My partners family (the out laws) have a time share in Kent it makes a good base to explore all Kent zoos, it's 10 minutes or so south of Canterbury. If any one wants details I can find out for you, they always go this week each year, but there are always others available to hire you can go all year round I imagine it's pretty reasonable out of season. I think this week at peak time is £400 or so. The bungalows sleep six, one double room one twin room (with 2 Bunk beds as well as 2 single beds) both en-suit all self catering, open plan Kitchen sitting room and dinning room, sadly we were only there 3 days this year and with my parents who i don't see very often so I didn't do any zoo trips yet again. I don't get anything for this by the way, only thought it may help some one who wants a zoo break in Kent they also have swimming Tennis and golf at an extra charge.
London- Also has plenty of small zoos and quite a few free zoos so a number of these should be possible in a day. Where are the free zoos?
Golders Hill Park Zoo (Golders Green) and Brent lodge animal centre (Hanwell) are both free, I believe.
My home county of Sussex provides a number of places each within at most about 25 miles or so of each other: Arundel WWT, Drusillas, Bentley, Brighton Aquarium, Crawley's Tilgate Park - and, just over the border, The British Wildlife Centre. With the exception of the BWC, none is especially exciting. And there is one big problem for multiple visits, here and elsewhere: although they are close, the roads are so dreadful (so packed) that it can take hours to get around. In the evening, Arundel to Brighton is about 40 minutes, but it could easily take two hours to get from the WWT, to the doors of the aquarium, in midday (factoring in the time to park and so on). And at the end of the journey, you'd be seeing a pretty appalling Sealife Centre.....
Racing from zoo to zoo isn't my cup of tea nowadays either. But sometimes cost or time precludes overnight stays and means if you are in an area, you want to cover more than a single zoo in one day if you can. In the days when I sometimes did both in a single day, the halfhour drive on the B2068 between Howletts and Port Lympne in Kent was very pleasant. I would not wish to be in the area at present though, owing to what's happening on the M20 & Calais and the knockon effect it has had for traffic in the local area.
I very much agree with this. When I hear phrases such as 'doing a collection' or can I make all three in one day, for me this takes away what I regard as a relaxing hobby after a busy week at work, in visiting zoos .... and other places that have animals but don't choose to call themselves zoos ! It is useful (for me at least) to read that somewhere will take about 2 hours or 6 hours etc, as it gives a decent indication of the size of the place and time to maybe plan other things to do in that day if travelling from afar. On the subject of other things, if we are travelling a few hours to an animal collection of any size, its always more enjoyable to explore the area a little where you are going rather than just cram in zoos (am I alone?). One example being a few years ago we went (from South Lancashire) to visit Africa Alive, Banham Zoo and Linton Zoo and take in local scenery, pub lunches and do a coastal drive along Sussex and Norfolk over 4 days rather than drive to an area, visit all zoos in a day blinkers on to anything else in that area and then go home again. Maybe I'm just a grade B zoo enthusiast
It's not just you. It's never satisfactory if the zoos are good ones. I always take my time because I want photos of certain animals: at Hayle a couple of months ago I spent so long with the St Vincent amazon and the caiques that I only had a short time at Newquay, long enough to look into the Madagacar exhibit and spot the purple grenadiers in the little African aviary, but frustrating because I hardly had time to look at anything else - and neither collection is a big one. Alan
The wonderful thing about being part of a group of enthusiasts is seeing all of the subtle individual differences that make up the larger group. There are many folks who are comfortable visiting a small zoo and spending a couple of hours there before going out for a lovely lunch and then perhaps a drive along the seaside. Some zoo enthusiasts visit specific zoos (reptile places, cat parks, etc) looking for that one golden moment so that a world-class photo can be taken. Still others prefer seeing a couple of zoos a day, perhaps one in the morning and then another in the afternoon after some tea and biscuits. I'm being genuine here as there are many people that I know that only see the biggest and best zoos and have not even been to small local zoos right in their own neighbourhood. I know a guy in Germany who has likely visited the 50 best German zoos out there but he has zero time for the tiny collections in his own city. Each to their own! After all of my summer road trips I have come to realize that I'm now in a different stratosphere in comparison to many zoo enthusiasts. I'm part of the Tim Brown/Maguari/Zoogiraffe/Sooty Mangabey/Jonas Livet world where we see not just a few zoos but indeed hundreds of zoos and we think nothing of touring 5 small places in a single day and adding to all-time totals. From my perspective, there are many huge American zoos that take most of the day to see or can be seen with a small nearby collection added on as well. But there are tons of small zoos that can easily be seen in an hour and with the species lists that I've accumulated it is obvious that I've been taking my time and also taking literally hundreds of photos of signs and exhibits. I'm not looking for the classic shot of a lion with its mouth agape but what I am doing is systematically documenting each zoo so that I see every species on display, photograph every exhibit from multiple angles and memorize it all for my mini-reviews and personal reflections later. Do I really need to stand for 10 minutes and watch Ring-Tailed Lemurs when I see that species sometimes 3 or 4 times every single day? Nope. If I was to fly over to England, paying an enormous amount of money for plane fare, car rental, accommodation, food, entrance fees, etc, in the process, am I going to see a couple of small places each day and then check out the local Art Galleries or Waxwork Museums? Heck no! I'll have to spend a year tinkering with an itinerary that sees me never rushing (that would not be enjoyable) but also figuring out how I can see the most number of zoos in the shortest amount of time. If that means a British city has 5 collections all within an hour of each other I'll probably see them all. However, I totally get the fact that my lifelong zoo obsession is much more of a factor than others on ZooChat who are very knowledgeable but have not been to very many zoological facilities.
I'd agree with what @snowleopard said. There are certain zoos (although not so many in the UK) that require a day, two days, to visit. I was recently at Wroclaw Zoo for a long day (in 2 1/2 hours before opening time, left at closing time) and it was genuinely painful to have to leave - if I could have done so, I'd have been back in the next day as well. There are other places where a much shorter period of time really is enough. I was delighted to be able to visit Zittau Tierpark on the same trip, but, after an hour, I felt as if I had fully exhausted its pleasures. Would I, like @Pootle, choose to do things other than visit zoos? Well, yes - but all else being equal I would far rather be at a zoo - any zoo - than following an alternative pursuit. Of course, life contains many wonderful days that have nothing to do with zoos, but the thought of going to, say, Moscow and electing to spend time visiting St Basil's cathedral when i could be in the zoo.... no thank you!
I would agree with you, and this year I have travelled to quite a few European cities and only seen the zoos. For example I went to Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, Poznan, Wroclaw and Amsterdam this year for my first time and in all of those places I elected to spend all of my time in zoos rather than seeing the city. Do I regret not seeing any of the tourist attractions of any of those cities? No.
My obsession is with animals firstly, so that’s why I like going to zoos, its the animals not the zoo with me, taking photos of signs in zoos is not my thing, (yet saying that I do tend to view photos of signage posted on here of those that do ). in fact I don’t even take a camera to the zoo anymore, I am a helpless counter of animals not a snapper. If travelling to specifically visit a zoo not local, then yes, I will want to see every square inch of it and hope to see every animal, but I will also want to explore the area too and maybe visit the museum, canal walk, nice lazy lunch or heritage railway (if it has one). However the primary reason for visiting somewhere is generally down to it having a zoo of some sort. Spreadsheets and/or making documented notes on animal collections, nar not for me, but bravo to you if you do. In the world outside this great forum I am the animal / zoo nerd in work, I often hear colleagues joke ‘Chris Packham is off again’ if I start describing something zooey or to do with animals etc, last week it was the lifecycle of a dragon fly, their usual response is your head is full of useless ‘expletive’ (choose your own). As a child I was always wanting to be outside in the countryside watching, collecting, catching stuff, turning over stones and some things that I shouldn’t have done! On family holidays if there was a zoo where my parents took me, I was can I go the zoo, can I go the zoo, can I go the zoo Bart Simpson style. As I have grown old I ‘ve just got bigger and my partner rather than parents got the zoo visiting pestering and over time although not a zoo chatter, she has been turned to the ‘Zooside’. In the world inside this great forum I’m cool in being a ‘grade B’ nerd.
As in 'Take us to Mount Splashmore' (A Simpsons fan)... Perhaps I should add that I once visited Howletts and Port Lympne in the same afternoon! Not planned that way, it was due to a breakdown that frustratingly used up the whole morning till about lunchtime and I only had the one day to visit the area available. Fortunately I'd been to both many times previously so it was possible -though not recommended...
Well I will be doing a few places this weekend,but rest assured that I will see other things other than zoo's while in the area I am travelling to,what can beat eating fish and chips on a sea front in front of you and the sound a Steam Engine gently simmering away behind while it awaits its next duty!!!
You need to go to the Isle of Man. Curraghs Wildlife Park Great Fish & Chips All railways are vintage and amazing Excellent seal, dolphin and even whale spotting opportunities. More Fish & Chips
In South Wales you could visit the Welsh Ape and Monkey Rescue Centre (Cefn yr Erw ) and the Welsh Hawking Centre . I am not certain if I would recommend this as both are in need of a lot of tlc and rather depressing to visit ( in my opinion ) . Near to Cefn yr Erw a few interesting species can be seen for free at the Penycae Inn . There is also the excellent Welsh WWT Centre at Llanelli where the wildlife is probably more interesting than the captive collection .
The only 'grade B' nerds are the kind that do something they don't enjoy because they think it their nerdish duty. Anyone who's ever been on a Doctor Who board will know what I mean, and will have seen the (many, sadly) people who have clearly not enjoyed a single episode since Tom Baker fell off a radio telescope but still write a three-paragraph review of each episode and exactly why it failed, before tuning in next week to hate it again. They've become nerds not of the show, but of not liking it. Similarly, rushing around multiple zoos because you enjoy doing it is all good. Rushing around because you feel you can't not do them all is a bit silly. Otherwise, each to their nerdish own! Sometimes I double-up, sometimes I go for the leisurely zoo. The proportion of the latter has been slowly increasing in recent years, it must be said - certainly for UK zooing - along with the zoo-plus-wildlife combo (Yorkshire Wildlife Park and Potteric Carr being a particular favourite).
Ha ha where does that come from? I'm quiet happy with the description, I may not be into it as much as some of the ZC members, but I still love it all the same at the level of interest I have and the amount of time I have available to devote to it.
I think that is Maguari's point; that if this is the case, there is no need to dismiss yourself as a "grade B" zoonerd, and that the only individuals who could be deemed lesser are those who visit out of hate.
I thought that myself at first, then thought but how could and why would one visit a zoo out of hate? - unless they have far more time one their hands and a lack of anything else to do in their lives..?
