to visit in the future.
This was only my second visit to Munster and last time, twelve years ago, I was in awe of their new orang house. They shared this with lion-tailed macaques and short-clawed otters and it had a mist machine that made the outside look very tropical. Today the lion-taileds and the mist are gone but the house still looks good with it's families of bornean orangs and otters. Inside birds, including Brahminy starling fly around the public. Chimps and gorillas are also housed well here, the latter sharing with a group of cherry-crowned mangabey. There is also your usual ring-tailed lemur walk-through, but next door to this is one for eastern black and white colobus. This looks really good, but unfortunately, while I was there they never ventured far from their house. I wonder, as this was a nice warm day, if they do make use of all their pen? The rest of the primate section is made up of Goeldi's monkey, yellow-breasted capuchin (who at times have outside access to a chinese muntjac pen!) and also a not great enclosure for mandrill. There is also a nice mix of western pygmy marmoset, golden lion tamarin and a very active pair of southern three-banded armadillo. This area of the zoo is also home to red river hog, northern warthog, grey seals (whose show is very entertaining), black-footed penguin and an aviary for european waders. Asian elephants have a good sized paddock and house which also contains an aviary for Swainson's lorikeet. The reticulated giraffe house was where I most wanted to go, though, because it contained the first of three new species of mammal I would see on this trip. This was the rufous elephant shrew. The male and female were housed separately and while I was taking a photo a keeper came over and pointed out a baby that had been born overnight! It was quite a size and if I hadn't been told I would have guessed it was a few weeks old. There is also an african savanna enclosure here with Grant's zebra (who had four foals), blue wildebeest, common eland, crowned crane, guineafowl and South African ostrich. The springbok and defassa waterbuck normally have access to this area as well, but not on the day I visited. There are also Dalmatian pelicans nearby, with one who positioned himself near a footbridge and lunged at anyone who dared pass! Munster has also had success with their South African cheetahs who have several large paddocks to call home. Tigers and lions have dated pens and the persian leopards have poor facilities. Inside the lion house there is a large colony of egyptian fruit bats and a pair of south-east asian golden cat. Bears to be found at Munster are malay sun bear and syrian brown bear and it's nice to be able to view their indoor dens. Ring-tailed coati and a tank full of harvest mice are also here. Another good enclosure, that can easily be missed, is that for european wolves. It is situated in a corner of the zoo behind the horse museum and a children's play area. Last time I came here they had dolphins (bottle-nosed and one guyana) but now the dolphinarium is home to californian sea lions. I'd forgotten just how small this pool was! There is a reasonable aquarium here as well with reptiles and amphibians on the floor above. William's dwarf gecko, Jackson's chameleon, shingleback skink and Kaiser's spotted newt were amongst the inhabitants. The zoo also has a very good collection of chelonians. Elsewhere here there is a neat little tropical house, a large bird of prey aviary, kea, green aracari, white rhino, bongo, philippine spotted deer and yellow-throated marten. Munster is a very good zoo in a lovely city and was well worth the trip out (nearly two and a half hours each way on public transport from my base in Dusseldorf).
I take it the new elephant enclosure is still under construction a Munster. How was it looking? I'd certainly concur with this very interesting report. When I first visited Munster, in 1994, it was very concrete-y and fairly uninspiring. Every subsequent trip has revealed a marked improvement, and I think it is now a really pretty impressive place.
Cologne zoo is always a pleasure and, with their two new major exhibits since my last visit, is definately one of my all time favourites. The first is for asian elephants and looks amazing with it's herd of ten females and young and a separate area for two bulls (one malayan and one sri lankan who have both sired offspring here). There is a huge indoor area and you get good views of their outdoor pens from several angles. The other new development is Hippodom. The outside, like Berlin, has their three common hippos sharing with sitatunga. The inside for me is better, although I would say the underwater viewing is shaded by Berlin. The house is also home to fulvous whistling ducks that swim alongside the hippos as well as free-flying rodriguez fruit bat, congo grey parrot, blue-naped mousebird and carmine bee-eater amongst others. There is also a large pool for nile crocodile and yemen chameleons can also be found in this house. The only disappointment was the enclosure, which I think held rufous elephant shrew and red-legged sun squirrel together, was being refurbished. This is the second time I have missed this squirrel species as they were a no show when I went to Plzen four years ago! The tropical house was new to me last time and still looks good. There is a nocturnal area as you go in now which I can't remember from before. This had a pen for sugar glider and a much larger one for northern luzon giant cloud rat. As you enter the house there are two large 'aviaries' on your left that you can view from ground level and from canopy level as you walk out. The first contains short-clawed otter and the second has channel-billed cuckoo, argus pheasant and hornbill (sulawesi knobbed?). The actual free-flying part of the building is well stocked with, amongst others, roul-roul (who were breeding well), fairy bluebird, red-tailed laughing thrush and Sclater's crowned pigeon. At the rear of the house are more exhibits including lar gibbon, Matschie's tree kangaroo with another cloud rat and fire-tufted barbet. Primates were always my favourites here, although species numbers have dwindled since my first visit. The ape house still looks good with bonobos, gorillas with kikuyu colobus (who were very shy) and bornean orangs (with lion-tailed macaques). There are also western pygmy marmosets and the last pair of red-shanked douc langur in europe. The langurs outdoor enclosure is one of those 'cage balls' that Cologne has had for as long as I remember and, for me, are the worst part of the zoo.The lemur house now contains just three species; red ruffed, greater bamboo and belted black and white ruffed! It also has a pen for madagascan reptiles and fody. Opposite the house are ring-tailed mongoose. The old south american primate house is now virtually empty and is mainly used to show the history of the zoo. These monkeys are housed in 'temporary' accomodation and include red howlers, white-faced saki, yellow-breasted capuchin and golden lion tamarins. These pens look as though they should be used by the gardening department! Hamadryas baboons inhabit an island which is a little over populated. Asian lion, amur tiger and south african cheetah have nice pens, but the snow and persian leopards get a better deal. South african ratel were very active in the morning and then disappeared for the day. Grizzly and malay sun bears are also here. Other notable mammals include onager, okapi, giant anteater (with a baby), southern pudu, bactrian wapiti, Grevy's zebra, goitered gazelle, red duiker and greenland musk ox. The brazilian tapir/capybara pen is good and reticulated giraffe share with impala. The old hippo pen, next door to the black rhino, is now home to south african porcupine. Birds are well represented here with well layed out aviaries. Madagascan crested ibis, bare-faced go-away bird, elegant crested tinamou, southern boat-billed heron and western capercaillie stood out for me. There is also a fine collection of waterfowl. The reptile and amphibian collection is also excellent. Giant salamander, cayenne caecillian, quince monitor, mindanao water monitor, chinese wonder gecko, baby dwarf bearded dragons, fijian banded iguana and philippine crocodile with many more besides. This house also has an aquarium and invertebrates are found on the first floor. The current development is for, disappointingly, a farmyard area. Cologne shows that a city zoo can keep big animals in a great way. It also has a very good, diverse collection that should appeal to any visitor and I recommend it whole-heartedly.
The smallest of the seven zoos I did is Krefeld, but it's still well worth visiting. The South American tropical house is one of my favourites. It's breeding two-toed sloth and very friendly white-faced saki have a free run and there is an enclosure for southern tamandua (although I didn't see any signs of one being there). There are also two species of bat (Pallas' long-tongued and lesser long-nosed) that can be viewed, during the day, through small windows in their cave. Anacondas, several species of turtle (including Hilaire's side-necked and Arrau river) and caiman are also exhibited as well as leaf-cutter ants. Next door to this is a new (2010) butterfly house which was also one of the best I have seen. The Humboldt's penguin also have a new walk-through aviary they share with inca tern. Although when I visited you couldn't enter, I assume, because of the breeding season. There is also a lovely bird house that has several indoor aviaries with birds housed geographically. The Madagascar one had crested ibis and crested coua. There were also egyptian plover, white-bellied bustard, blue-throated carmine bee-eater and wattled jacana as well as many others. The large animal house (after visiting Munster and Cologne) is disappointing with it's two asian elephants, pygmy hippo and black rhino. The rhino did have a youngster, though, that must have been born some time last year. The animal that first brought me here many years ago is the mountain anoa. Sadly, today, there is just a lone male (one of just three left in europe). Next door to him are the taiwanese subspecies of chinese muntjac (I think are the only ones in europe) and then it's a mixed paddock of parma wallaby and the, not often seen, eastern grey kangaroo. The ape house was always a strange one to me as there are no outside enclosures. This is all supposed to change now, and has begun with the building of a new gorilla house on the site of the former entellus langur pen. This is quite good, although they mainly stayed indoors as they were quite protective of a youngster. Back to the original house, there are groups of common chimp, bornean orang and a very elderly trio of gorilla. The chimps and orangs should be getting outside accomodation in the coming years. There are also two pens on leaving the building for silvery marmoset and green acouchy. Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat are also free-flying in here. There is a nice South American paddock as you enter the zoo with brazilian tapir, capybara, guanaco and rhea. Next to that is one for bactrian camel that are separated from the public by a very small moat. The african paddock is currently undergoing work with new stable areas being built. The asian paddock looked a little untidy and housed blackbuck, nilgai and axis deer. Greenland musk ox, congo blue duiker and Dall's sheep can also be found here. The old lion house is now home to kikuyu colobus who were proudly showing off a baby. There are also cretan spiny mice, harvest mice and degus here and a strange little pen for jaguarundi. Their outside area, which is not very big, has a caged front with no barrier stopping you from putting your fingers through! There is a nice jaguar pen, an ok sumatran tiger enclosure and a poor snow leopard exhibit. The giant anteaters, bat-eared fox and european otters are housed well but the hamadryas baboon island, californian sea lion pool and siamang cage are in need of replacing. Goodfellow's tree kangaroo, cheetah, indian porcupine and golden lion tamarin also reside here. The new areas to this zoo look good and with the improving facilities for the apes this will be another collection I will look forward to going to again in the near future.
With an entrance fee of just eight euros, Dortmund zoo was the cheapest on my trip, but don't think because of that it's not worth the visit. The best part of this zoo, again, belongs to the orangs. This time it's sumatrans, who reside in the tropical house known as 'Rumah hutan'. Here they share their enclosure with Malayan tapirs. Inside the house the viewing area has two levels and fruit bats are again free-flying (Indians). Elsewhere in the building are two nice little exhibits for pygmy slow loris and Belanger's tree shrew. The Amazonian tropical house does look dated now and in need of freshening up. There are the usual aquariums in here and a few reptile tanks and emperor tamarins and a pygmy marmoset / acouchi mix. Just outside the building are two nice pens for white-faced saki / red-rumped agouti and common squirrel monkey. Dortmund is probably most famous for it's anteaters. This was the first time, on my third visit here, that I didn't see a baby, and that goes for the tamanduas to. As well as these two species, the anteater house also has two-toed sloth and both six-banded and large hairy armadillos. Giant anteaters can also be found in the mixed South American paddock that also contains Brazilian tapir (who had a youngster), capybara (only saw one), Southern pudu and crested screamer. If I remember correctly this used to also have collared peccaries. The carnivore collection is very good here to. A very good otter house allows you to compare giants with short-claweds and there is a strange pen for ring-tailed coati. It is designed in the shape of a pirate ship! Clouded leopards have a splendid enclosure that can be viewed at two levels. Opposite this are smaller pens for oncilla and ocelot and a larger, better one for jaguarundi. They also had a huge enclosure for the carpathian lynx which is just a fenced off area of wooded valley. I was quite pleased that I managed to spot two! Malay tiger, lion, serval, amur leopard, jaguar and amur leopard cat make up the rest of the felines. Bat-eared fox, hunting dog and bushdog can be seen as well as, what looked like a very old spectacled bear. As with all the zoos I visited california sea lions were here to, but this time they shared with South American fur seal. I think this is one of the areas Dortmund is going to improve next. Binturongs, European badger and red panda also reside here. As well as the lynx, the red deer also get a huge enclosure. There are also large but uninspiring paddocks for roe deer and red kangaroo. Gaur have a new pen and Himalayan tahr also have a reasonable exhibit. A new pen is currently being built for rock wallaby. There is a mix of nilgai, blackbuck and axis deer with all three having recent offspring. There is also an African paddock with common eland, roan antelope and Grant's zebra. Angolan giraffes are here still, but I believe I read that they are departing. Their house also contained meerkats and yellow mongoose. I didn't manage to spot any red duiker. They did have white rhino, including a baby born the previous month. Goodfellow's tree kangaroo, coypu (that had five babies) and siamang are also to be found. The bird collection is ok to, especially the birds of prey, and there is a newish aviary for Goliath heron. After going around the zoo for the first time I suddenly realised I hadn't seen the animal I was most looking forward to! This being the Himalayan Palm civet. So I decided to head back to the entrance and find out where they were. As I got close to the entrance I noticed a very small pen that I had completely missed at the beginning, and yes, it belonged to the civets. I did manage to see one of them sunbathing later in the day and I am just surprised that these rarities (only pair in Europe) are housed in such a strange little pen. As I keep saying about these zoos, this is another one that is well worth the visit!
On my last day I went to another of my personal favourites, Wuppertal zoo. The site of this zoo is picturesque, although the hill it is based on can get quite steep in places for older people. Since my last visit the zoo has expanded with two great enclosures for big cats. The lion pen is a vast field with several viewing points for the visitor. The other is for amur tigers and is very well landscaped. The original big cat house is now home to a pair of indian leopard, clouded leopards and south-east asian golden cats. Also in this building are two fantastic little enclosures. One for Ansell's mole-rat and the other a mix of short-eared elephant shrew, cape beaked tortoise and two species of girdled lizard. The small cat house now comprises of oman desert cat, sand cat and Geoffroy's cat and, like the big cat house, you can view these animals inside. Snow leopards are located next door to this building. Cheetahs are found in two areas of the zoo as well (unfortunately the kings are no more). Even though I'm mainly into mammals, the bird collection at Wuppertal gets me quite excited. Kagu, harpy eagle, shoebill and cock-of-the-rock are all here and there are many more besides that are well exhibited in a lovely bird house. The king and gentoo penguins also have a great enclosure with excellent underwater viewing. There is also a small but good aquarium/reptile house. The okapi have also benefitted from an updated exhibit, although I didn't get to see one the day I visited or the yellow-backed duiker that was in with it. I did see a pair of these antelope in their own enclosure though. The okapi house also has a nice pen for rufous elephant shrew. Babirusa can be found at this zoo to, along with pudu and collared peccary, who had two very young 'piglets'. Their african elephants are breeding, although their enclosure isn't huge. The old elephant house is home to the Baird's tapirs and two-toed sloth, again, have a 'free-run' here. Red river hogs and Grant's zebra make up a little african area along with a fair sized paddock for farm animals from this region. Mara, guanaco and rhea also have a very nice home. As you walk up the hill from the entrance you get the 'Hagenbeck-esque' view of the california sea lion, polar bear and siberian ibex enclosures. This area also has short-clawed otter, european beaver and black-footed penguin. There is also a chinese part of the zoo that has mishmi takin, reindeer, Pere David's deer, kiang and both white-naped and manchurian crane. There are two primate houses. The ape house has gorillas, bonobos, two elderly chimps and orang-utans and has a very spacious indoor viewing area. The bonobo outdoor pen is currently being renovated. Breeding golden-headed lion tamarins are also found in this house. The monkey house contains drill, spectacled langur, golden-bellied mangabey, lion-tailed macaque, red ruffed lemur and colombian black spider monkey. Lar gibbons have quite a nice island too. Kodiak bear (only saw one) have a reasonable enclosure which, I think, will later include a group of wolves. The old wolf pen, which is behind the bears, is currently being improved and there is building work going on in front of the elephants for a new restaurant. There are also plans to improve both the small cat house and the shoebill exhibit. Yet again this was another great day out and I would recommend this zoo holiday to anyone. As Sooty mangabey said, where else would you find such a great collection of zoos in such a small area and, with Germany's excellent public transport system, it's all so easy to do.
Thanks for the reviews Glutton, you are bringing back lots of great memories of when I also zoo toured this area last year. I think not mentioning the unique rail line at Wuppertal is my only point to add. From a architectural point it is amazing and a very convenient way to access the zoo!
Yes, I should have mentioned the suspension railway at Wuppertal. I took the time, this year, to ride on it and it certainly added to an already great day!
