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Like a Rhinestone Cowboy: FunkyGibbon in Europe

Discussion in 'Europe - General' started by FunkyGibbon, 30 Mar 2017.

  1. sooty mangabey

    sooty mangabey Well-Known Member

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    I’d add the indoor gibbon enclosure to that list - puzzlingly small! And I’d agree with @FunkyGibbon regarding the apparent under-population of the tropical house - it really does feel as if it needs some more stuff in there. Otherwise, though, a tremendous zoo!
     
  2. FunkyGibbon

    FunkyGibbon Well-Known Member

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    Before I start I'll just note the existence of a B-Excursion ticket available from Belgian Rail that costs 38 euros and includes entry to the zoo and return travel from Brussels. Amazing value.

    Pairi Daiza - 10/8/19

    'Come on Paireen'

    Pairi is a zoo that defies description. That's bad news for the reader. It's also a zoo that baffles the first-time visitor. It's like nothing I've ever seen before, and I doubt I will again, at least until I return. Which I will, and that should already give you some sense of where this review of what has proven to be a very divisive zoo is going to end up.

    I'd like to start, if I may, with a thought experiment. You don't have to have visited to play along, just use everything you've heard, all your preconceptions. Take Pairi Daiza, and strip away all the theming (hey, it's a hypothetical!). Now go a step further, and strip away your knowledge of the zoo, ie when exhibits were built, who owns it etc. What you are left with, if I'm not mistaken, is a fantastic, comprehensive collection, in mostly good to very good exhibits, with some exceptional ones and also more than a few poor enclosures. What we are left with, in other worlds, is a world-class zoo with its clothes off. That is what I believe that Pairi is and the question really is whether or not you like it with the clothes back on. Before we get dressed though, let's just touch on a couple of animal welfare points.

    One specific criticism of Pairi is that the poor exhibits are not the old ones. This is a fair and just line of attack. However, in a world in which we typically turn a blind eye to old poor exhibits I am not prepared to condemn a zoo for new ones (that are not at all representative of the overall standard) even though I share the frustration. Another, to my mind more concerning issue, since it is far more prevalent, is the number of '360° exhibits', where visitors surround the outdoors on all sides giving little chance for animals to hide. To balance the scales slightly, the great apes enclosures have a real surfeit of enrichment; this is not a zoo that doesn't care.

    So, the theming. The 10 ton jade elephant in the room. The first 'world' I came to was 'The Middle Kingdom', or China. I was utterly overwhelmed. The amount of architecture and landscape gardening is so much that it can actually be hard to find any animal exhibits, and you could never be confident you hadn't missed something. I would not, yet, claim to be an expert in anything Chinese, but I've seen more than my fair share of imitation traditional Chinese buildings. What can be found in Pairi has far more in common with the real thing than the actual 'Made in China' fakes do. I sent photos to Chinese friends, without context, and they couldn't tell the photos weren't taken in China. Frankly I'm not sure anyone anyone could. Similarly my Indonesian friend assumed the Orangutan temple was a part of the Borobodur complex on Java. And what is more impressive is that the realism is fractal. When you look closer you don't see the electric wires poking through, or the cheap painted on designs. What you see is incredibly complex wood carving that must represent months worth of man hours.

    One pertinent question from my Chinese friend: 'Why? I don't get it. What does this have to do with being a zoo?' Frankly this is an unanswerable question. Pairi Daiza has taken what places like Hannover have tried to a whole other level and you will feel how you feel about that. I think a much better question is: 'Why not?' Is this cultural appropriation? Is it colonialist? Is it just flat-out offensive? I am not massively comfortable answering this either, but in the public interest I will step gracefully onto the bear trap. Sticking with the Chinese area, where I feel on relatively solid ground: Do I feel uncomfortable with the use of Chinese architecture? No, not at all. Do I feel uncomfortable with faithfully recreating a Buddhist temple in the Chinese style? Yes, a little, but I'm going to give a pass here on the grounds that I wouldn't if it was in a Belgian open air museum and it's clear Pairi is trying to put one of its many feet on that patch of soil. Would I feel uncomfortable if that Temple had live Francois langurs swinging from the halbard of some lesser Buddhist deity? Yes, absolutely. It's important to note, that the Chinese zone never crosses this line in my eyes; religious iconography is kept separate from animal exhibit. With the best will in the world though, it's very hard to say the same about 'The Kingdom of Ganesha'. I will withhold criticism on the grounds that I really don't know, but my disapproval pistol is locked and loaded.

    One area where I'm much happier to speak plainly is the use of curios and 'relics'. These are to be found in the bottom of the Aquarium and to an even greater extent in the Crypt. One collection was supposedly bought from a travelling freakshow type set up and contains a two headed baby skeleton, a shrunken head from South America, an alien skull and even a stuffed mermaid. It's unclear to me whether any of this is supposed to be taken at face value. Are these all props russeled up by Pairi Daiza's grounds staff? Did this macabre display actually tour 1930s America? I still don't know, and I'd appreciate more than just one obviously faked newspaper cutting winking at me knowingly.

    At the end of the Crypt, which serves as a sort of slightly underpowered nocturnal house, is a cellar called Room of Treasures. It's as if Paira Daiza heard that visitors were concerned about the cultural sensitivity of their enterprise and just decided to steer deep into the skid. No context, just various artifacts from indigenous cultures around the world. Round the next corner is a small glass cabinet containing a two thousand year old Nazca mummy from Peru. This is displayed with a lot of interpretive material; unfortunately it is entirely focused on how it must be this mummy that inspired the depiction of 'Rascar Capac' from the Tintin comics. To help visitors really understand these real human remains are displayed alongside various comics and other Tintin props. It is really despicable, and I am still at a loss to explain it. 'They know not what they do...'

    On a separate note, but segueing somewhat from previous paragraphs, many of the indoor houses, on what was an extraordinarily busy day, really revealed a weakness: they can't handle crowds, crowds that are only going to get bigger and more frequent. The Aquarium is an old manor house which is now filled with mock rock; bizarre at the best of times, but it has many pinch points where only a single person can get through and that just doesn't cut it. The Reptile House, a huge iron-hulled boat whose bow serves as the giraffe stables (honestly, this place), is spacious enough to allow people to walk three abreast, but we were still packed in and essentially queueing past the turtle exhibits.

    You might think, at this point, that I hated Pairi Daiza. Funnily enough, the reverse is true. Inspite of what I've written above I loved the place. The rarities are unbelievable; my gosh, to see a Bulwers' pheasant in the same building as a St Vincent amazon! Much of the exhibitry is spectacular, especially in the new American section, but across the whole park as well. And whilst there are questions about the temples there can be no denying how spectacular and beautiful they are; it is truly a gift to the visitors in Europe to be able to experience these 'worlds' (sentence phrased carefully). There are still remnants of the old bird park, a nice nod to the past, and with so many species on show you are bound to see some unforgettable sights, whether it be Asiatic black bears wrestling or a Greater bird of paradise male in full display. It took me seven hours to cover the zoo initially, and that would have been closer to the full nine I had there if I had been able to enjoy the Aquarium and Reptile House as they deserved. I opted to save my money by not taking the train (don't miss the engine shed with model train display by the way), and instead spent it in the beer brewed on site, which has fueled the writing of this review.

    The money spent on Pairi Daiza is incomprehensible. I mean that literally; I couldn't begin to calculate the worth of the materials used, especially all the giant semi-precious stones, and the man and woman hours put into to realise all of this......it beggars belief. Quality can't just be bought, there's more to it than that, but whatever else money can but is almost certainly to be found here. The 'The Land Of The Cold' will open next year, adding Polar bears, walrus and (King?) penguins, Little penguins are promised for the Australian aviary, Magnificent birds of paradise have just arrived.....it just doesn't stop.

    When (not if I think) a tropical dome to rival Masoala or Gondwanaland is added, my prediction is that Pairi Daiza will be a popular pick on this site, and elsewhere, for 'Best zoo in the World'. Whether that is deserved or not is a question that will drag many threads off topic, but there is no doubt that the title will have been earned.
     
    Last edited: 12 Aug 2019
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  3. KevinB

    KevinB Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    I am honestly surprised that they are legally allowed to have such despicable, disrespectful and insensitive displays of (ancient) human remains. That kind of thing really shouldn't be legal, especially not for a family-oriented place like a zoo.

    That said, is it possible to largely avoid these areas? I have no desire to see these displays when I visit Pairi Daiza this coming October.
     
  4. Jogy

    Jogy Well-Known Member

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    I've to say that even if I really love Pairi Daiza and rate it as my number 1 zoo in the world - I also don't like these artifacts being displayed in such a way.

    I've been to various ethnological museums in the world and there are also mummies, shrunken heads and skulls being displayed - however the setting is totally different and there are even warnings that the display might offend some people...

    Luckily it is not difficult to avoid these displays - you just need to avoid going to the 'room of treasures' at the end of the crypt (just turn around or bypass) and when going to the Nautilus (aquarium) - just don't look to close into the showcases without animals - the rest of the park is 'clean'...
     
  5. Crowthorne

    Crowthorne Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    I would be very interested to know if they have a human remains policy in place, especially if, as you say, they're stepping into 'museum' territory here. All the museums I've worked at have very strict human remains policies, that outline how human remains should be treated, stored, exhibited and researched, taking into account the cultural sensitivities for the respective remains, and the cultural sensitivities of any visitors to the museum (for example, human remains in galleries are displayed carefully to one side, so you can't easily stumble upon or be 'confronted' by them). Personally, I find human remains uneasy and difficult to be around generally (if I'm prepared and expecting them, I'm usually ok, so long as they are displayed/stored sensitively, and with good reason), so to think I might be unexpectedly confronted with a Nazcan mummy at the zoo of all places, honestly both upsets and disturbs me.
     
    Last edited: 12 Aug 2019
  6. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Put it this way - such things don't bother me generally speaking, but I was genuinely disturbed by the two areas in question.
     
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  7. Tim Brown

    Tim Brown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Apart from visitor congestion in the Aquarium and Reptile House,id also add that species-wise these are the weakest areas of Pairi Daiza, with few taxa that replicate the avian and mammalian rarities to be found elsewhere. Congratulations on a perceptive,insightful and considered review which i really enjoyed. Good to meet you at the Hamerton meet incidentally.
     
  8. FunkyGibbon

    FunkyGibbon Well-Known Member

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    I doubt there is any policy in place, because I can't comprehend how the current display could pass any legitimate contemplation.

    @KevinB Regarding the mummies, since you don't really know exactly where they are in their respective buildings before visiting, I think the best thing is to avert your eyes as soon as you spot them. Especially in the aquarium it would be virtually impossible to retrace your steps on a busy day.

    This may well be true, but in some sense I think we are lucky they even exist; it would be easy to imagine a version of Pairi that didn't care about cold-blooded offerings. I quite liked both of the houses, especially thematically, but I think the shortcomings of some of the enclosures and in the case of the Aquarium the narrowness of the passages will necessitate some work. And of course it was nice to meet you too.
     
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  9. FunkyGibbon

    FunkyGibbon Well-Known Member

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    GaiaZoo - 12/8/19

    'There's no place Kerkrade be'

    A nice, short review for a nice, medium-sized zoo. Kerkrade has very little that is exceptional in my eyes, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It deserves a lot of praise for consistently high-quality exhibits, for a good mammal collection, and for a nice commitment to local species.

    The site as a whole feels very wooded; especially the entrance area which doesn't follow the 'plaza' model but instead throws you straight into about five minutes of forest path with no exhibits to be seen. It makes for a very pleasant visit.

    I think the key to enjoying these Erlebnis-style zoos is to just relax. The single path format and focus on large mammals means you're unlikely to miss anything, although at Kerkrade there is actually plenty of potential to choose your own route rather than having that choice totally removed. A visit here isn't exciting, but it is a relaxing and enjoyable way to spend an afternoon surrounded by beautiful scenery and high quality exhibits.

    I don't normally comment on playgrounds, but Kerkrade's indoor Dinopark set-up is absolutely awesome. Very jealous that I couldn't join in!

    I'm glad I visited Kerkrade, it's a genuinely lovely place and a good zoo. That being said, I think it's clear why it often doesn't make the cut when people travel to this part of the world. It can't really compete with its geographical competitors for the attention of the zoonerd. Hopefully returning visitors like myself find a way to slide it onto an itinerary.
     
  10. FunkyGibbon

    FunkyGibbon Well-Known Member

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    AquaZoo Dusseldorf - 13/8/19

    'AquaZoo, Brute?'

    When I first visited the Ruhr in 2017 AquaZoo was still closed for renovations, and besides, it wasn't really on my radar anyway. This time around I was looking for a zoo to twin with Krefeld (more on that later), and it seemed a logical fit. I was also spurred on by @snowleopard 's recent and glowing review.

    I was, I think, expecting a little too much. What AquaZoo is is essentially a good zoo Exotarium (think fish, herps and inverts), with the addition of more pedagogical material to satisfy the museum component of its extended and correct name. It's almost all very good, most of the exhibits are of the kind of 'Best in Europe' calibre you can see in Berlin or Zurich, though there are a couple of duff notes as well, including a painful-to-see catshark tank. Although there are nice-but-not-great exhibits for puffins, sharks and rays, and penguins, the zoo lacks a true standout centrepiece, something to make you stop and stare.

    Is this reasonable to ask of a small German aquarium? Usually I'd say no but I do feel that after being closed for four years they might have perhaps managed to produce something with a little more 'wow'. AquaZoo is a great little aquarium, and it's a real asset to the city, and citizens, of Dusseldorf. Personally though, unless you 'need' to see some of the rarities, I do think it's the sort of place that a zoo enthusiast can afford to skip. Apart from anything else, any visit to the Ruhr will include a day in Koln, and the Kolner Zoo's Aquarium is in my eyes a very similar, but slightly superior, offering.
     
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  11. snowleopard

    snowleopard Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    You've just reviewed a couple of nice, smallish places that I enjoyed immensely. GaiaZOO and AquaZoo are quality establishments, but I can see why maybe you were expecting just a little bit more from them. Comments like "it's a genuinely lovely place and a good zoo" or "is a great little aquarium" show that you enjoyed your visits, but you said that you can see why some zoo nerds skip the establishments when going through Europe.

    I think that it all boils down to perspective. Placed up against the massive zoos in the same nation (Arnhem, Rotterdam, Amsterdam) then Kerkrade is a half-day zoo at best. Also, AquaZoo perhaps suffers a little from being in the Ruhr Valley region and its plethora of very good zoos that attract zoo enthusiasts like ants to honey. However, if you tour a dozen or more obscure, itty-bitty Dutch and German zoos that no one has ever heard of, like I did on my recent trek, then suddenly GaiaZOO and AquaZoo look brilliant. Ha! There's very little wrong with those places and for the most part the exhibit quality and list of species are excellent at both locations.
     
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  12. FunkyGibbon

    FunkyGibbon Well-Known Member

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    Krefeld Zoo - 14/8/19

    'Kref Leppard'

    Krefeld is a charming zoo. Unfortunately I mean charming in estate agent's vocabulary: too small, and possibly cramped because of it. It won't come as a surprise to you that it's possible to criticize Krefeld on the grounds of its exhibits, but you might be surprised to hear that I actually consider Krefeld to be relatively close to being a very fine zoo indeed. A small site need not be a hindrance; it can force a collection to innovate and focus on quality.

    To get a obvious point out of the way: the ape house is not very good. The fact that it's all indoors is actually not what troubles me most; the house has a glass roof that opens, and so light and fresh air are not in short supply. The trouble is that the exhibits are small and moated, both factors that mean there is little useable, and climable, space for the apes. I don't know what the long term plan is; the orangs seem to be breeding regularly and the chimps not at all, so I suspect the zoo will simply run out the clock on the latter, as well as the two geriatric gorillas still in the house. Hopefully we will one day hear plans to develop a suitably ambitious orang house for the zoo.

    The large mammal house presents a much easier issue: move out the elephants, now or when one of the two dies, give their fairly pitiful amount of space over to the rhinos, and rework the pygmy hippo exhibit to bring it up to scratch. Finally, both the snow leopard and jaguarundi exhibits disappoint, the latter especially so. Say farewell to the the bigger species, upgrade the jaguarundis into the much larger cages, and then you can add two rodents species into the jaguarundi boxes for a net gain of species for the zoo. Everyone's a winner!

    Krefeld has some real strengths; the Bird House being a well documented one, but don't sleep on the rather tasty hoofstock collection as well! Apart from the obvious mountain anoa (which lives in a paddock so overgrown it seems almost certain that the zoo is trolling nerds), there are also Dall's sheep, musk ox, an Indian paddock with nilgai, blackbuck and axis deer, and other bits and pieces that are all perfectly good. The tropical house is rather nice as well.

    I think Krefeld's trump card though, is charisma. It oozes from the place as you walk through the delightfully small entrance and see a series of exhibits for camel, baboon and porcupine, all with minimal boundaries. This is a place that I really wanted to love as I was walking around. I couldn't of course, because I do find its flaws disqualifying, but I think there's real potential here. It could absolutely be a Bern, or a Jihlava, or even a mini Frankfurt. Replace that Ape House with a flagship new development, and make a couple of tough decisions elsewhere, bring in a few smaller species to replace what was lost and Krefeld would be, for its size, one of the finer zoos in Europe.
     
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  13. FunkyGibbon

    FunkyGibbon Well-Known Member

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    You are right about AquaZoo, but if anything Kerkrade slightly exceeded my expectations. It was exactly what I was hoping it would be, but prior to visiting I feared it would, much like Hanover ;), disappoint. I think the rural site is a much better setting to realise the Erlebnis Zoo than a city.
     
    Last edited: 18 Aug 2019
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  14. lintworm

    lintworm Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    The chimps are about to receive an outdoor enclosure and their indoor accomodation will be extended once the geriatric gorillas die. An outdoor enclosure for the Orangs will then be the next priority. I do sincerely hope they will fill the moats and make the indoor enclosures glass fronted. The house is very similar to Cologne sizewise and it shows there is potential to significantly upgrade the indoor quarters as well.

    Currently there is no chimpanzee breeding, allthough all animals are pure verus the male is related to the "youngest" females, who are already in their 30ies. I would expect them to get a younger female once the new enclosure is finished...
     
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  15. sooty mangabey

    sooty mangabey Well-Known Member

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    The future plans for the Ape House are seen here:

    [​IMG]

    I think that, when funds allow, this should develop into a very fine area of the zoo.
     
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  16. Shirokuma

    Shirokuma Well-Known Member

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    I was at Krefeld this afternoon and I agree with your conclusions. I liked the zoo much more than I had expected to and found it overall to be very likeable. It was helped by an excellent view of the mountain anoa, having the bird house almost to myself, watching the keeper interact with the gorilla family group with young and an engaging keeper presentation with Eurasian otters which meant an often invisible species was highly visible and active.

    The otter enclosure was the site of one of the most charming and unexpected things I’ve seen in a zoo. I’ll try to describe it as I don’t think anyone has commented on it before. A stream runs along the path along one side of the enclosure with quite dense low vegetation and rocks forming the boundary. But the stream and path don’t have a solid boundary. I’m generally sceptical about immersion and like some others have said in other threads, I like a zoo that feels like a zoo. But this blurring of the boundaries with a path that was effectively partly flooded really struck me. I loved it. The scene was also enhanced by the attractive restaurant building in the background.
     
  17. Maguari

    Maguari Never could get the hang of Thursdays. 15+ year member Premium Member

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    I thought the otter enclosure was a minor star as well - really nice little enclosure. I did wonder how deliberate the flooded path was, but it certainly worked well! :D
     
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  18. FunkyGibbon

    FunkyGibbon Well-Known Member

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    Heidelberg Zoo - 18/8/19

    'Heidelberg Humpeldink'
    @Giant Panda recommended Heidelberg as a good half-day zoo that would fit nicely between Stuttgart and Frankfurt; the town is also very scenic, making for a really nice day on the itinerary. I'm very grateful that he did so.

    I find there's such a huge psychological difference between paying €12 and €25 for a zoo. With the former, I just feel much more relaxed about the visit; there's less pressure to enjoy it and get your money's worth. Heidelberg has a swanky new entrance complex and a huge multistory carpark adorned with zebras next to it, not things I usually associate with 'small' zoos. Or even medium-sized ones, which is what Heidelberg is. Once you enter you are almost immediately presented with what is presumably the old entrance gate; there is a Syrian brown bear exhibit 'outside' of this, with viewing from both inside and outside the zoo grounds. I always enjoy this as a concept.

    The bear exhibit consists of two parts: a traditional cement enclosure and a much nicer grassy extension. This is a theme of Heidelberg; it can be seen in the very enjoyable lion and tiger exhibits as well. It feels like a nice nod to the history of the zoo. The Ape House, which must have been a fairly appalling visit just a few years ago, is in the middle of a similar transformation. Orangutans have left for pastures marblier at Pairi, the chimps have received an upgrade and gorillas will be next. The latter currently have a tiny dry moated exhibit, but a large lawn opposite it seems certain to be incorporated. I don't know what the chimps had before; their new outdoors is still on the small side but well-vegetated and with lots of possibilities for privacy due to the way it wraps around the house. A new cage for crowned sifakas (and ring-tailed lemurs) and some other bits and pieces top off a rapidly improving building. There is supposed to be a free-roaming great argus inside as well but I didn't see it.

    There's nothing truly remarkable about Heidelberg; the carnivore collection is a strength, although the rare mongooses you can find in the gallary are gone now sadly. Although I had a good peer, I didn't catch a glimpse of the golden cats either. I thought their enclosure was simple but quite effective and again relatively complex for its size. The zoo also does a good job of adding in small mammals, terrariums and avairies to flesh out the collection, although ectoherms are certainly a weakness overall. One standout bird exhibit is a coastal aviary with waders, a lighthouse, Inca terns and grey gulls, and a wave machine. It would have been so easy for this to have been a penguin enclosure, and I think it's to Heidelberg's credit that they took the more interesting choice.

    One ridiculous quibble: when I purchased my customary postcard at the shop, I found there wasn't a dedicated cashier. Instead, I had to wait until one of the ticket sellers was free to pay. Hopefully this absurd situation represented someone having popped to the loo!

    Heidelberg is certainly not a perfect zoo, or even a major one. But it is a very nice one, and as mentioned at the beginning falls comfortably between two absolute must-visits. It's worth seeing, and I think in the fullness of time will be worth returning to as well.
     
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  19. FunkyGibbon

    FunkyGibbon Well-Known Member

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    Wilhelma - 19/8/19

    'Concrete jungle where dreams are made of'

    Stuttgart is, I think, well-known as a fairly divisive zoo. Everybody acknowledges that it is a major zoo, but it ranges from being much-loved, to being considered really quite poor. Having visited, it's kind of easy to see why, but I think it's important to point out at the outset that Wilhelma has changed quite a lot recently. A disappointing hippo house has become an average one for tapirs, and three bear species held has shrunk to one. Given that Stuttgart only has one good bear exhibit I think this alone has made a big difference. Other exhibits were clearly newly opened (or closed), and there is ongoing work in several parts of the zoo. More so than usual, I am conscious that I have only seen Wilhelma as a slice in time, and that the zoos of five years past and five years hence were and will be quite different places.

    This is surprising, since Wilhelma is strongly rooted in its history. The lower zoo is built around, and dominated by, a very traditional Botanical Garden with beautiful old greenhouses, courtyards and terraces. This Garden still exists in conjunction with the zoo today, and this is made very clear by the suggested route initially running through a single, narrow greenhouse that is hundreds of metres long. Mostly dominated by plants, it also includes a few smaller exhibits and really sets the tone. I was immediately entranced.

    I alluded earlier to the lower zoo, and to a set of terraces; these rise out of the traditional gardens and by walking up them you reach the upper half, which is partially wooded and feels much more like a 'normal' zoo. The terraces themselves contain two rows of parrot aviaries, holding a very large collection, including the famed kaka. The overall experience is rather wonderful, but the aviaries themselves fairly mediocre. It must be fairly low on the list, but I hope eventually the zoo can work out how to add height to them in a way that doesn't lose the visual effect of steps.

    The upper zoo makes an initially poor impression. The cat house has very poor cages for Persian leopard and Sumatran tiger (being the same size the tiger exhibit feels worse), and nearby is a cramped exhibit with two stereotyping Asian elephants. A large baboon rock feels like a poor choice for geladas, with nothing for them to graze on, but the group is huge with what seems like dozens of youngsters, and with Barbary sheep and rock hyrax as well it was a busy place with lots to watch. On a return visit in the late afternoon it was lovely to see one of the geladas grooming a sheep. In this section too can be found the Giraffe House. Whilst the hoofstock holding itself is unremarkable, the house also contains exhibits for Von der Deckens hornbill, fennec fox and round-eared elephant shrew and was quite successful I thought. Also, okapi, bongo and lesser kudu is a line-up I can really get behind.

    As the zoo narrows towards its northern section it becomes dominated by the new Ape House, which is called the Gorilla Bonobo House, but also holds orangutans at the moment. The fact that the later are not intended to be long term residents really shows, as although all three species have similar, and similarly impressive, indoor spaces the orangs' outdoors is far inferior to the the other two species', both in terms of space as well as furnishings. Apart from this, the house is hugely impressive. Bonobos and gorillas both have extremely large and vegetated exhibits, and both groups are very large as well. The indoors is finished in Stuttgart's signature style, with prevelent use of concrete, polished metal and wood. I'm sure it's one of the things that puts people off Wilhelma, but I absolutely love it. It's an aesthetic that I can really get behind, and whilst it's not at all naturalistic it provides a very dynamic environment for primates, which in the new house is twinned with a mulch floor and lots of space, rather than the old sterile glass boxes that can still be seen in the lower zoo.

    If you aren't familiar with what I'm talking about, check out Wilhelma's gallery, as this really is a unique zoo. In particular, look for the gibbon cage, which is one of the most iconic zoo structures in the world. Huge, bold, possibly Teutonic, definitely Brutalist, it is ridiculously over-engineered, the opposite of natural, and yet still remains a good exhibit. The interior is full of suspended ledges, making the entire space available to the gibbons for brachiating, which I got to enjoy watching. It's a real credit to Stuttgart's vision of itself that a clear line of heritage can be drawn from this building to the new Ape House. It's a little harder to connect these buildings with the classical greenhouses, but that in itself is part of the charm of Wilhelma; it's a bewitching and bewildering blend of seamless harmony and stark contrast.

    One appealing aspect of a first visit here is that the map gives no sense of topography or vegetation. If you strike out along a path that looks like it leads to a typically bland South American area, you suddenly find yourself climbing hard, surrounded by towering Californian redwoods. Once you've passed the paddocks for maned wolf, alpaca and rhea the ground drops away in front of you, revealing an Alpine zone that is quite breathtaking to behold. Here can be found ibex, spectacled bear, Californian sealion, beaver, snow leopard, rocky mountain goat and markhor, all bar the last in spectacular exhibits. Again the Stuttgart aesthetic shines through, with even the rocky slopes being cut through with streaks of white cement. The sealions are only being held here temporarily whilst their exhibit in a 'fountain-style' pool in the lower gardens is renovated. Their current exhibit used to hold polar bears, and I'm glad I didn't see that, as it's a classic deep pool and small land set-up. If Stuttgart go back into icebears they will need to combine this pool with the spectacled bear slope next to it, but I think it would be much better to keep things as they are, and just bring in another pinniped species.

    When I first arrived at the zoo I found it to be physically smaller than I expected, but with such diversity of exhibits and so many obviously lingering points my visit really got away from me. There is a large Aquarium and Reptile House, and with a bus to catch I gave myself enough time to do this, quickly visit the Amazon House, nip back to the bonobos to try to spot the new baby and then head off. To my horror, with only enough time to fit this in, I realised I had totally overlooked the Insect House and another, really substantial, bird section. So I had to blitz all remaining areas. This is really a full day zoo, and I really wish I had given myself a full day to enjoy it. I'm sure that on a sunny evening the gardens in particular are gorgeous.

    I really loved Stuttgart. Even with all its flaws, and they are not few in number, I absolutely loved the pants off the place. Having had two days to reflect on it, I am now certain of what I suspected early on in the visit: it's my new favourite zoo. Sure, it's not Prague, or Zurich, or Berlin. There are many better zoos in the world, but perfection is not the way to this man's heart. I love the fact that it has so many different faces, so many unexpected places, and yes, so much concrete. It just makes me happy, and I'm happier still knowing how much better the zoo is getting, whilst still remaining true to itself. I hope it will continue to make me happy for a long time to come.
     
    Last edited: 22 Aug 2019
    Mehdi, TZDugong, Tim May and 12 others like this.
  20. Shirokuma

    Shirokuma Well-Known Member

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    Again, I completely understand why you love Wilhelma so much and having just visited I feel the same way; although not my favourite zoo it’s definitely up there with my top three of Basel, Bern and Korkeasaari. I found the mix of botany and zoology, of concrete and Moorish revival really engaging and there was a sense of aesthetic consistency and order that I really liked.

    I found some parts almost Japanese in style, especially the cat house and adjacent elephant, rhino and tapir enclosures.

    Yes there are parts that need improvement. Fortunately I didn’t see the elephants stereotyping (unlike at Duisburg where I was genuinely upset by the sight of an elephant repeatedly rocking and electrocuting itself on hot wire) and I thought the small paddock was well furnished considering its limitations.

    The alpine section is one of my favourite complexes anywhere, I thought it was beautifully done although I didn’t actually see many animals there - with a notable exception of a very active snow leopard, unusual on an extremely hot afternoon.

    Sadly I missed the kaka despite repeated visits to the aviary.

    I went on a very hot day that ended with storms and a stressful seven hour train journey full of interruptions and delays due to disruptions to the rail network and I wasn’t in bed until after 2am but it was still one of the best zoo days I’ve had.