Planckendael - Asian Tropical House

A map of the Tropical House in the Asia Area in Planckendael. The large tropical house features mammals, birds and reptiles from the rainforests of South East Asia. The house attempts to link culture and nature with features such as a half-buried temple ruin and a small village.

The Asia theme in Planckendael is the newest theme currently being developed. The first major part (Gir Forest and Tropical House) was opened in 2006 while the next major part (elephants) will open in 2012.

Planckendael, July 2011.

@Toddy: once again thanks for all of your photos from this Belgian zoo, and I appreciate the many exhibit shots. Barely anyone on ZooChat clicks on photos of animals, but the photos of enclosures are in high demand! The Asian tropical house appears to be excellent, other than the subpar indoor area for gibbons, but what is your opinion? Does it compare to similarly large structures at Leipzig, Arnhem, Zurich, etc, or is it of average quality?

I know what you mean, I myself am also more interested in the exhibit shots. When I upload pictures from a zoo I try to give a complete virtual tour of it including descriptions. I only upload shots of animals if I have some really good ones. But I'm glad you enjoyed the photos from Planckendael as the tour is now over. I might do the other Belgian zoos I visited this year over the next few weeks (Antwerp Zoo, Pairi Daiza and Aquatopia).

The Asian Tropical House is pretty good but nothing new or innovative except for the gibbon island. Also, I actually don't find it that sub-par compared to most other indoor gibbon holdings. I guess it just seems worse because it would so very easily be improved massively and there is a large waste of space there. But like I mentioned I really like the idea.

However, attempting to compare the Asian Tropical House to Masoala, Burger's Bush or Gondwanaland is not even worth bothering. This house simply isn't in that league. It is good, absolutely, and has some innovative features such as some short educational films and some of the landscaping (gibbon island, village, etc.) but it just doesn't have that feel of rainforest that Masoala and Burger's Bush have. Also, while the landscaping is nice there isn't that great a variety in animal species. Out of the 34 species in the house 5 of them are mammals, 2 are reptiles and 27 of them are birds. And the only free-ranging species are 9 of the birds.

So in conclusion: The Asian Tropical House is better than most but nothing sensational.