Snowleopard's 2019 Road Trip: Netherlands, Belgium, France & Germany

It's that time of year again, when the sun is shining, new zoo exhibits are opening, summer is in full session in the Northern Hemisphere and it's time for yet another 'Snowleopard Road Trip' thread. During the 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012 road trips I was with my wife and we had two children during that time and we went everywhere as a family. Very young kids are basically free at all zoological facilities and we toured America and visited just about every single major zoo and aquarium in the nation. During the 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 road trips I traveled alone and visited what seems like every single small zoo and aquarium that I could find in the western half of the USA.

This year brings a bigger, better road trip in comparison to what I like to call the obscure zoological detritus in states ranging from California to Illinois to Wisconsin and Michigan. I've been all across Canada (9 out of the 10 Provinces) and all 50 U.S. states, plus all over Australia and even a jaunt in Europe in 2003 and then the Caribbean in 2008. One really nice aspect of visiting zoos is that everything is culminating with the 2019 publication of America's Top 100 Zoos & Aquariums** as I've co-authored that book with Tim Brown and it should be available for purchase in September.

For this 2019 trip, and what will likely be my final 'Snowleopard' summer trek for 3 years, I've got an ambitious plan to tour approximately 90 zoos in 33 days. I've actually got 95 zoos on my itinerary but I plan to not rush things and I don't believe that I'll get to all of them. I'll begin in the Netherlands (close to 50 zoos), have a jaunt through Belgium (12 zoos), and also spend time in Germany (at least 30 zoos) and this will be my longest, most jam-packed zoo trip yet. Exciting times! Near the end of the journey, probably when I'm completely knackered and worn-out from bouncing around Europe, I'll stagger through the entrance gate of my 500th zoo all-time. Wow. Truth be told, I don't lose steam on these trips and even when I toured 81 zoos through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona in 2015 (with zero air-conditioning in my vehicle!!) it didn't dim my passion for being a zoo nerd.

**All proceeds are going to be donated to a pair of conservation programs.

Here are my 8 previous road trip threads:

Snowleopard's 2018 Road Trip (50 zoos in 16 days):

Snowleopard's 2018 Road Trip

Snowleopard's 2017 Road Trip (44 zoos in 17 days):

Snowleopard's 2017 Road Trip

Snowleopard's 2015 Road Trip (81 zoos in 24 days):

Snowleopard's 2015 Road Trip

Snowleopard's 2014 Road Trip (65 zoos in 20 days):

Snowleopard's 2014 Road Trip

Snowleopard's 2012 Road Trip (50 zoos in 50 days):

Snowleopard's 2012 Road Trip

Snowleopard's 2011 Road Trip (24 zoos in 32 days):

Snowleopard's 2011 Road Trip

Snowleopard's 2010 Road Trip (39 zoos in 46 days):

Snowleopard's 2010 Road Trip

Snowleopard's 2008 Road Trip (30 zoos through the whole summer):

Snowleopard's Epic Road Trip

 

May your trip be safe and entertaining, Snowleopard.

I will be following this topic closely as I believe it will be very interesting to read what a person who has seen "the good, the bad and the ugly" of zoos in North America (and elsewhere as well) thinks about zoos here in northwestern Europe, including many that I have myself visited or may want to visit and some that I know quite well.

My best wishes for you journey.

 

Cannot wait and I’m very much looking forward to buying your book as well! Here we go!

 

DAY 1: Sunday, July 14th

My latest ‘Snowleopard Road Trip’ involved a very long flight from Vancouver, Canada, to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, via a layover in Toronto. Leaving the house at 7:00 a.m. with my wife and 4 kids, we drove an hour to the Vancouver International Airport, which now has a Vancouver Aquarium gift shop in one section. For those that are unaware, the aquarium actually maintains a couple of large tanks at the airport and so there is a clear aquatic presence via that famous institution.

The trip to Toronto was a 4.5-hour flight, allowing me to listen to the incessant bickering of the couple next to me before landing in the largest city in the second largest nation on the planet. The couple that were arguing were probably in their early thirties and just back from some warm location as they were tanned beyond belief, but whether they are still together as I type this is likely a 50-50 shot. It was my first time on an airplane since my honeymoon in 2007 and I forgot just how tiny and cramped a plane can be. Many passengers had to go sideways down the aisle as their carry-on luggage was too wide, and I was one of the very last people on the plane in Vancouver and thus one of the last off in Toronto.

A dozen years without stepping foot on a plane was a shock, as on that 2007 honeymoon my wife and I had a whopping 11 flights in about 6 weeks. Here’s what we did (off the top of my head):

1- Vancouver to Honolulu
2- Honolulu to Sydney, Australia (we spent a full week in Sydney)
3- Sydney to Cairns (4 days in Cairns)
4- Cairns to Darwin (4 days in Darwin)
5- Darwin to Alice Springs (we spent a full week in the Red Center of Oz)
6- Alice Springs to Adelaide (5 days in Adelaide)
7- Adelaide to Tasmania (5 days in Tasmania)
8- Tasmania to Melbourne (we spent a full week in Melbourne)
9- Melbourne to Sydney
10- Sydney to Honolulu
11- Honolulu to Vancouver

But I digress…

My 4.5-hour Toronto flight in the can, I had a 2-hour layover and puttered around in the airport, texted my wife, found out what shenanigans the 4 kids got into that day, and ate at Bento Sushi for dinner. Next up was a 7.5-hour flight from Toronto to Amsterdam. For that one I was squeezed into the window seat again (a major plus) and I never left for over 8 hours. The guy next to me was the King of Farts, as he was not at all afraid to emit sonic booms from his posterior. The man next to him had a pair of the hairiest legs I’ve ever seen, evoking images from Gombe National Park. I stayed in my seat, afraid to disturb either the Butt Boombox or The Human Chimp.

I watched two films during my long journey from North America to Europe. Bohemian Rhapsody, for the second time, as it’s a decent flick and has some killer music from Queen. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, for the third time, as it is a minor classic from 2007 that appeals to film buffs like me because many of the images are startling. The cinematography is superb, the enigmatic and quiet lead is played by Brad Pitt, and his ‘James Gang’ includes Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell, Sam Shepard and Jeremy Renner. It’s a slow-moving Western, but a rewarding flick for movie geeks.

That’s Day 1 done and dusted…tomorrow it’s time to visit some zoos!

 

Stay safe, SnowLeopard! Hard to believe how rude people can be on airplanes. I've been fortunate to not have many experiences like these people. Did you get any sleep on your Atlantic flight?

 

I really like reading your detailed and humorous reports of your journey and the hiccups and woes thereof, Snowleopard. I hope your experiences over here in Europe will be better and more pleasant than what you experienced during your trans-Atlantic flight.

Thank you for your efforts in terms of writing these reports and already posting some images earlier today.

I am very much looking forward to reading more of your journey and I will keeping a close eye on this thread for sure.

 

Very excited to see where this thread will go. Most European travel threads go through larger more well known zoos, so it will interesting to hear of some smaller collections. Best of luck!

 

This is already promising to be the best trip report yet! Hilarious.

 

DAY 2: Monday, July 15th (3 zoos)

After my two flights, I arrived in Amsterdam at 10:00 a.m. Monday morning after a night on the plane of perhaps 3 hours of sleep. How can anyone sleep on planes? I had some little bastard kicking my seat from behind, King of the Farts next to me ripping up a storm, Chimp Man’s distracting hairy legs, the freaking seatbelt lights beeping every time we hit mild turbulence (probably due to Fart Man), etc. Exasperating! Of note is that the Vancouver airport has 25 million annual passengers, Toronto’s main airport has 50 million annual passengers, and then there is Amsterdam at 75 million annual passengers. The glut of people and suitcases within the bowels of that melting pot of diversity is incredible. Every type of hat, shirt, pants, shorts, shoes, skin colour and language appear to be on show for all to see. It’s a rewarding and at times frustrating experience to spend time at Schiphol. I was there more than two hours just clearing customs, getting my suitcase and signing out my rental car. I knew that it would be a ‘gong show’ and so I deliberately scheduled a trio of relatively small, obscure, easy-to-reach zoos on the itinerary.

Approximately 30 minutes east of Amsterdam is the city of Almere (pop. 200,000) and there is a nice park area with a number of amenities. It contains a scenic garden, a cool playground set in the woods, a children’s climbing course in the treetops, and a couple of small ‘zoos’ that have been visited by a few Dutch members of this forum. Add a Canadian to that list!

Zoo/Aquarium # 1: Stichting AAP (Almere, NL)

This is a rescue center that focuses almost exclusively on primates, although there are apparently some small mammals behind the scenes. It is free to visit, although that basically means people can walk around a small lake and view the primates from across moats and through fencing. I’ve heard that there is a large number of Chimpanzees, although they are viewed from a distance and it was a chilly day and thus chimps were coming and going during my visit. I counted at least 5 outdoor, open-topped enclosures that are all adequate but nothing spectacular for the rest of the primates. There is the Chimpanzee complex in a slightly different area, plus a series of holding cages in the quarantine section and all of the exhibits (apart from the open-topped ones) are difficult to see into because of the obtrusive chain-link wire. There are baboons, capuchins, macaques and others in what is possibly a rotating gallery of primates in the series of outdoor yards. If there aren’t many monkeys out and about then a visit can easily be accomplished in perhaps 20 minutes.

Zoo/Aquarium # 2: Almere Jungle (Almere, NL)

Almere Jungle is a dump. The garbage on the outside sidewalk, the underwhelming entrance, the minor construction that forces visitors to literally walk around hammers and nails lying on the floor, the crappy signs and the general feeling that this is an amateurish establishment tainted my visit. It is located directly next to Stichting AAP and in a nice part of the city, but the quality on show is disappointing. The good news is that there is a fairly large Barn Owl aviary and a nicely-designed Raccoon exhibit with a very tall tree in its center. The rest of this ‘zoo’ is not very good, with mainly pet-shop type displays set in a café environment and it is 6 Euros to venture into the separate, zoo-like area. Ugh.

Zoo/Aquarium # 3: Natuurpark Lelystad (Lelystad, NL)

Approximately 30 minutes farther east of Almere is this wildlife park, and during my visit I kept thinking over and over again that this type of facility would never be seen in North America. Why not? For one thing, the metal walking ramps that jut over a deep pond have zero fencing around them, and it wouldn’t take much for a young child to plummet into the water. Around every single exhibit are strands of electric wires in addition to the regular fencing, but in numerous cases it would be fairly simple for a visitor to reach out and receive an electric shock. Signage is there but is minimal in places, and little kids move fast and so some dumb North American would then probably sue the zoo if there was electric wire within easy access for a child. The European Wild Boars are held in by fencing that is not much more than waist-high on me, plus there is very low electric wire that would be simple to touch and the icing on the cake is that every once in a while there is a wooden fence post that stretches from one side of the fence to the other…meaning that in two quick steps anyone could be in with the wild boars! I was tempted to try it myself as no one was around, but the thick mud on the other side was a major deterrent. Lastly, visitors can walk into the Pere David’s Deer paddock (with the deer!) as well as the Wisent/Przewalski’s Horse yard. You wouldn’t see any of these things in an American or Canadian zoo…or at least not to the same extent that they occur here in rural Netherlands. I wasn’t gored by a Wisent and so you’ll all have a steady stream of reviews still to come! They just eyed me silently and wondered why I wasn’t showering twice a day like I do back at home; my stench kept me alive!

The European Otter series of exhibits are fantastic, with 7 enclosures that are all spacious and natural-looking and I was a little surprised to see a sign advertising a revamp of the area that will supposedly occur later this year. There lies the problem with this facility, in that the yards are so enormous that it becomes a drain to visit. After walking for 15 minutes without any sign of Moose or Wapiti, I came across some European Wild Boars and the next habitat was for Mouflon Sheep…15 minutes away! There are times carefully printed on all the signs, as it can be 9 minutes to one animal, or 12 minutes in the opposite direction to another species, and that makes for an exhausting couple of hours of walking. Bikes are encouraged, although I saw very few, and there is a nicely-done main building near the entrance with taxidermy specimens, but the sheer effort one has to put into this park just to see a few species makes it not really worth it. I really enjoyed the otters, plus a large herd of at least 15 or more Wisent, and Przewalski’s Horses are always a treat…but walking for what seemed like days just to catch a glimpse of some ungulates in a 5-acre paddock isn’t conducive to repeat visits.

On a side note:

- In Canada and the USA I would guess that probably 80% of all gas stations and convenience stores have a bank machine. I’ve literally been in hundreds of them over the years whenever I’ve traveled and so I’m accustomed to seeing the tiny machines that anyone with a card can withdraw money from. In the Netherlands I’ve been in 5 gas stations/convenience stores and none of them have bank machines. Interesting. We’ll have to see if that trend continues.

- In Lelystad, where I was during my last stop of the day, I spoke to 6 different people and none of them knew a lick of English. The grumpy old woman running the Discovery Center introductory building was tough to deal with as she refused to sell me one of the zoo’s maps. I desperately wanted one as they are laminated and stiff like cardboard…a high-quality zoo map. But since I only had Euro bills in a denomination of 50 (all that I could get from a bank machine at an actual bank!) the lady wouldn’t accept the money. My MasterCard, which I used all over the place and all day today (Tuesday) while in Amsterdam, did not work anywhere around Almere or Lelystad. Perhaps the smaller, rural Dutch communities have different machines? Amsterdam = accepted in a half-dozen locations. Two small Dutch towns = MasterCard or Bank Card don’t work on any machines. Anyway, because I didn’t have exact change of 1 Euro then I had to walk all around the damn Natuurpark Lelystad by checking and enlarging a photograph of the zoo’s map on my Iphone. While I was politely trying to convince the lady that I needed a map to walk around what is a huge plot of land, 5 other people all came in (in different groups) and none of the people spoke any English. Interesting.

- Driving isn’t really an issue as thankfully the Dutch drive on the same side of the road as North Americans. There are a TON of roundabouts, which I genuinely like, and clearly posted speed signs that are easy to see. Navigation was much more difficult in Amsterdam due to what felt like a couple of million cyclists, but that’s for another day!

 

ATMs are not normally found on petrol stations in the Netherlands or Germany. Don't count on it in your travels. When you need cash, find a bank or an ATM.

I find it a bit strange that you travel halfway across the world to visit such small zoos like Lelystad. Maybe you hope to get a plaque "Our first foreign visitor in 20 years"?

BTW, interesting place to visit is Oostvaardersplassen. It is a nature reserve with red deer, horses and primitive cattle and wild waterbirds. Next door to Lelystad.

Anyway, I am looking forward to read your travels!

 

Dutch use Maestro cards, visa or mastercard are generally not accepted in stores (outside of Amsterdam that is), but atms should be fine with creditcards. There is mostly an option to choose which notes you get out of the atm (they are normally also stocked with 10 and 20 euro notes, which are always accepted) and otherwise try to get 90 euros or such an amount out that you force the machine to give smaller notes.

Cash is becoming rarer nowadays so you will find that small shops won't accept large denomination bills (50 and bigger).

 

With all the NLs, I'd swear Newfoundland had a whole lot more zoos then we thought.

 

Strange that you had problems with communication in English. I spend several times my holiday in Netherlands and I always thought that (almost) every Dutchman speaks English well (better than me).

 

Great set of reviews! The Natuurpark Lelystad sounds really interesting, would it be equivalent to Northwest Trek but for European animals instead of North American ones? It’s interesting to see that not many people speak English, although I’d assume English will be much more prevalent in the larger cities like Amsterdam.

 

When I go to Europe I take enough cash (US dollars) for the trip and just change it to Euros at the airport money exchange. (Though reportedly I pay more in fees this way, it is easy). American credit cards (and maybe Canadian) don't work in Europe (except for major hotels) because they use a chip and pin system. Though our cards have finally started using chips, we don't use pins (debit cards do, but not credit cards).

 

Regarding the English language skills of the folks of the Netherlands and Flanders: About 20 years ago I spent some time in Belgium. I took a Nederlands language class to improve my proficiency. After a few weeks of lessons I was feeling pretty confident. One evening I found myself in the small Dutch city of Weert. There in the central square, across the bricked walk from a centuries old church, was a McDonalds. I’m kind of a picky eater, I like my hamburgers as we say in Texas, “plain and dry”. Just meat and bread. I didn’t have the language skills to pull off that order...even in North America it’s kinda tough to convince the cashier and the prep guy in the back that you really do want that Quarter Ponder with Cheese without the cheese...or anything else. But I was pretty confident that my Dutch could handle a simple request for a Coke and some fries.

I walked up to the cashier. A young pimply faced kid and I said (spelling intentional): “Goed Tag. Een Grote Coca-Cola (another habit of Texas origins, order a “coke” in Texas and the cashier will respond with a question...”What kind of Coke? We have Pepsi, 7-up, Dr Pepper...Big Red?”) en een grote pommes frites, aousterbleeft.”

The kid behind the counter looked and said “Wablief, Meneer?”

Undaunted, I repeated, “Een grote coca-cola und een pommels frites? Sie vous plait...Aousterbleeft”.

The kid again, “Wablief.”

Now flustered I tried a third time...”Ah....ein grosse Coca Cola und ein grosse pommels frites...aouster..”

“Hold on”, the kid stopped me, “look man, Dutch, English, German, French...just tell me what you want.”

“Large fries, large coke.”

“Ok. Anything else?”

“Could I get a Quarter Pounder, plain and dry, with no cheese?”

“We don’t call them Quarter Pounders, but yeah geen probleem. No problem.”

I was pretty impressed and grateful, “Dank U Well, Meneer.”

“You bet, we will bring your order to the table. Have a nice day.”

I loved the Nederlands.

 

This is my experience of the Netherlands as well - it's actually quite hard to get to use any Dutch because people are generally very keen to be helpful and they quickly detect (quite correctly) that their English will be better than your Dutch!

I'm conversant in French and have some basic 'traveller's' German and Spanish that you get to use quite a lot, and a few odd words of Czech and Polish even, but I've never got beyond the occasional 'dank u' in Dutch because you are almost without exception benevolently denied the chance to use it!

 

Having never noticed this before my little zoo nerd gang came up against this in NRW recently - Wuppertal and Dortmund zoos both wouldn't accept Mastercard, and neither did our local restaurant of choice. Not sure how we've got away with it previously.