Hello everyone, My name is Gil and I'm 16 years old. I'm Swiss. I'm a zoo enthusiast since I can remember it. As you can see with my profile picture, I'm also a big elephant enthusiast, they're my favorite animals. We're really lucky in Switzerland to have one of the best elephant facility (more especially the indoor) in the world. I've joined ZooChat two years ago, but I haven't been active for all that time. I'm also a member of a french forum where we talk about zoos since 5 years. I also enjoy photography. I can't visit a zoo without my camera. I've started it in 2017 and it has now become another hobby. I also have an Instagram account dedicated to it with around 350 followers. I'm still hesitant about my future. I don't know if I want to work in zoos (maybe not zookeeper, but something like curator or an EEP coordinator) or in another field like photography or cinema. But I know that I still have time to chose and to find my way. As I still live with my parents, I can't go on my own to zoos that are far from Switzerland. But when we travel, I always take them to the local zoos. I've visited around 30 zoos, about the half in Switzerland, for the moment. My favorite one is Zurich Zoo for sure. Basel Zoo also has a big place in my heart because I'm visiting it since I was born. Outside of Switzerland I have also had the chance to visit two zoos in Germany (Hamburg and Frankfurt), one in the UK (London Zoo), one in Spain (Barcelona Zoo), one in Belgium (Antwerpen Zoo), one in Austria (Alpenzoo Innsbruck) and about ten in France. I hope that the list will be much bigger in a few years ! I can't wait to visit zoos in countries like Netherlands, Czech Republic or United Kingdom. I wish you all a nice day and I can't wait to talk with you about different topics ! And sorry if my English isn't good.
Welcome to zoochat from another zoo nerd living in Switzerland. Glad that our population is growing here Although I'm can't share your opinion about having "one of the best elephant facility in the world" (Do you mean Basle or Zurich or both by the way?) because - regarding to the about 200 zoological institutions I have seen so far - there are some that are better imo (e.g. Leipzig, Asheboro outside, Dallas, Disney's Animal Kingdom). But maybe we can agree that the bigger zoos in Switzerland belong to the better in Europa quality wise in general?
Thank you everyone ! I'm definitely talking about Zurich Zoo. I haven't seen any of these exhibits in real life, only in picture, but no one seems to have a better house than the one at Zurich. Maybe the one at Köln looks close from it. But the outside enclosure at Zurich is too small and the elephants would deserve to have a bigger one. Zurich and Bern for sure ! Basel has some wonderful exhibits (especially the houses) but it's an old city zoo without that much space and who wants to keep its big species. So like the new elephant enclosure or the penguin enclosure, they can already look outdated.
For someone who is only 16 you have seen a lot of countries! (And your English is good so do not hesitate to post comments). You are the third Swiss ZooChat member I know of. One of them - @zoomaniac - posted a reply already. I have had the pleasure of having dinner with him on two different visits to Zurich. I hope you enjoy your time here and since you are interested in photography I look forward to seeing your pictures.
Welcome Gil! I am big elephant enthusiast too. I'm 16 years old and my English isn't very good too. (I hate that language) Apparently we have a lot in common. Among other things, a great photo of one of the most successful African bulls in Europe.
Welcome here. Will be nice to get more frequent news from Swiss zoos and tierparks. And post your pics too!
Young man take your time to visit zoos in other countries. As an older zoo visitor (1947) I may say they will come on your way once. the first time I could visit f.i. Zürich, Basel and Frankfurt was in october 2019. However I knew them since my youth. Friendly greetings.
