This is just a bit of fun to judge the general consensus on the best enclosure for African Elephants in Benelux I have added a few photos from the gallery to make it easier for members to compare the different exhibits. If anyone wants to make an argument for a particular enclosure, please feel free to do so. Also, I would encourage people to perhaps list the enclosures in order of what they determine to be the best. Pairi Daiza Monde Sauvage Olmense Ouwehands Beekse Bergen
Here I have to vote for Beekse Bergen. A great outdoor enclosure which they share with a nice group of Hamadryas baboons and also the indoor enclsure looks well-done.
I think it's hard to beat Safaripark Beekse Bergen here. Even their second elephant outdoor paddock is about as large as entire smaller elephant facilities, and the main paddock offers a lot of space, which for elephants is definitely a necessity. The mix with Hamadryas baboon is also rather nice. One could perhaps argue that the main elephant paddock looks quite barren, although it still offers the elephants all of their necessities. The indoor housing at Beekse Bergen was improved a lot with the construction of the barn shown above. The facilities at Monde Sauvage and Pakawi Park/Olmense are barely above the legal minimum and are honestly pretty bad. The outdoor paddocks are rather small, if not too small, and while the indoor housing at Monde Sauvage is off-show, I think we can assume it won't be much better than at Olmen. The outdoor exhibit at Pairi Daiza is pretty decent, especially for former circus elephants, but the indoor housing there is off-show, so it is difficult to fully evaluate the quality of the exhibit. Compared to the other exhibits the level of difference in elevation sets this exhibit apart from the others. The facilities at Ouwehands I think are rather decent and I think I would put them in second or maybe third place after Beekse Bergen.
I visited all 5 of these zoos in quick succession last summer and there is no question at all that Beekse Bergen is the clear winner. I suspect that if Monde Sauvage or Olmense were located in the United States then the elephant exhibits would be closed for good. America has plenty of terrible roadside menageries with horrible little chain-link cages for big cats and bears, but when it comes to elephants the American zoos have upgraded things substantially in the past 20 years. #5 - Monde Sauvage - awful #4 - Olmense - atrocious #3 - Ouwehands - mediocre (especially for such a rich zoo with a million annual visitors) #2 - Pairi Daiza - easily in second place with the impressive elevation, but there is no indoor viewing and it is even difficult to gauge the size of the outdoor enclosure #1 - Beekse Bergen - the clear winner, although the exhibit is quite barren. The troop of baboons provides a lot of interest for both visitors and elephants!
I think both Olmen and Monde Sauvage are terrible and way too small (that olmen indoor enclosure is ridiculous!) on place 3 I put Ouwehands, which is ok, not too small but also not that big. Place 2 is Pairi Daiza because their outdoor is much bigger than Ouwehand’s one. My favourite is Beekse Bergen as well, their outdoor is great, and instead of Pairi Daiza their indoor enclosure is accessible and looks good as well.
Score update. Beekse Bergen currently have a large lead with over 90% of the vote. It would appear that it has some relatively weak competition in this category.
Poll closed. Congratulations to Beekse Bergen on winning the vote for Best African Elephant enclosure in Benelux. It is the collections first win in these polls and it was far superior to any other zoo in this category and won by a large margin. Beekse Bergen: 92.0% Pairi Daiza: 8.0%
