I realise that many of you will already know much of this, but having seen the quality of other middle-eastern zoos, I felt it necessary just to offer some overall background. All being well, I hope to return to Egypt this summer and intend to visit a couple of zoos there. I’ve been meaning to write this all for a while, but various commitments have held me back, as well as my lack of photographs and comprehensive up-to-date information. I’m also aware of the debate and moral/emotional issues that may be provoked. I would like to start by highlighting the larger establishments: Egypt’s largest zoo is the Giza zoo in Cairo, followed by Alexandria’s zoo. Both of these are inner-city establishments but at around 80 acres, the Giza zoo is Cairo’s largest green area. A newer brand of zoological park is also rising in popularity with the safari parks which are popping up all around the country, most notably ‘Africa Safari Park’ on the desert road between Cairo and Alexandria. The world’s first recorded menageries were in Egypt and until relatively recently, Egypt had a comparatively good reputation in animal husbandry, with both the Giza and Alexandria zoos being considered state-of-the-art when they opened. The Giza zoo eventually opened in 1891, as one of the world’s leading zoological institutions. Over the years, visitors have included Queen Elizabeth II and Haile Selassie. A suspension bridge on the site was actually designed by Gustave Eiffel. Unfortunately things have changed very little since the zoo first opened and small concrete-floored, iron-barred cages are still the standard. Alexandria’s has been open since the 1950s but has also not undergone any significant changes since, despite the revolution in our views of captive animals. Both zoos (along with many other places) have appallingly cramped, poor enclosures (/cages), corrupt zookeepers (who concentrate on charging the guests to feed/pet the animals rather than the husbandry of the animals themselves) and incredibly rowdy and uneducated visitors. Both zoos have suffered expulsion from WAZA, deaths from bird flu, and a continuing series of deaths and illnesses because of visitors’ horrifying misbehaviour (for example, throwing cigarettes to baby monkeys.) The zoos are centres for entertainment above anything else – the role of most zookeepers is to provide an opportunity to get closer to the animals; even simple questions cannot be answered. In Alexandria especially, many people are not aware of the existence of a zoo. The Egyptian dialect of the Arabic language also leaves little room for animal names: colloquially, for instance, tiger and leopard are given the same name. Exotic animals in Egypt are relatively easy to come by: open air restaurants may often have a parrot or a flock of flamingoes about, many balconies have a hanging cage with a couple of budgies or cockatiels in, and pet shops now consider nile crocodile hatchlings a standard pet (not to mention my favourite animal, the Egyptian tortoise, which is in a terrible situation). As an international trading hub, Egypt is inevitably a crossroads for wildlife trafficking. Many stories have come to light illustrating Egypt’s poor response and ultimately lack of power in dealing with this trade, but it goes on. Examples showing how open this trade is include the roadside sale of Testudo kleinmanni and the alleged use of chimpanzee babies (thought to be illegally smuggled) as tourist props in establishments ranging from hotels to Africa Safari Park itself. I hope to visit Alexandria zoo and perhaps also Giza zoo this summer. In the meantime, I intend to post a review and some photos of my visit to Africa Safari Park last year, as well as some older photos of Alexandria zoo.
I went to Cairo for the day today, and visited Giza Zoo (a quick two hour tour); a review should be coming soon.
Writing up visits and organising photos is taking a lot longer than expected. I think I’ll start by outlining Omar Oasis, a rest-stop we visited for just a few minutes on the same day that we went to the Giza Zoo. It’s really not worth creating a new thread, so I’ll just briefly describe it here. Omar Oasis is situated on the Alexandria-Cairo Desert Road, a pretty basic rest-stop but it has a mini-zoo. The zoo has deteriorated over the past few years, and has lost many of the more interesting animals, including grivet monkeys, tortoises and baboons. I was told that they occassionally bring out a young lion and let people take photos with it, though I have never seen it myself. The mini-zoo has been reduced to a collection of ostriches, fallow deer and (very pale) flamingos, along with standard Egyptian ‘filler animals’ in the remaining cages and paddocks (donkeys, horses, llamas, goats and pigeons.) Even the animals which are still there are present in much smaller numbers – which is probably good overall because it reduces overcrowdedness. Photos from a couple of visits to this place should be up soon.
Extremely interesting - and saddening - to read your testimonies. The perverse behaviour of the zoo visitors makes me feel sick.
Thanks Dan, unfortunately there are a lot of sad stories concerning the keeping of wild animals in Egypt; I've included quite a bit in the posts I'm writing about them - regrettably, some of the animals' living conditions and treatment are spine-chilling. I'm just trying to find time to finish off and edit my reports, and to organise the photos.
I've finally managed to post a review and a lot of photos of the Alexandria Zoo. I've also put a few photos of insects up in the 'Egypt - Wildlife' gallery.
I've just posted details of my last visits to Giza Zoo and the Alexandria Aquarium in the Egypt forum.
