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A Brief Review of Montpellier Zoo

Discussion in 'France' started by Ned, 26 Jul 2019.

  1. Ned

    Ned Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Out of the blue one morning my wife asked if I knew that there was a zoo in Montpelier, it was unlike her to show an interest in zoos but there was a point to this seemingly random question. She had been on the Easyjet website again and had found cheap flights to Montpellier, fifty quid return. Montpellier Zoo was clearly being used as a carrot to entice me on a little sojourn to the south of France, and so a few days later I packed up work at three thirty, drove to the airport and by nine thirty was sitting outside a small bar in the south of France enjoying a glass of red wine.


    Like any zoo visit this one started with a spot of information gathering; opening times, entrance fee, how to get there, a look at the zoo map and a search through Zootierliste. Two things stood out from this research, first the zoo is free to enter (except if you want to visit the Amazon house which is 6:5 Euros), second, the opening times had the unusual restriction of being closed on days with a high fire risk! I don’t think I’ve come across that one before.


    Temperatures in France had been exceeding 40c and when I mentioned to the receptionist at the campsite (yes, we were camping. This was a low budget trip, cheap flights, free zoo and a tent) that we were off to the zoo she warned us to be careful. Was it really that likely we’d be burned to death or was the zoo in a particularly dodgy part of town? I didn’t hang around to ask, I just reassured her that we would be careful and then we set off.


    We found the zoo is on the edge of town, a short tram ride from the city centre and is set in Lunaret Park, a huge area of natural woodland. There are two very different aspects to this zoo, one being the Amazon house, the other being the zoo proper. If I could only have seen one part of the zoo it would have been the Amazon house as a quick look at Zootierliste showed it to have some pretty unusual species, however, it would have been a mistake; overall I enjoyed the outside part of the zoo most.


    But let’s start with the Amazon house. It’s claimed to be the biggest of its type in France, maybe it is the biggest Amazon house but I doubt it’s the biggest tropical house, I certainly wasn’t blown away by it. We left the fierce dry Mediterranean heat outside and entered the equality hot but far more sultry building to find a pretty average tropical house. The inside is fairly large and open plan with some free ranging Amazonian animals and a number of side enclosures. The entrance is on the ground floor, but the route that you follow takes you on a circuit around the inside of the building, through a nocturnal room and then up to a higher level walkway.


    The main area seemed to be grossly under populated, I only saw two birds and only three species were labelled. The two spotted, Red-rumped cacique Cacicus uropyglialis and Lesser Kiskadee Pitangus lictor, were certainly nice to see but the building felt largely devoid of animal life.


    Most of the animals in the building are kept in enclosures and these, in contrast to the main hall, are quite barren, mostly large cages with wood bark substrate and climbing branches. Black and Gold howler monkeys also have access to a large verdant outdoor island. Within the house Black-tailed trogon Trogon melanurus was a highlight and paca would have been had I seen it.

    The nocturnal section has a small collection, the main enclosure being a deep, two story, typically bare room housing South American tree porcupine and Grey-legged night monkey. All were very active.


    As mentioned, the rest of the zoo is free to enter and for me was the most enjoyable part. It’s set in a beautiful woodland park with Mediterranean pine trees and myrtle scrub scenting the air while Cicadas rasp incessantly all around. To start with I had the place to myself as no-one else was daft enough to be walking around in the midday heat, I felt as if I was trespassing in someone's private animal park.


    Every incline I (I say I because my wife soon gave up and sort refuge in the air-conditioned restaurant) came to had warning signs with a symbol of an exhausted looking person mopping their brow and at every junction were directions to emergency exits to be used in the event of a fire. Twice I came across fire firefighters and engines, the crew ready to spring into action at the first sign of fire. This zoo really leaves you in no doubt that while walking around you are constantly in mortal danger; this is zoo visiting at its most extreme. The animals of course live with the threat of fire all the time and I hate to think what the death toll would be if a fire did rip through the area.


    Most of the zoo’s denizens hail from arid regions, the majority being ungulates.Their enclosures are all of a similar theme, large paddocks of open woodland, dry and rocky, enclosed with hedges and viewed from one or two viewing areas, these sometimes being open vistas and other times being of the wooden fence with letterbox shaped peep hole variety (I always feel like a voyeur when observing animals through holes in fences). The enclosures give maximum privacy to the animals who on this scorching hot day were difficult to see as they dozed or chew cud in the shade. In fact I got into conversation with a guy from Paris who didn’t think much of the zoo for this reason and told me Beauval Zoo was much better. I thought of suggesting he ask for a refund but just agreed that the animals weren’t the easiest to see. Leaving the Parisian to muse over the zoo’s faults, I walked down to find the Bharal. I could see them, just, at the far side of a vast rocky terrain.

    After several applications of sun cream and several refills of my water bottle I felt a genuine sense of relief as I reached the safety the exit and walked out onto a city street having avoided being incinerated.


    Just to give a flavour, for anyone considering visiting, here are some of the animals kept outside of the Amazon House.

    Asian lion
    Cheetah
    Iberian wolf
    Syrian brown bear
    White rhino
    Grevy’s zebra
    Hartmann's mountain zebra
    Somali wild ass
    Onager
    Mouflon
    Bharal
    Eland
    Nile lechwe
    Blesbok
    Banteng
    Eastern bongo
    Nyala
    Scimitar-horned oryx
    Lowland tapir
    Darwin’s rhea
    Buffon’s macaw
    Marabou
     
    Shorts, kiang, Brum and 7 others like this.