Chica was outside? That’s amazing! His keeper told me that he never ventures out at all anymore. That’s really good news. Maybe he is becoming more confident with his visual impairment now. I hope so. He is an absolutely gorgeous bear. I have a real soft spot for him.
I suspect it was just the incredibly good weather - both he and the Grizzly Bear were asleep but visible throughout the day.
Aw, little lad! I would so love to see him venture out. Must plan my next visit for a warm time of year! He was very vocal when I went to see him, clucking away to his keeper. He enjoyed a used milk carton filled with treats which he emptied out on to his belly to eat as he lay back in his hammock. I was just so taken with him. I tend to really love the older bears for some reason. He is the same age as me.
The outdoor pool was located at the location of the current tiger enclosure. I saw a beluga (I believe it was named Ferdinand) and Commersons dolphins at my first visit to Zoo Duisburg in 2000, in some kind of dolphin show.
I found two photographs of Ferdinand, I'll put them in the gallery of Duisburg. A photo of a Bengal vulture from Köln, critically endangered and no longer kept in Europe, was in the same album, so that's an interesting one for the gallery as well.
Ok, so I've been back from the trip a couple of days now. I'm so very glad I went and really hope that won't be my only trip to either zoo. Cologne Zoo This was our first zoo of the trip. It is probably the most species-rich zoo I've ever visited, with animals pretty much everywhere you looked. We were suffering a bit from a delayed flight the previous night, and the weather was really cold (and later, haily), but I saw all the major species I went for - the Douc langur, tree kangaroo, elephant shrew, sun squirrel, vontsira (and pup!), musk ox, grizzly and the most active cloud rats I've ever seen! It was a great zoo, which could easily be spilt down into smaller zoos and still be satisfying (eg. Regenwald or the bird area could be a small zoos in their own right). If anything there were too many species, and I feel like after a whole day and going round the whole zoo I've still only scratched the surface (we didn't get time for the aquarium, so I guess that calls for a return visit?) Zoo Duisburg After a hiccup on the trains we got to the zoo at 10.30 on the second day. This was also the German May Day bank holiday, which I hadn't realised when booking the holiday. Thankfully, unlike a British bank holiday when zoos are filled to capacity, the zoo wasn't too busy and felt perfectly comfortable. Baby in Rio Negro was of course the first stop, and he is just wonderful. Such bittersweet feelings seeing him. There were a few no-shows (fossa, clouded leopards, wolves), but the Arctic foxes were up and about, fishing cats, Kori bustards eating crickets, very active and snarly Tasmanian devils, koalas, spectacled bear cubs, wonderful banded mongoose family and the wombat mother was in her outside enclosure with the youngster visible in her pouch! The ape house was so full of species I didn't know where to look. And seeing my first dolphin show since I was 5 was amazing. Of the two zoos, Cologne was definitely the better zoo, but I feel like I preferred Duisburg, which I wasn't expecting. Maybe it's because I didn't know what to expect from Duisburg but it had a lovely charm to it. It was just the right size, in a way I think Cologne was a little overwhelming, quite big and a lot to take in on a single day. Duisburg was more manageable and felt less rushed. Even so, both zoos were wonderful to visit, and I really hope to go back someday to get to know them better This was my first trip to continental zoos, and I can see now why so many British zoo-nerds rate them so highly. These German zoos were exciting, with different species and display types, affordable entry, great opening times, and seemed to be aimed at everyone not just families with children. I'm not sure UK zoo visiting will ever be quite the same again...
Glad you had a good time. My first zoo trip abroad was in 1980 when I visited Antwerp, Cologne, Duisburg, Frankfurt and Krefeld (on a tour organised by Marwell Zoological Society). You're right: UK zoo visiting was never quite the same again.
Glad you had an amazing trip and saw all of the main things that you had wanted to see! Compared to other European zoos like Prague, Brno, Burgers, Berlin and Berlin Tierpark, Cologne is quite a bit smaller in land area, but it is still one of my favourites yet! And I hope very much that I’ll get to experience Duisburg on my next German trip. There is something that gives me a real buzz about visiting zoos abroad, and I especially really enjoy getting to learn the names of animals in different languages!
@beccasunbear you'll be pleased to know we had the animal-shaped chicken nuggets at Cologne, in the snack bar overlooking the elephants and at Duisburg we had the sausage with bread (well, the currywurst came with a slice of bread, the bratwurst came in a completely undersized bun. Both were good though! I have pictures but they're on my laptop) @Tim May that sounds like a great trip, I haven't heard of anything quite like that organised by a zoological society. Frankfurt is another zoo on my radar, but my other half has politely asked that our next holiday be zoo-free. After his patience on this trip I think that's only fair.
I am very pleased to know that I’m not the only adult child out there who finds safari nuggets to be an appealing concept! They’re an absolute must on my next visit, now that I know they exist! With regards to a zoo-free holiday, I can’t imagine how I would fill the time! I’ve genuinely only ever had one holiday in my entire life that didn’t involve a Ballroom dancing event or a zoo (many have even involved both), and that was over ten years ago now!
The Marwell Zoological Society organised some excellent zoo visiting trips during the 1980s; I went on three to Europe and two to America. Although I'd had a life long interest in zoos, ever since I was a young child, and regularly visited UK zoological collections, it was those Marwell excursions that whetted my appetite for visiting foreign zoos. After those (almost) every holiday had to be a zoo visiting trip.... Yes, I would certainly recommend a visit to Frankfurt sometime...
Glad you enjoyed your first continental experience That certainly calls for a return trip, the aquariums are maybe not that interesting (though specieswise they are, they are relatively small). But the terrarium is one of the best in Europe, both in design and species diversity. Just combine it with a trip to the Netherlands (Arnhem (Burgers zoo) to Cologne is just 1 hour 40 minutes ).
Yes, for herptiles Koln is right up there with the best in Europe. It's a BIG surprise that you could prefer Duisburg to Koln, but variety is the spice of life. How would you compare them to British zoos?
Yes, I was surprised too. I'm still thinking about the trip, why I liked what I did etc. I'm also still thinking about how to answer your question, as I think it comes down to two things - what I've liked about the zoos I've liked and how these compare between the UK and the two German collections. I'll let my brain ponder these things
Sorry I've still not answered your questions @FunkyGibbon I haven't forgotten! Just been so caught up since getting back, what with bank holidays, work, and now a week commuting into central London (I forget just how much I hate the tube). A response is brewing though, just not yet on paper (or screen)...
I promised, and I get there in the end. Have been thinking about the trip a lot since getting back. It’s been a month now since the trip and really want to just go back right now! So, how would I compare these to British zoos? For a start, the number of species. Cologne especially was just full of different species. Duisburg had fewer species, but a really nice variety (this may be a legacy that is quite specific to Duisburg, as an old industrial town but with an enthusiastic zoo-director. I guess it would be the UK equivalent of Blackpool or Paignton Zoo being in Luton, but even then the species comparison falls down). Across the two zoos I saw more species in two days (both new and old) than I have probably seen across many years of UK visiting. In a way it felt like both going backwards and forwards in time simultaneously. In some places the zoos felt like visiting the older London Zoo of my teenage years (around the year 2000), and I actually said this to my boyfriend in the Lemur House at Cologne, that it really reminded me of something like the old Sobell Pavillion at London – species packed, and very functional (brick, tiles etc) (the same could be said also for Duisburg’s Ape and Big Cat Houses, and I loved both!). I’m not sure what this says about either UK or German zoos (and keeping in mind I’m not vastly travelled in either); are German zoos more likely to repurpose older buildings during renovations, or keep older buildings going longer/build them well initially, so it is longer before they require renovation/demolition? Or, is the UK much more in favour of starting again completely and fully demolishing old enclosures/houses where possible, rather than renovating sympathetically? Or are UK enclosures built poorly to start with and just don’t last as long without some good solid German engineering? It also makes me wonder about the differences in species richness between UK and German zoos. The best equivalents I can think of in the UK to Cologne and Duisburg are the UK city zoos of London, Bristol, Blackpool and Paignton (possibly Colchester). Size-wise, the two German collections seem to fit an awful lot more species in to their space then the UK equivalents. Have UK collections taken a different path to species richness than zoos in Germany? Cologne covered everything with mammals and birds (plus the aquarium, which we didn’t see due to time-constraints, but it is there to cover fish etc), but without feeling like it is trying to do too much. I would be perfectly happy to have Cologne as my local-zoo – it’s maybe a little too much for one day, but definitely calls for repeat visits to take in the whole zoo. (The trip (and last weekend’s first-visit to Marwell) have helped me to understand more about my own type of zoo visit, in that I do like to spend time watching animals, which isn’t always possible in more species-rich zoos on a first visit, when you’re constantly looking at the map and have half your mind on whether you’ll manage everything before closing time, which may explain my preference for the fewer-species Duisburg over Cologne on this trip. If I ever get to the Berlins I don’t know how I’ll survive!) So, the continued use of older buildings and enclosures felt like a step back in time. It felt forwards in time because exhibitry just felt…better than a lot of what is done in the UK. To be clear, I have nothing against the UK staples of wood-and-wire, paddock or well-done enclosure, and I’m not saying the UK is doing anything wrong from an animal welfare perspective, I just found viewing in Germany to be generally much better – glass panels were larger, you felt closer to the animals, you weren’t bombarded by ‘themeing’ (a la Land of the Lions at ZSL). The only place I felt the animals were a little harder to see and connect with was the Ape House in Cologne, but that’s understandable, apes like and need more privacy, yet it still wasn’t as bad as London’s Gorilla Kingdom, which seems to have been poorly thought out from the start. In a way, I think what it comes down to, is German zoos are about going to see and experience animals, first and foremost (within animal welfare standards of course, not saying they’re denied hiding places etc). In comparison, UK zoos are less about animals and more about…something else I can’t quite put my finger on. Is it more entertainment? Experience? Day out that happens to have animals? One thing I noticed at the German zoos was an absence of large lawns or planted areas, something many UK zoos do have (and some, like Bristol, make the most of as a ‘Zoo Garden’ and lovely it is too). I noticed this most in Duisburg, the spaces in the zoo were either paths, enclosures or designated play areas. No lawns or gardens that I can recall. Maybe that is a reflection on the differences in zoo visiting in Germany and the UK? Germany offered many more benches that’s for sure, especially in the houses where its sometimes nice to sit down and just watch the animals for a while. OK, so I’m not that sure if I’ve made any sense at all here with my ramblings. Not sure if I’ve answered your question or not @FunkyGibbon, I possibly got lost on a few tangents
It depends pretty much on the zoo in Germany, Hagenbeck for example has huge lawns throughout the zoo and places as Stuttgart, Dresden and others also have some lawn areas. A zoo like Antwerp in Belgium would be quite comparable to Bristol even Probably a combination of reasons. Many German zoos were (are...) very concrete heavy, which off course wears down less than wood... Take two days for each . You wouldn't be strange to do so. I even know someone who needed 7 consecutive visits for the Vallee des Singes in France, but she is somewhat monkey crazy....
Which is exactly why Germany is my favourite country for zoo visiting.... There is a Chinese Garden in Duisburg Zoo; at one time the zoo sold a separate guidebook to this garden... Better still spend three days in each....
