On June 1 2014 I visited for the first time Deltapark Neeltje Jans. Neeltje Jans was origianly constructed as an artificial working-island on/in which large concrete dam-stuctures were made for the storm surge barrier, which protect part of the Netherlands against the North sea and the complete protection-plan is known as the Delta-works. After the barrier was finished a large expo-area was constructed on the island. After paying the more as 20 Euro entrance-fee - which is ways to much if you are only intrested in the animals ! - you enter the main building. A nice skeleton of a Mamuth is the first thing to see but further the building contains only several film-theaters were movies are shown about the Delta-works. Also a restaurant and some exhibitions are housed in this building. So now we went outside and here we enter a seal-enclosure which is very small and quite boring. The animals ( 3 or 4 Harbour seals ) looked however fine. Along some playing grounds we went to the - somewhat strange constructed - whale exhibition building in which some intresting things are shown - dolphin and whale replicas and a whale skeleton - however no living animals. Afther leaving this building we come to another much to small ( and again very boring ) enclosure, this time for Californian sea-lions. The animals use to give shows but the day I was there, no shows were given and it even was not possible to go near the animals because the area was locked ! Next we went to the Blue Reef aquarium. The name sounds great but this is not the case. In a first room several smaller aquariums are home to an intresting collection of fish and other sea-creatures. Also a touch-pool is in this first room. In the second - and last - part of the Blue Reef building a large aquarium is home to several shark and ray species and also some smaller reef-fish can be found in this large aquarium. As a last building on this part of Neeltje Jans there is a wind-tunnel in which you can experience how it is to be in a huricane ! Along a sandy beach, were we saw several wild birds - among them a nice pair of Eider ducks - we went to the last "animal-attraction", the Bird of Prey flight show. Althrough it was not bad, I've seen shows which were ways more intresting ! It's also possible to stroll IN the barrier and to make a small boot-trip on the Oosterschelde, the part of sea cut of from the sea by the barrier. For the boot-trip we were however to late ( ) so we decided to leave Neeltje Jans. Altogether if you only went for the animals, it's not worth the money but if you're alos intrested in huge constructions or if you have small children it may be nice to visit it if you are nearby.
The show was already going on when I came to it so I can have missed one or 2 birds but I saw an Hooded vulture, a ( hybrid ? ) falcon, a Barn owl, an Harris hawk and a Kookaburra. Altogether not that impresive !
I have been to Neeltje Jans today. There were 3 harbor seals, all males, oldest is 35 and blind, one is his 23 year old son and a third one is unrelated and in his teen years. They do a show with them. Also there were a few Californian sea lions. Both exhibits are small and not interesting. The aquariums were slightly better, but still not great. The touch pool is fenced now, so no possibility to touch. I didn't see any signs of a bird show. All the animals at Neeltje Jans seems to be in good condition (the blindness of one seal is not due to poor management), but don't have a very inspiring life in my opinion. As a zoo very poor and for € 25,- entrance fee it's expensive, even if you don't go for the animals only. In this time of the year also a lot of the waterslides, pools and play areas are closed, so even less fun for your money.
