This time, the Monkey King has chosen the opposite direction of the compass... In this thread, I will now and then report from my "journey" to (hopefully) all Czech and Slovakian zoos (bit by bit) within the months to come and maybe post some pics, too. So far, I have visited in the last months and weeks -Plzen -Brno -Zlín -Olomouc -Dvůr Králové and will keep on, both before and/or behind the scenes. All in all, all the zoos on this link should be visited till the end of June 2009. Unie ?esk?ch a Slovensk?ch zoologick?ch zahrad Plzen and Dvůr Králové (that I had visited before) did live up to my expectations. But the most pleasant surprise by now has been Zlín-besides some relic husbandries (especially primates, reptiles etc.) a remarkably nice zoo in a beautiful park-and the only zoo I have encountered so far where weddings are so commonly held at that the bridal couples even have a sign on their own-next to that of the Cuban crocodiles... Next on the plan might be Ostrava or Hodonin. Hope You'll enjoy the trip(s) as much as I do.
So, let's start with the first zoo. Brno Zoo The zoo of the second largest city in the Czech Republic was founded in 1953 and houses about 800 animals of 210 species. Most of the zoo is located on and around the Mniší hora (Monk's "Mountain"). As a result, part of the paths and exhibits are pretty steep, which turns pushing a stroller/pram or wheelchair during Your zoo visit into quite a nice exercise... Nevertheless, it's an easy walk. Starting from Brno's main station, You can reach the zoo direcetly by Tram 1 (though this takes quite a while), 3 or 11. From the tram station, You turn to the right, cross the bridge, walk to the left, and voila-You're at the zoo. Let's take a look at the map Zoo walkthrough :: Zoo Brno From the submontane entrance/exit, the path leads You higher and higher up the hill, with the Africa Savannah exhibit visitor area marking one of the elevated points of the zoo. Until recent years, Brno Zoo has been quite unremarkable, if so to say, with little improvisation according to recent standards of modern zoo husbandry. Quite a bunch of the exhibits are still what could be euphemistically called "old school" - small "bars-and-concrete" exhibits which resemble old dog kennels. The local tiny barren concrete cage which until recently housed a fully grown Polar Bear and is now home to a binturong, is another good example for this kind of zoo architecture that is still, but luckily less and less (at least in the public areas), a common sight even in modern zoos. Bit by bit, the zoo is currently renovated. Newer exhibits like the one for Sumatran tigers and Sri Lankan leopards or "Beringia" and the upcoming "Kamtchatka" theme area show that the zoo does have potential and is willing to improve, but there still needs a lot to be done. This is especially true for most of the kept primates, small carnivores, birds and some reptiles. Some of the pictures in the gallery might illustrate better than my meager description what is meant. Judging as objectively as possible, I'd recommend the following parts of Brno zoo to the interested zoo visitor: -The Reptile House (which also houses some tamarins, amphibians and meerkats): not perfect, as afflicted with the usual husbandry problems its kind faces worldwide (some overcrowding tanks, a little cockroach problem, individual debatable husbandries...), but still quite nice, with an interesting collection (several Malaysian Giant Turtles (Orlitia borneensis), nice looking Basiliscus sp., a bunch of Cuban Ground Iguanas, housed together with Madagascar Radiated Tortoises, etc.) and one of the nicest Caiman Lizard exhibits I have ever seen in a zoo. -"Beringia": The best part is the Polar Wolf exhibit, abundantly covered with vegetation. Visitors can watch the animals (if the wolves feel like showing up...) through two large panorama windows within a large log cabin. This cabin also houses various exhibits of authentic Haida artwork, including a canoe. Other exhibits, like that for the Steller Sea Eagles or American beavers, are more or less adequate. The currently built Canadian lynx exhibit looks promising-and is certainly an improvement to the current husbandry. The barren Polar Fox exhibit disappoints; however, at least its various furry inhabitants seem to have therebye escaped their otherwise fatal destiny at the fur farm...At the moment, the rather large Bear Grotto houses a pair of Polar Bear cubs with their mum. Just follow the (in comparison to Berlin tiny) crowds-they will lead You the way, past the antique South African Seal exhibit ... -The Tiger Restaurant: most likely, one of the nicest zoo restaurants I have ever been to-which doesn't mean a lot actually, as I usually have no time nor wish to eat at a restaurant during a zoo visit...This one, nevertheless, is worth a visit. Large panorama windows allow a great look at the densely planted tiger exhibit. Sitting at Your table and eating a nice and inexpensive meal while a Sumatran tiger, almost at eye level, slowly sneaks past is indeed quite an experience. Additionally, the stairs up to the gift shop lead You closely around a tall and well decorated bamboo aviary, inhabited by a lively pair of Grizzled Giant Squirrels as well as a second, lightish aviary with Bali Starlings and Crested Wood Partridges, and to a balcony overlooking both the tiger and the adjacent, equally well-planted leopard exhibit. However, there is a downer: the indoor exhibits for the big cats, especially the Sri Lankan leopards, are small and rather bare, and due to having just one outdoor exhibit for each species, one of the pair (may it be tigers or leopards) spends most of its time in the tiny indoor quarter, without a possible visual retreat from the visitors. Here, focusing on just one big cat species would have been the better choice. -The design of the (wooden) information signs is one of the nicest and most artisticly appealing I have seen in zoos so far-and well accepted by the visitors, too. Surrounding "theme" structures, like tepees at the bisons or a Mongolian "Jurte" serving as the stable for the Takhis and the Kulan, as well as the odd combination of petting zoo and playground (poor rabbits...) are equally popular among most visitors. Most of the ungulate exhibits, among others for Mishmi Takin, Grevy Zebra, Maral, Eurasian Moose, West Caucasian Tur, Barbary Sheep (together with Geladas in an exhibit within the surrounding beech forest, full with hotwired trees...) are large and well-planted, yet more structural elements (f.e. benjes hedges) could be useful. The African Savannah and the South American Pampa house the usual combination You can expect (Reticulated Giraffe, (North African?) Ostrich, Damara Zebra, Blue Wildebeest-has become quite rare in zoo, hasn't it?-and respectively, Lowland Tapir, Magellan Goose, Capybara, Mara, Rhea and Coscoroba Swan) and are rather plain, but seem to satisfy the animals kept within more or less. All in all, the majority of the animals appears to be healthy and well looked after. Let's see how Brno Zoo will look one day when its planned improvements have taken place. At the moment, (and I hope that doesn't sound harsh, as the zoo staff has been quite friendly to me...), it's a rather unremarkable zoo, especially in comparison to other Czech zoos I'm going to write about in the future. If You happen to go to Brno and have some spare time, why not visit the zoo? But unlike Dvur, I wouldn't go to Brno just for the zoo... There's also a small public aquarium at Brno, close to the tourist office within the city centrum. However, due to the not really remarkable collection and the rather inadequate husbandry (overcrowded tanks!!!), I wouldn't recommend a visit. Well, that's my first review. More to come...
Ha, I love sulongkung (monkey king) Your review has a great vibe, detail to it, I'm looking forward to the next one,
An excellent review Sun Wukong, i like the personal touch you bring to YOUR visit. The restaurant sounds fantastic and such a simple idea, why more zoos don't follow this example i don't know
Well @MARK, Northern White Rhinos and Chaco Tortoises, for example, are pretty rare, aren't they? And don't forget the two photos dedicated to You...
Sorry guys-I am still pretty busy at the moment (among others, repairing a broken toilet...), but will try to send in my reviews of Olomouc, Zlin and the recently visited bratislava Zoo asap. Thanks for Your patience.
Ok, let's start with the zoo I have been most recently to-to be precise, yesterday. Hodonin Zoo, founded in 1976, is a small zoo of ca. 6-7 ha, with about 500 animals of 150 species. Getting there is pretty easy: starting from the central train station, don't walk the way leading to the centrum, but the opposite one. Follow a little bike path, turn left, and You will spot one (of many more) small signs leading You to the zoo past prefabricated slabs buildings, garages, crumbling factories, a forest...Somehow, the zoo reminded me of Krefeld Zoo; maybe due to its small size (although Krefeld sure is quite a bit bigger), maybe due to some similar zoo architecture, but maybe, and that is most likely, due to the closeness to a soccer stadium-which, judging from the noise, is pretty popular among the local fans...The animals, however, don't seem to mind the athletic neighbourhood-or other surrounding parts of human amusement, including go-cart racetracks and other noisy nonsense, muffled by the quietness of the little adjunctive forest. What is there to see? Frankly, not much; a pair of "Barbary" lions and jaguars (at the moment, a single playful spotted youngster; the other three, melanistic jaguars are still kept in a row of typical old-fashioned "concrete-and-bars" cages) each enjoy a new, nicely structured outdoor exhibit-with quite minimalistic, bare indoor enclosures. Seems like the architect responsible for the tiger & leopard exhibit in Brno had another go here...Visitors and big cats are seperated by security glass, huge wooden posts and-of course-hot wire. While all the glass panels I have seen so far in Czech and Slovakian zoos have hot wire, is still an unanswered question; maybe the staff doesn't want to spend much time on window cleaning, maybe it's another improvement of security-or maybe they just want to make photographing through a window more demanding for their visitors...Closeby a small and rather unremarkable aquarium, with a pair of black-tipped reef shark and a dwarf caiman as the biggest inhabitants. Most of the ungulates (among them waterbucks, a trio of ostriches with a dominant, plucking male, addax-nice horns!, kiang, zebras..) are kept in what I would call "cake slice" outdoor exhibits, with a central stable in the middle. Other ungulates (quite a lot of domesticated sheep) are additionally kept around the round "cakes", among them, interlaced into each other, an exhibit resp. for Western Sitatungas, Roe Deer and Coatimundi. And if someone of You ever wanted to pet Sitatungas and Roe Deer in turns-that's the place to go, as the barrier is minimal and the animals, due to constant visitor feeding, are accustomed to provide close animal-visitor contact...Due to the current season and with the local abundance of acorns and chestnuts, visitors here combine the art of feeding and throwing things at animals with remarkable frequency and sedulity... In between, carnivores (like a pair of Maned Wolves and an Ocelot, as well as an European Brown and a Sun Bear in remarkably old-fashioned cages...), some aviaries with commonly shown species of psittacines, pheasants, owls and Common Buzzards can be observed. The main part of the bird collection, among them a breeding pair of Toco Toucans, is housed in a small bird house, whose glazed tile architecture has been tentatively camouflaged with animal and jungle motives (not very convincing, if You ask me, but at least they gave it a try...) The coolest thing, and that may sound like a nerdy, Bill-Bryson-thingy, is the ancient soda machine inside the house. That old, formely German fossil still delivers steadily coffee and soft drinks-for remarkably low prices. If the zoo ever thinks about throwing out that one-I'd take it. Primates like chimps, Guereza, Japanese Macaques, Lar gibbons (with a strange swimming pool under them-?), black-and-white ruffed lemurs and tamarins as well as reptiles like a Salvator's monitor, a small Burmese python (labelled as "Python regius"...) and a Cuban Iguana are kept in the final animal house. For the creation of a "rainforest atmosphere", a "rainforest animal sounds" tape is repeatly played-which doesn't help a lot when looking at the rather bare indoor enclosures and the not much better "glass-and-bars" outdoor enclosures. Let's be frank: You're not missing much if You don't visit Hodonin Zoo. However, most of the animals appear to be healthy, the staff is quite friendly (although blind in terms of visitor feeding) and the new lion/jaguar exhibit seems to indicate a nice step torwards improvement. Bratislava Zoo Established in 1960, the zoo of Slovakia's capital has about 1300 animals of 150 species, covering a more or less hilly area of 35ha. How to get there: various buses go past the zoo. I'd recommend 31/32, as they departure from the central train station. Bratislava Zoo's main attraction are its white tigers, white lions and their Dino Statue Park-which pretty much explains why I'm not overwhelmed by this zoo. The exhibits for the big cats are new and the outdoor enclosures rather large-but mostly just as bare as the indoor ones. Why should anyone think that leaving some branches on the floor and abstract paintings on the wild wall would be enough behavioural enrichment for big cats? Adjusting the branches to form climbing structures would at least provide swift climbers like the Sri Lanka Leopards with a new dimension of room use-without making it more difficult to clean... There are some interesting species, like Pacific monitor, Nubian Ibex, Pygmy Slow Loris, Rothschild Giraffes and more Raccoon dogs than I have ever seen outside of fur farms, but all in all, the zoo appears to be old-fashioned (European Brown Bear/Sumatran Tiger grottos...), a bit untended and somehow bare, lacking animals or rather, a better presentation of the animals kept. The staff seems to be well-intended, but most likely, money and some creativity (plastic dinosaurs just don't do it...) are missing; the plan for the new primate house doesn't look too promising. All in all: missing out Bratislava Zoo on Your trip to Slovakia isn't a loss. In its current state, Bratislava has better attractions to offer. And, btw.: could someone please tell the zoo staff that their markhors have escaped...?
Founded in 1953, Olomouc Zoo keeps almost 2000 animals of 391 species in a area of 23 ha. Simply take Bus Nr.11 from the central train station. After arriving at the bus stop "Zoo", walk past various kiosks full of artificial sweets and cheap plastic toys (=ergo everything small children find appealing and force their parents to buy...) till You reach the zoo. The zoo is proud to house the largest group of Rothschild Giraffes and Gemsbock in Europe. However, their outdoor and indoor enclosures (like that of most of the exhibits) have seen better years in the past-and so have most of the other exhibits. Even the newer(2003?) "South America" House is another prime example of the old-fashioned, artificial, dimly lit "glass-and-bar" combination You still encounter in many East European Zoos today. The worst ones at Olomouc are the enclosures for the pygmy hippos, Sun Bears and small carnivores (among them Fossa, Jaguarundi...). The zoo does keep some interesting species, like Dhole, Great Black-headed Gull, Secretary Bird (in a mixed aviary), Weeper Capucin Monkey, African Civet, Derby Wallaby, Alaskan Musk Ox etc., but the presentation and the husbandry are often not too convincing nor according to modern standards. Oh, and did I mention the terrible, hopefully soon-to-be destroyed bear grotto? Two mentionable exhibits are the Japanese Macaque walk-through exhibit within a spruce forest, which You enter by walking over a rope bridge, and the Nocturnal House, whose structure reminds me of a donut: with an exhibit for three skinny Fennec Foxes in the middle, then the visitor path and then the semi-free main exhibit with a weird mix of Rodriguez Flying Foxes, Owls, Bettongs, Agoutis, Tawny Frogmouths...all kept together around the visitor area. End of Story: unless You want to take a chance to encounter one of the rare species mentioned above (all I saw of the Civet was the tip of the tail...), not visiting Olomouc Zoo won't leave You cursing about a missed opportunity.
Very interesting report. Semi-open night exhibit looks interesting. Do visitors have contact with japanese macaques?
In theory, yes. However, during my visit the macaques stayed away from the visitor path. Olomouc Zoo: Entrance to the Japanese Macaques Walk-Through Exhibit » ZooBeat Photo Gallery
Thanks for these very descriptive critiques. I enjoyed reading them as I doubt I shall ever visit any of these places, though the last three don't seem to be too strongly recommended.....
It seems as if there are a number of disappointing and outdated Eastern European zoos, but that was what I expected. However, I am enjoying the reviews and photos so keep up the great work!
