Prague and Pilsen Visit

I had a great second day in Plzen Zoo yesterday. As with Prague Zoo, it was nice to be able to visit a zoo over two days and do it at a more relaxed pace and spend time appreciating everything, especially with two zoos as amazing and huge as Prague and Plzen.

I was due to have a third day in Plzen today, but there was a change of plan and it was decided that the 770 km drive from Plzen to Warsaw was too long to do in one day, so tonight I am staying in a hotel just off the motorway somewhere in Poland near the Czech border. I should get back to Warsaw around 4-ish tomorrow afternoon.
(also, the rest of my family were bored of the city of Plzen itself and didn't want to spend another day there).

 

I recently finished updating my lifelist so I thought I'd post here that in Prague Zoo I saw 66 mammal, reptile and bird taxa that I had never seen before, and in Plzen (off and on show areas) I saw a whopping 253!

 

Oh wow, that is very impressive!

 

250 lifers!! I do not think that visiting both Berlin zoos gave me so many new species when I was 15...

Btw. does anybody know when the new Lear's ara house will open in Prague?

 

253 at Plzen was the most lifers that I have ever got in one zoo. The next closest was Walsrode with 226.

In Berlin Zoo and Tierpark combined, I got 252.

Edit: just remembered that the numbers for Berlin do not include reptiles so can't be directly compared with Plzen or Prague.

 

Prague Zoo – Visit 26/10/15 and 27/10/15

After a full day driving 680 km from Warsaw to Prague on the 25th, I had the following day and a half to visit the fantastic Prague Zoo. Some of my pictures can be seen in the Prague Zoo Praha Gallery and a map of the zoo can be seen here. I really liked the map actually; it has contour lines to show how steep various bits of the zoo are and I think the balance of clarity and including all of the exhibits is pretty well done.

I stayed quite close to the zoo. In fact, this was the view from the window of my accommodation:

(showing the top of the Indonesian Jungle Pavilion)
Allowing me to maximise time at the zoo and minimise the need to get up too early.

The first enclosure that I saw upon entering the zoo was the fantastic enclosure for Red Pandas

Which I thought made good use of the existing terrain – this later proved to be a bit of a trend for Prague Zoo - with very nice planting with plenty of climbing area for the pandas.

I decided on my first day to fully explore the upper area of the zoo first, so headed up past the Pandas to the Indonesian Jungle Pavilion. This wasn’t such a huge building, but very nicely done with the standard lush planting and high heat and humidity of a tropical dome sort of building. The building contains a small entrance area with a few turtle and fish tanks followed by a Komodo Dragon Enclosure (temporarily unoccupied when I was there) followed by a large area with an enclosure for Pig-tailed Macaques, and one for Palawan Binturong (and a small enclosure for mudskippers), and then a nocturnal area, and finally an area at the top with enclosures for Orangutan, Mouse Deer, Tree Shrew and various turtles. The nocturnal section especially contained some nice rarities including Sunda Slow Loris, White-striped Dorcopsis, and Philippine Palm Civet.


The above picture shows a view of the Indonesian Jungle Pavilion from the upper area where the Orangutan Enclosure is looking down over the area where the enclosures for Macaques and Binturong are.

The two criticisms that I do, however have of the Pavilion are that a few of the enclosures in the nocturnal section – especially for the Dorcopsis and Bettongs – were a bit small, and there was a distinct lack of free-flying birds. There were supposedly a few free-flying birds and I saw a few things that I think were birds up in the foliage, but there could have been much more in my opinion and there was a lot of birdsong in the building but that, unfortunately, was made by speakers hidden in the foliage.


From there, I continued on to explore the rest of the Upper area going up past the very nice parrot trail

Which had an absolutely fantastic array of small parrot species, and then up to the Plains section, Across the continents, and Australia (I am referring to sections of zoo as they are marked on the map linked to above). Most of these enclosures were pretty standard paddocks like this American Bison one:

Though there were also quite a few particularly nice looking ones such as these Brown Hyaena Paddocks:


(split post because of number of pictures)

 

Prague Zoo – Part Two

Another highlight of this upper area – particularly along the path by the Plains section – was the view over the lower part of the zoo, the river and then the city of Prague beyond.
Despite it not being the clearest of days, this was the view:

The zoo goes pretty much up to the river and the centre of Prague is beyond. The large building visible within the zoo is the Feline and Reptile Pavilion.

After having explored the Plains section, Across the continents, part of the Northern Forest, Australia, and the Polar Bear areas, I went to the African area. Here, the main highlight was the Africa Up Close building and the surrounding area outside it.


I really liked the theming in this area – apparently called Africa Rocks – with various small mammal species in rather nice enclosures such as this one for cape ground squirrels:

And a nice design of rocks and a few plants. I then entered the Africa Up Close building itself which had a fantastic array of species (there is a species list in the description of this picture).
A few of the enclosures were a little small, but nothing was horrendous, and the building shows a really nice selection of species from odd invertebrates to various nocturnal species, a few reptiles and amphibians and a very extensive list of rodent taxa.

I then went around past the pretty typical hippo enclosure and a few rather typical – though fairly large – African hoofstock enclosures such as this one for Sitatunga and Ground Hornbill:


The Africa section then continued across a bridge over a small road where the main Savannah Paddock

was located.
The paddock holds Blesbok, Beisa Oryx, Nile Lechwe, Eland, Rothschild's Giraffe, Ostrich, Sable, Kafue Lechwe however also in this area are a few smaller enclosures in the indoor building for the above taxa including Aardvarks as well as additional outdoor enclosures for Red River Hogs and the seemingly mandatory inclusion in most zoos of meerkats.

This area (back across the bridge) also has the Elephant Valley for Asian Elephants (you’d have thought African would fit better but anyway…). The enclosure itself wasn’t huge for a group of seven elephants but I didn’t think it was too small and around the area was lots of theming with various statues and models and fake shrines and things which was quite a contrast to the purely functional indoor off-exhibit area.

There is a public viewing area into the off-exhibit area with various signs explaining the functions of different things as well as displays of chains and things used for controlling the elephants, with why and how they are used etc.

(split post because of number of pictures)

 

Prague Zoo – Part Three

I then continued past the outdoor elephant area which is long and thin in shape, before heading down past the Northern Forest area with a few nice enclosures such as this one for White-lipped Deer.


I then went down the Geological Trail

which has various displays of model fossils and rocks with signage about them as well as a shop selling rocks and fossils before reaching the bottom part of the zoo.

This part of the zoo is much more flat than the upper area and is located on the banks of the Vltava River. It’s also not as geographically organised with different bits here and there and feels a bit more random, though the map is very good with making sure you don’t miss anything.

I didn’t have enough time during the rest of my first day to see everything so I decided to just look at a few bits here and there and then look at all the bits I had missed the next day when I returned to the zoo for a further half day.

I also had a go on the chairlift to give a view of the zoo from above and to allow me to go down the very steep ‘Zakazanka Path’ which had a few enclosures for native reptiles.


For the most part, the enclosures in this area were very good. The Sichuan Bird House was particularly nice with a good range of species and I thought the Water World and Monkey Islands area was also really well done on the whole. The Giant Salamander house was another really nice part – though photography was not permitted – and the wetland birds section was another highlight with some nice aviaries such as the one below.


However my favourite enclosures were the cliff-side enclosures for various hoofstock such as this one for Himalayan Tahr:

Which has viewing from the bottom and the top and makes good use of terrain that would be difficult to use for most other things.

I think it is now relevant to talk about a few enclosures that I thought weren’t particularly good. Many of the outdoor aviaries weren’t so attractive with mesh viewing, though were perfectly alright for the birds, and the rarity of some of the species held made up for the boring enclosures. The Gorilla Pavilion was also pretty typical and not super great, nor was it really poor, but the main enclosure that wasn’t up to standard was the Polar Bear enclosure:

The picture pretty much speaks for itself but the main problem with enclosure is that it is just too small and it really contrasts with a lot of fantastic enclosures around it.
Additionally, a few enclosures in the Feline and Reptile Pavilion weren’t great, with the Indoor tiger enclosures being quite small and bare.

Overall then, I really enjoyed my visit to Prague Zoo. Generally, the standard of enclosures is fantastic and there is a good range of cool and unusual species displayed around the very large zoo.
To see more pictures in addition to the ones included in the review, see the Prague Zoo Praha Gallery and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask them.

After a little over half the day the second day at Prague Zoo, I took a bus and a tram to the Morsky Svet aquarium which I will be reviewing next…

 

Great walkthrough LD, thanks for posting.

I loved Prague Zoo, I think its great, although when I visited the elephants and hippos where in the old house, which was not great in any way. Is their old indoor area now fully inaccessable, or are there still capybara and tapir in there?

I don't think you can say the new indoor accommodation for elephants is off-exhibit though, given it clearly is on-exhibit as you can go in and see it!

 

Thanks for this exelent review LaughingDove, have planned to go to Prague in December and think this review will be very usefull !

 

There is currently a terrarium located in what is - according to the zoo's website - the old hippo and elephant house. Behind this is a giant anteater enclosure and in the same building but the opposite side is an enclosure for Brazilian Tapirs. In between is a playground area called the 'Bororo Reserve'.

I have been calling the indoor elephant area an off-exhibit area because that is what it is signed as (see attached). I think it is on show but off exhibit at the same time if that is possible as the other areas are themed with things to make them look better for the visitors whilst the indoor area is just functional elephant accommodation.

 

Morsky Svet Aquarium – Visit 27/10/15

After just over half the day in Prague Zoo on my second day, I decided to go to Morsky Svet Aquarium. As usual, further pictures are in the Morsky Svet Gallery. To get there by public transport, I took bus number 112 from directly outside the zoo to a stop called trojska and then tram number 17 for two stops to a stop with a very long and confusing Czech name (the second stop on the other side of the river).

The aquarium is located in an amusement park type thing with bumper cars etc. with this being the view of the aquarium building from outside:


Inside, the aquarium is pretty much just a large portion of a single warehouse with no outdoor areas or anything like that. There is a small upstairs area with an educational cinema type thing and a few tanks.


However the majority of the aquarium is the downstairs area which has a few large tanks and a few rows of smaller tanks such as this one:


And there is an area with a pond type tank surrounded by tables and chairs and a small shop selling drinks and snacks:


The aquarium is geared more towards families and young children and there is a lot of theming and some games and things for children. The entire ceiling is also covered in various sea-related designs with some large models hanging down from it.


For the most part, the tanks are ok for the inhabitants and many of the saltwater tanks looked quite nice, however generally the freshwater tanks weren’t as nice looking with things such as plastic plants and aesthetically at least didn’t come up to the standard of the aquariums in most major zoos.
A few of the tanks however were rather small such as this tank holding a baby caiman

Which - though possibly ok for now while the caiman is still small - will not be able to hold it for long as it grows bigger.

There were also a few unusual fish species such as a Goliath Tigerfish, some Polka-dot Splitfins (Chapalichthys pardalis), Japanese Pineapple Fish, and Stonefish (and probably a few more that I don’t realise are unusual).

Overall then, the aquarium is not huge, and definitely not worth sacrificing time at Prague Zoo for, it doesn’t need much more than an hour to see. However it was nice to look at a few cool fish etc. (Prague zoo doesn’t have very many) and since it’s easy to get to by public transport from the zoo and I had time after my second day at the zoo, I thought it was a nice little addition to my trip.

The next day, I drove to Pilsen and after stopping off at my accommodation, had the day from around midday onwards at the zoo. Pictures and review to come (probably this weekend or next week).

 

Plzen Zoo – Visit 28/10/15 and 29/10/15

On the morning of the 28th, I left Prague fairly early and headed to Pilsen and after stopping off briefly at my accommodation, I got to the zoo just before 12.
As usual I have uploaded many pictures to the Pilsen Zoo Gallery and a map can be seen here:


After arriving at the zoo, I then bought a ticket and went around to the administration building (located just outside the zoo) to meet up with a person who I had contacted prior to my visit (thanks to various peoples’ suggestions at the beginning of this thread) for a tour of the off show areas. This lasted almost two and a half hours and I probably could have spent longer if I wanted to.
I’m not going to discuss the off show areas (I haven’t uploaded pictures of anything off show either) and it would be unfair to critique a part of the zoo that isn’t supposed to be visible to the public.

After that, I started to look at the on show areas of the zoo and began with the Africa house/Africa by Night (as it is signed on the map). This building has a huge assortment of rarities including Chequered Elephant Shrew, Cape Foxe, Hausa Genet, Saharan Striped Weasel etc. some of the enclosures are a bit on the small side but most were pretty good. Sadly, I was staying about 40 minutes’ drive from the zoo, and there was no way the rest of my family would get up early enough to get to the zoo for opening, so I didn’t manage to get to the zoo while the lights were still on in the nocturnal area so was unable to photograph most of the animals held here, but never mind.
Some of the enclosures in this building also had outdoor areas such as this lion outdoor area:


I didn’t have that much time left on my first day since it wasn’t a full day at the zoo and I had spent quite a while in the off show areas, so I decided to look at the side of the zoo that I was already on which is the left hand side of the above map (the Eastern side of the zoo).

The Australia section was quite nicely done with a nice lake area

Which also had plenty of space around it for the larger species such as Emus and Kangaroos .
And there was some authentic looking theming such as signs, termite mounds, aboriginal art etc. around the Australia section. There were also a few smaller enclosures containing unusual animals such as Pademelons etc. (as well as some very well hidden enclosures near this area which are only visible if you go to the toilet).

After looking around the Australia section, I had a look around the Gondwana area. Most of the zoo is divided up geographically (though within each geographic region there didn’t seem to be any particular organisation of things) and the Gondwana area seemed to be a place to put everything that didn’t fit into its own area. In this area is a Humboldt Penguin enclosure, an enclosure for a mix of waterfowl including flamingos, and the Tropical Pavilion.
The tropical Pavilion is comprised of a seemingly random mixture of taxa from tropical areas. There is a row of outdoor aviaries

with indoor areas as well for Philippine birds (and three mammal species – Palawan Porcupines, Palawan Leopard Cats, and Southern Giant Cloud Rats), an enclosure for Chimpanzees, an enclosure for Red-handed Tamarins, an Enclosure for Ring-tailed Lemurs and Giant Tortoises, a tank with Green Pufferfish, some amphibians, some invertebrates and quite a few reptiles. The Zoo doesn’t have a reptile house (though there is the AkvaTera terrarium which I didn’t have time to visit in the end) however there is still a considerable reptile collection spread amongst a few different buildings around the zoo. The Tropical Pavilion held a few large monitors and snakes as well as smaller snakes, Komodo Dragons, and both Siamese Crocodiles and Smooth-snouted Caimans.

A lot of the enclosures in this building seemed small and a bit boring looking such as the indoor bird areas:

though some of the snake enclosures were very nice:

and there were lots of cool displays and educational signage.

(Split post because of number of pictures)

 

Plzen Zoo – Part Two

After the Gondwana Area, I decided to head up (literally ‘up’ as this was actually going up a slope) to the Asian Islands and Asian Garden areas which is what a lot of zoos call a pheasantry and holds the zoos amazing collection of cold climate (mostly) birds.

All around this area was a lot of nice planting and garden areas – which you would expect since this is Plzen Zoo and Botanical Gardens – so the area was very nice and peaceful.


I also passed the Amphitheatre when going up to this area which did seem unnecessarily large

Though I image other events must take place here as well as the bird of prey display which is all I saw happening there.

The bird islands consist of Hexagonal buildings, each divided into two indoor areas, each with an outdoor area and holding around five or six species and there is also a small rodent enclosure set into one of the walls of each building (and in one case a snake enclosure).

Particular highlights in these enclosures included Azure Tits, Siberian Rubythroats, Sulawesi Tarictic Hornbills and lots more, as well as 12 different subspecies of common pheasant.
Sadly, I wasn’t able to see all of the Bird Islands enclosures there and then because a few of them were included within the DinoPark area for some reason, which requires an additional ticket which I hadn’t bought that day.

I still had an hour left on my first day at the zoo, however it was already beginning to get dark so all of the areas that I looked at in that hour, I revisited the next day to look at properly and get some pictures.

The next day, I started by going the opposite way around the zoo as I did the previous day and went to the Africa area. First I checked to see if the lights were still on in the Africa by Night house – they were not – and then I went to the Madagascar Building.

View in the Madagascar Building

This was a very nice area with a fantastic range of species including 10 species of lemur, a few other mammal species, quite a few reptiles and some fish. The enclosures weren’t huge but most were fine and many also had outdoor areas. One thing that I thought was quite cool is that the different enclosure were signed for different areas of Madagascar where (I assume) the animals within were from such as Kirindy, Masoala, Ifaty etc.


Another quite cool feature was the walkthrough Ring-tailed Lemur island which was a standard Ring-tailed Lemur island with a path going over it, however the interesting thing was that the barrier for the lemurs seemed to be simply a metal bridge that people could walk over as if there was nothing holding the lemurs in.


(Split post because of number of pictures)

 

Plzen Zoo – Part Three

I then continued to the main part of the Africa Area (path along the bottom of the map).


Here there were a few aviaries including a large waterfowl aviary and various other exhibits including some rather large paddocks for African Hoofstock.


There were also enclosures for Cheetah, Warthogs, etc. and a Pygmy Hippo Exhibit which also had an island for Colobus Monkeys, various Pelicans and other waterfowl and a very nice aviary with small tropical birds with Blue-headed Wood-doves being a particular highlight.

View of the Pygmy Hippo House

The path then went from the Africa Area to an Asian Themed Area with a few large paddocks for Asian Species including Kiang, Kulan, Indian Rhino, Bactrian Camels Goitered Gazelle, etc. as well as Lion-tailed Macaques and some bird aviaries. Between these two areas is the Afro-asian Pavilion which holds the Indoor areas for Indian Rhino and Various African Hoofstock as well as a few smaller enclosures for Hyraxes, Ground Squirrels, a small nocturnal section and various Reptile and Insect species.

View of the Indian Rhino Indoor Area


One of two Hyrax Enclosures. The one above is for Cape Hyrax and Cape Ground Squirrel, and the other is for Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax.

(Split post because of number of pictures)

 

Plzen Zoo – Part Four

I then continued on to Explore the Western part of the zoo (the left hand side of the map). There isn’t really one route going around allowing you to see everything and – as with the rest of the zoo – the area is organised geographically so I will go through area by area.

The European Area (with a small American area containing Musk Ox and Prairie Dogs) goes along the Western side of the zoo and has a few very nice enclosures such as a large wooded enclosure for Brown Bears

with a very steep path going alongside it (there are actually quite a few steep paths around the zoo).

There is also a reconstruction of an Iron Age Village with bee hives, signage etc. and various other nice enclosures including one for Wolves and one for Bison.

Further along from the European area is an area for domestic animals called the Luftnerka Farmhouse.
This area has a few enclosures on a slope for some domestic hoofstock and a farmyard type area pictured below with various farmyard animals like pigeons, ducks, chickens, rabbits, etc.


There is also a café area and displays of a traditional farmhouse and displays of farm equipment such as old tractors etc.

Along the side of the farmyard area there is the fantastic Czech River. This has lots of nice outdoor tanks for various native fish species which go along the path with water connecting them making it look like a river. There is also a very large tank with a lot of big fish such as Wels Catfish and there is also an enclosure for European Otters. The area is very nicely done with some pretty cool fish and nice tanks.

View down the path going to the Czech River area.

Also around the Luftnerka Farmhouse are the Far East and Himalayas Section.
This includes an enclosure for Siberian tigers as well as enclosures for Snow Leopards and Chinese Goral, both of which also have viewing from above from around the farmyard area.


And further along from the Himalayas Area are the large North American and South American Areas. The South America area has the usual South American paddock with Rheas, Capybara and Vicuna, and all the usual South American animals (Maned Wolves, Collared Peccaries, Coati – though subspecies solitaria which was cool) as well as the Amazonia House which I rather liked. The Amazonia house holds mainly Marmosets and Tamarins (seven species) as well as Armadillos, Night Monkeys and Prehensile-tailed Porcupines with a rather nice walkthrough enclosure with White-tufted-ear Marmosets, Bolivian Night Monkeys and Prehensile-tailed Porcupines.

Though sadly it was too cold for any of them to be out.

The North American Area also has a few particularly nice areas including a very nice Woodchuck Enclosure, a nice paddock for Tule Elk and the very nice Sonora house which holds a mixture of small mammals and birds, reptiles, fish, invertebrates, and amphibians.


(Split post because of number of pictures)

 

Plzen Zoo – Part Five

I then went to the DinoPark to see the few bird enclosures located within since I now had an appropriate ticket. I didn’t spend too long looking at the dinosaurs but there are lots of large life-size dinosaur models, many of which made noises and some had moving parts.

There is also a cinema type thing showing a film about dinosaurs but I just went in to look at the birds held there, many of which being quite rare and unusual species, though the fact that I had to pay for a DinoPark ticket to see some birds which I thought should be covered by the zoo ticket annoyed me a bit.
One other highlight while I was in the DinoPark was seeing a wild Weasel pop its head out from between some rocks before being scared away by some children.

I had by this point seen pretty much everything and I had just over two hours left in the zoo so I went around to tie up some loose ends of little bits that I had missed. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to see everything without some doubling back and there are a lot different paths so I had missed bits here and there. A notable area that I had missed was the Underground World which is cave-themed with lots of smaller exhibits including bats and invertebrates and also has a small historical museum area.

View in the Underground World


Map in the Underground World
The semi-off show Amphibian Ark (there is viewing through windows) is also located in this area.

Another thing that I went to at this point was the Mediteraneum which is a nice Mediterranean greenhouse with lots of Meditarranean plants and various reptiles and fish.


I then had return visits to a few areas including the Africa by Night house to look for the Chequered Elephant Shrews which I had missed the previous two times (and managed to see this time) before leaving the zoo. I also went to the Succulents building but sadly this was closed for re-planting (there were lots of boxes of cacti and succulent plants stacked up by the door).

Overall then, a fantastic zoo. The collection is vast with a huge number of rarities and although there are a few enclosures that aren’t great, there are also a lot of very nice enclosures. Even with almost two days in the zoo, I could have spent longer in certain areas that I had to rush a little bit and planting all around the zoo is really good as well.

 

I was due to have a further day in Plzen the next day, but my parents decided that doing the drive from Plzen to Warsaw (almost 800km) in one day would be too long so it would be better to break it up with a stop halfway. Sadly this meant that I couldn’t visit the AkvaTera terrarium.

I’ve been thinking about which I preferred, Prague or Plzen, and I am really struggling to decide. In terms of exhibits and enclosure design, I think I prefer Prague, however in terms of the collection, I prefer Plzen.
Including species held in the off show areas, Plzen just about beats Prague for me but as a zoo overall, I think Prague is slightly better. Whichever way around, both Prague and Plzen are definitely amongst the best zoos that I have ever visited.

I hope you have enjoyed my pictures and reviews!

 

At least I did and I guess it will be very usefull for next month when I'm going to visit Zoo Prague. Thank you very much LaughingDove !

 

Very much so - thank you!

I think they are both amongst the very best in Europe. One factor that you did not consider is the visitor facilities: the restaurants at Prague are very good, the shop possibly the best in Europe (or, at least, what they sell is very good - none of the shop buildings are very marvellous, while the staff within are often spectacularly unhelpful), the entrance area very pleasant. At Pilsen, in contrast, the entrance is really inauspicious, the shop pretty standard, and the restaurant wholly uninspiring. Despite all of this, I think I'd probably have Pilsen ahead as my Favourite-Zoo-In-A-City-Other-Than-Berlin (which isn't the same as my thinking it is the best zoo, of course).