I did not know there was a second zoo (besides Havana). Is there a third or fourth? I also did not know the one in Havana is so massive - 342 hectares!
Last year I spoke with someone who had some involvement with Cuban zoos and he elaborated that there are, surprisingly, numerous zoos in the country (I am ashamed to say I can't remember the figure he told me) and some of them have huge number of animals. The Boyeros Zoo in particular had some staggeringly huge herds of hoofstock - even before the arrival of the new Namibian animals.
The Parque Zoologico Nacional / Zoo de la 26 (Avenida) is the older original zoo. This park is currently under renovation. The Ranchos Boyeros / Parque Nacional is the newer huge zoo complex with all the new African hoofstock.
I have been to Cuba and the zoos are mostly substandard even by Latin american standards. The large parque nacional zoo in havana seems to be better than the small city zoo in havana which i visited about ten years ago. The national aquarium was nice. The santiago zoo was said to be rather neglected.
Isn't there a large safari park-type zoo somewhere in Cuba where they have a bunch of large animals that they brought in from Angola?
The Ranchos Boyeros / La Habana is the site where the large shipment from … Namibia came in from. Every country becomes sub-standard with the kind of draconian economic sanctions in place for Cuba. Sadly, this is part and parcel of being part of a proclaimed Axis of Evil. The only axis of evil IMO is The Ring responsible for putting these sanctions in place. What people seem to forget is the record the P.Z. Nacional had, f.i. in breeding white rhino previously.
