Like a Rhinestone Cowboy: FunkyGibbon in Europe

I think Alpenzoo actually needs 3-4 hours for the zoonerd. I would imagine you could make it work, but given the relative lack of zoos in Austria and the relative bounty in in Germany and Czechia I suspect a 'Snowleopard' itinerary would stick to those countries and just 'dip' in to Austria rather than actually travelling through it.

 

artenschutz-zoo

 

@Shirokuma I wonder if you might provide the itinerary of your recent trip? On reviewing this thread it seems that we followed remarkably similar paths!

 

I was thinking the same thing! I stayed in Bonn from 16-23 August then Munich from 23-31 August.


17 August - Duisburg & Krefeld

18 August - Wilhelma

19 August - Köln

20 August - Wuppertal & Dortmund

21 August - Frankfurt

24 August - Nürnberg

25 August - Augsburg

26 August - Alpenzoo

30 August - Hellabrunn

 

Brno Zoo - 2/9/19

'Fire, I'll take you to Brno'

Including Brno in my trip was a bit of a protracted process; it was initially going to be a stop between Vienna and Prague, but then Vienna (and Salzburg) got cut from the itinerary due to time constraints and therefore so too did Brno and Zlin. However, I had arranged to meet @HOMIN96 the previous year, which fell through, so when I was looking for an extra zoo near Prague, and Wroclaw really was too far away, Brno snuck back in.

Firstly I just want to say what a fantastic host @HOMIN96 was. Sadly our day was marred somewhat by absolutely torrential rain, literally turning some of the paths into streams. I luckily had a poncho in my bag for exactly this eventuality , because my showercoat absolutely wouldn't have handled it. @HOMIN96 soon became the proud owner of a Brno branded umbrella We tried to do as many of the indoor areas as possible first, but this wasn't a great solution due to the amount of walking between them. I found myself really wishing I was visiting Munster! Without a guide I'd have been really stuffed, as using a paper map was out of the question.

The visit got off to a cracking start, because we had great views of the Javan ferret-badgers, which I had been under the impression were off-show. A nice tiger exhibit followed, but soon we were viewing a very old set of primate cages, that were at best 'functional' and at worst awful.

Brno is really a zoo of two halves: the often excellent new exhibits and the really poor old ones. There are some exceptions to the latter: the deer paddocks with old iron fencing are actually very nice, but at times Brno is a bit of a horror show that really has you questioning your visit. It's also one of those zoos in a wood on a hill, where there are often spans of walking between exhibits that feel too long. Happily, in the case of one of the worst exhibits, for chimpanzees, a new enclosure is under construction right now, so the zoo earns the credit it desperately needs in this area.

Some old parts have been successfully renovated; the Australian House is very good indeed, with a nice array of slightly unusual mammals. Other structures like the Reptile House seem like they could use the same vision.

The best part of Brno is undoubtedly the North American complex in the lower part of the zoo. There is a fantastic, and huge, aviary for bald eagle. It's funny how when you actually give birds of prey space they always seem to use it. Another great enclosure for arctic wolves, and then a huge bear exhibit, with a wonderful almost ha-ha effect when approaching it that makes it look like the bear could just hop into the log cabin next to it. A real triumph and a great way to 'finish' the zoo.

There are a number of zoos in Czechia that are 'must-visit'. Aside from the obvious choices like Prague and Plzen, since my afternoon at Jihlava last year I've included it as one of this group, despite its small size. Brno is not a Jihlava. Happily, its good parts feel exactly like it, so it's on the way. I predict that one day it will be a firm fixture on a 'Czech tour'. For now, despite its positives, it's hard to justify, at least on a first visit to the country.

An anecdote to finish: the zoo was so impressed by our dedication to zoo visiting even in adverse weather conditions that a picture of our bedraggled forms (surreptitiously taken) made it onto the official Instagram page.

 

Oh stop it you...

I'd either worked or visited zoo in pretty fierce conditions a few times before, but this was certainly the worst...being completely soaked even before I entered the zoo was a new one. But from now on, the umbrella will always remind of the great time we had

 

I thought I might do a couple of round-up posts, since I finished my trip three weeks ago. I actually visited three zoos on this trip that I didn't write about, since I had done them before. They were, in order: Koln, Frankfurt and Prague. A little surprisingly, none of the three had changed much in my absence.

In the last two years, Koln has opened a new banteng exhibit, and work has started on the new South American House. They have also relandscaped the lion exhibit, which looks garish right now, but hopefully will wear in. Koln really needs the next development to be a homerun if it wants to keep pace with Europe's best.

Frankfurt has opened a new penguin exhibit. Although it is nice enough, and an improvement on seeing them in the Exotarium, I am not a huge fan of the design. Bringing the path through the exhibit in a loop achieves the curious result of making the pool seem smaller than it really is. This trip also saw Frankfurt lose its title of Josh's favourite zoo, which it had comfortably held since 2016. I felt a peculiar sense of loss at this, and frankly I suspect Wilhelma will be a more difficult zoo to love, but there we go.

Due to an afternoon flight, I only had three hours at Prague. I was surprised at how much you could see in that time, although obviously not everything. For third time (in four years) I visited Prague to see a Parrot House that wasn't open yet. I did see the Lake Titicaca toads though, and they were a genuinely arresting exhibit. A great addition to the global zoo stable. Almost five years after joining ZooChat, I am yet to see a genuine contender for Better Overall Zoo Than Prague.

Next up, some thoughts on itineraries.

 

Are you back in the West Midlands now then? Any tentative plans for the duration of your (possibly brief) homecoming?

 

I'll be back a few months, found a job and plan to catch up on four years of British life. Did anything happen while I was gone?

 

Nothing too exciting, except we now have a b*ll*nd as PM... Other than that, still the greatest country in the world!

Since you're back in the good old WM then let me know when you're off to Dudley...