Snowleopard's 2019 Road Trip: Netherlands, Belgium, France & Germany

Indeed, I genuinely wonder what his exercise regimes are that keep him at peak zoo visit fitness? Then again, it might just be running around after four children.

 

Thankyou. I think a return visit to see all this will be necessary.

 

I type up an epic review of Pairi Daiza and the floodgates opened on this thread...haha! There have been more than 200 comments and I'm not quite halfway through the trip, which is a positive sign as I have always loved my annual (or almost annual) summer road trip threads. I've met at least 20 ZooChatters over the years, had many behind-the-scenes tours, and I'm always grateful to have my passion for zoos and aquariums as it has led me down many interesting paths.

Before I even begin to type up several days of zoo reviews, I need to address the plethora of comments or questions put my way. First of all, I've only spent two nights in the rental car (a Cactus Citroen) and that will be it for the entire trip. On the 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012 trips I was with my wife and then the first couple of our kids and so obviously we had motels 100% of the time. Then on the past four trips (2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018) I spent many nights in the family minivan as I was alone. That's an 8-seater van where all of the seats can be folded down in the space of a few minutes and I'd toss a full-size mattress into the back. I'd shower at truck-stops and then get 6-7 hours of sleep each night and it was glorious and inexpensive. On this trip, without a van or a mattress, the two sleeps that I did have in the car were brutal and with the heatwave there was never an option for a third night in the car. That's done forever. I have been staying at Ibis Budget Hotels every single night, for reasonable rates. My cheapest was 48 Euros ($54 Canadian) but there was a $10 Euro parking charge. (Everything costs extra in Europe). Several nights were 80 Euros ($120 Canadian) and that's too much money if I was to do that for all 32 nights. For the first time in my life I'm actually booking hotels ahead of time and checking in online and Ibis has clean, safe, rooms that I would recommend. The only thing missing is air-conditioning, which sounds trivial but if you read any news article, via Google, the stunning lack of air-conditioning has been directly linked to thousands of deaths during the 2003 European heatwave crisis. Having that amenity would have literally saved thousands of people from dying.

The Ibis Budget Hotel rooms are very tiny, often with a shower stall only about 4 feet from the bed. Everything is tiny over here, including the hotel rooms. Vehicles are half the size, as in Canada most families have vans (called minivans even though they seat 7-8 people in total) and huge pickup trucks. I can't imagine taking a truck down the narrow streets that I've gone on while in major European cities, as on a number of occasions I've been driving for hours on highways, then rural roads, and then jam-packed urban centers. I'll probably do more driving in 33 days than most British zoo nerds in their lifetime in terms of foreign, overseas driving. Many people reading this take a plane and then public transportation to many major zoos. That's all fine and dandy, but there is next to zero chance of going to a ton of smaller places without a rental car. Perhaps many zoo enthusiasts don't actually want to go to some of those miniscule zoos though...haha! Maybe they are the smart ones for skipping crappy zoos. "Let's wait a few years and Snowleopard will get around to reviewing it for us."

Lavatories/washrooms/toilets/restrooms are incredibly tiny here. Going pee in a McDonald's washroom on several occasions while inside a tiny room with a couple of other guys is sort of surreal. I'm rubbing shoulders with a big man and trying to aim straight! There are washrooms where you enter to find a tiny, single basin to wash your hands and a stall, and then one enters a second room with the urinals. Space is a premium even to use the loo!

Parking is sheer insanity, even with a fairly small automobile. Some zoos don't even have proper parking lots and I've had to park a kilometer away in some random neighbourhood. I always take a photo of the nearest street sign as I don't want to become so wrapped up in a two-hour zoo visit and then emerge and not know where the hell I parked my car. That happened to me once in Vancouver 20 years ago, and I had to pay a taxi driver to take me all over the area until I finally located the vehicle. I've had to pay for parking on more occasions in the past two weeks than on some of my entire zoo trips in the past.

If your vehicle breaks down while in Europe, is it mandatory to wear a bright orange/yellow/red vest? I've seen that happen on several occasions, especially in Germany. Interesting.

@ShonenJake13 Thanks for your input in regards to Pairi Daiza. I didn't know about the second lion enclosure, but then it seems as if many others didn't know about it either. Also, a third Shoebill Stork aviary? Wow. At least 99% of the world's zoos won't ever even have that species, let alone a trio of aviaries with them. How many zoos have Openbill storks? Pairi Daiza had at least three of them, once again proving that it is an ideal zoo for nerds.

No, Tim and I did not ride the train or watch the raptor show at Pairi Daiza, @ANyhuis . I wouldn't mind if I never watched a raptor show again as I've seen enough over the years and they hold almost zero appeal to me. The same goes for dolphin shows at other zoos...almost zero appeal. As you know, I'm always content to walk around zoos all day long, ignoring shows and keeper talks and various presentations unless one happens to be going on while I'm strolling past. If I had my 4 kids with me then the train ride would probably happen, and we might see the raptor show, but then I'd also only get to see 25% of Pairi Daiza. The curse of small children at a zoo.

Yes, I think that @sooty mangabey is onto something in regards to admission prices at zoos. Many small aquariums, whether it is in California, Texas or Belgium, charge exorbitant fees to enter and see fish for an hour or two. Some small zoos charge a lot as well, and a typical family could be done by lunchtime. Pairi Daiza cost me 38 Euros ($55 Canadian) plus I think that it was 8 Euros ($12 Canadian) for parking and so $67 Canadian would make it one of the most expensive zoos I've ever toured. I'm not counting theme park zoos like Disney's Animal Kingdom, Busch Gardens or SeaWorld San Diego, which all have rollercoasters galore between them and Pairi Daiza is miles better than that lot anyway. Pairi Daiza is nothing like a theme park and yet visiting the zoo is an experience unlike any other. Even some zoo nerds from England who have commented on this thread about how they are not totally in love with Pairi Daiza...well, those same guys have in some cases visited the zoo on multiple occasions. I paid about $8 Canadian per hour to spend the day at one of the greatest zoos I've ever had the privilege to visit, and that seems like a steal. Maybe the place should increase its prices...

Seriously @Jogy ? Walruses, a 'jungle dome' and a doubling of space. Holy smokes. As @Tim Brown put it, there is a certain status with a zoo taking up someone's entire day and very few zoos of the world are in that category. Sure, some nerds go around faster or slower than others, but on average Pairi Daiza must be right up there as one of the zoos that takes the longest to see. Only San Diego, Bronx and Omaha fit into that category in all of North and South America, Australia doesn't really have any zoos that take all day to see (although Taronga is a big one), and maybe Singapore would qualify in Asia. That leaves a handful in Europe that on average would take 8 hours to tour. Pairi Daiza is in rare company indeed!

Certainly I've been open with my approximate times going around zoos in more than 400 reviews now and so the whole internet has access to my 'Snowleopard pace'. I will say that for this particular trip I've seen so many Maras, Llamas, Alpacas and Capybaras (and that's just sticking with a South American theme) that when I come across my 200th Mara on the trip I just stop for a few exhibit photos and move on after probably 10 seconds. Unless the Maras are having sex with each other or trying to mount an escape, then I'm just not bothered. Just this morning I was at Zoo Neuwied and I saw Dwarf/Chacoan Maras there and those guys kept me looking for a long time. They weren't mounting anything and I loved seeing something new. The repetitive nature of seeing Eurasian Eagle Owls and Barn Owls every single freaking day and sometimes every hour means that I'm clearly not hanging around watching a darn Barn Owl sit in one spot for 30 minutes. I've always been obsessed with the exhibits in zoos, even far more so than the rare species. I'm an exhibit guy through-and-through and that's why most of my photos that I post don't have any animals in them. Who needs animals anyway!

Thanks for the kind words @Maguari and @Shorts and @vogelcommando and others. My day revolves getting up at 6:00 a.m. (usually 5:00 a.m. back home but I'm staying up later here and sleeping in!) and puttering around online before beginning my 'zoo-ing'. Then at night I talk/text with my wife and kids and once I'm all showered and settled I usually log a good 5 straight hours on the laptop doing reviews and photos. I'll easily type up a 120-word document after I'm done this trip, but I need to do it all ASAP because when I get home I'll have an exhausted wife and 4 rambunctious kids to deal with and there is no way that they are going to let me spend 5 hours per night typing up zoo reviews for a bunch of lunatics on this site.

One last thing and I'm all caught up. My calf muscles are the envy of every Dutch citizen in Europe. I have gone from a sedentary lifestyle at home, never once going to the gym but getting a work out by travelling up and down multiple stairs in a big house and tons of yardwork...and now I'm walking 8 hours per day. Whether that is one behemoth of a zoo or 4 smaller places, I'm clocking 6-8 hours of straight walking daily. I think to end my trip I'll buy some hot pink spandex shorts and a bike helmet, then I'll strut around Amsterdam Airport with a Maple Leaf flag unfurled from my nether regions. I'll wear a sign that says "I arrived as a Canuck but depart as an honorary European".

 

You get used to it eventually, it's the same when I'm working in the zoo - with my areas of interest it pretty much means being all day in 30+ degrees. The key is to drink a lot of liquids.

Is it just me or is the walrus enclosure way too small?

Finally some zoo I've been to and actually can contribute to the discussion I feel like Neuwied is so far not really discussed much at all on Zoochat (although there are clear reasons why)

 

Nobody mentioned another „attraction” in Pairi Daiza: a delicious beer brewed in the zoo according to monks’ old recipe. You can drink it in restaurant or buy at the zoo shop in large original bottles. I know only two zoos that brew beer, the second is Dvur Kralove.

I think people come from all over Belgium. In Belgium very popular are B-trips. These are combined tickets for train travel and admission to various attractions at a very favorable price. The small station in Cambron-Casteau hasn’t been closed only because of Pairi Daiza. A lot of people come by train and from the station is only short walk to zoo gate – about 15 minutes.

 

There's been a lot of comment on how wonderfully fit @snowleopard must be to undertake his treks across zoos. Having spent two days with him earlier this month, I would say - don't be taken it by it! He is constantly complaining about his aching legs and performs a strange stretching routine whenever he can. If this is the best that Canada can offer, I struggle to understand how the Mounties ever achieved their reputation for marvellousness....

I am glad to read this! Sleeping in a car, in Europe, is not a good idea - and in this heatwave, even more so. And I'm sure your fellow zoo visitors will be grateful to have a slightly more fragrant Canadian alongside them....

...yes, but at risk of (a) boring on about it and (b) repeating the same point, the overuse of power is a major factor in the creation of a climate crisis that endangers the lives of many, many more people...

Thank goodness for this! The absurd size of North American cars is quite something (see my comment about air conditioning, above....). I was stunned in New York earlier this month: if ever there was a city designed for Suzuki Swifts and Citroen Cactuses it is NYC, but still pretty much everybody seemed to be in a massive pick-up truck or people mover. Extraordinary! (and quite troubling).

While I'm with you on the average feeding show, I think Birds of Prey shows can be something different - and they often offer the only chance to see such birds doing something other than sitting on a perch. The shows in Amneville and Beauval are amongst the most incredible things I have ever seen in a zoo; on a smaller scale, those at Weyhill and the Cotswold Falconry Centre are really rather wonderful. On the flip side: crappy shows at London (the last I saw consisted of a Chilean Buzzard Eagle disappearing off into Regent's Park, and the show being aborted), the Scottish Owl Centre (I love an Eagle Owl, but watching one fly ten feet, backwards and forwards, for fifteen minutes was not going to excite anyone), and Birdworld Farnham (Barn Owl, on arm - and that was it, pretty much) - such zoos justify your lack of enthusiasm.

 

It was in so far as things going wrong are always quite entertaining. I have uploaded a photo of things just about to go pop - I like to think that the look on the falconer's face suggests that it was not a great day even before the bird took things into its own talons...

 

I think you are right, I bought some bottles in zoo shop some years ago. Last year I only drunk it at restaurant and didn't see it at shop.

 

You're forgetting the Great Grey Owls too, if I never see another it'll be too soon. I've seen (more than) enough to know what they look like (forever) and don't need to see them anymore.*

*Obviously if they disappeared from all zoos overnight in around four or five years time I'd probably be desperate to see one again.

 

I personally prefer a much smaller car (Honda Civic, 2-door with manual transmission), but I've come to believe in NOT judging others on this, as my 3 son-in-laws and even my wife prefer either SUVs or even one of those big pickup trucks. Not my taste, but to each his own.

Ibis hotels are a very good choice. But another idea is to just go to Hotels.com or Booking.com and check out your choices there. When traveling throughout Europe (and Asia), I've found some amazingly good bargain hotels at even cheaper prices using these websites.

Since you're always trying to make good time to enable you to tour 3 to 6 zoos in a single day, I can certainly understand why you'd want to skip the rides and shows. But I'd suggest there are some rides and shows which are essential parts of the "true experience" at some zoos. For example, if you skip the river boat ride, the Serenga safari bus ride, or even the 4D Arctic ride/show, you aren't truly "experiencing" Wildlands. The same with the bus tour of Beekse Bergen.

 

I don't believe so - when looking what some Insiders wrote on 'Leszoosdanslemonde' the pool is expected to be 6-10 meter wide and 40-50 meters long...

When comparing this to the walrus enclosure I saw some weeks ago at Seaworld San Diego the one at Pairi Daiza would be almost 10 times larger...

 

Yes, I did this walk three times(on the first morning I took a taxi as I didn't know the area). I noticed though only very few other visitors appeared to be using that form of transport, while the carpark seemed very busy. But it was on weekdays and maybe also more come from the other direction. Cambron-Casteau station is so tiny!

 

When I was there last the whole train basically emptied, but that was about 25 people or so. One of the plans of Pairi Daiza is to get a tgv (high speed train) station close to the zoo (the line Amsterdam - Brussels - Lille - Paris/London passes relatively close by, so shuttles could be organized). That would make visiting even easier.

 

It certainly is very accessible via railway- even a shorter walk than I had anticipated. Only problem is waiting for the train as only one per hour but if you note the times its okay.

 

You can also drive through the safari with your own (rental) car at the Beekse Bergen, which may well be Snowleopard's preference, as waiting times would probably be lower than for the bus. However some of the roads there may be a bit rough and depending on weather conditions, they may also be either dusty or muddy, so I'm not sure a car rental company would like someone using one of their cars for that. Also, giraffes or other animals might lick your car.

There is only one ride at the Beekse Bergen that there isn't an alternative (car or walking) for if you want to see certain species and that is the boat ride over the canal. If you take the time to wait for any I would say do it for this one perhaps. Then again I'm just a fan of the boat ride for some reason.

Personally I do actually enjoy these "feeding talk" situations where a keeper just feeds the animal under his or her care and talks about them. I might even enjoy them as much if not more than big flashy shows where the entire visitor population congregates in one area...

As for bird of prey shows, honestly I'm not a big fan. Maybe that is because of an incident years ago where a vulture miscalculated its landing and landed nearly on top of me (I was lucky it wasn't an eagle or something). I refused to attend for years and even now only rarely do so.

If I do attend a bird show it has to be at a place that is known for good shows and that preferably also uses other and more unusual birds than birds of prey in their show, like Avifauna or Walsrode do (and their bird shows really add to the visit), and I have to have enough time that attending the show won't affect my possibility of seeing the whole zoo and all desired areas and species.

We do need the animals, don't we - what use would there be to having exhibits if there were no animals to inhabit them? I can understand though that seeing the same common species day in, day out might become boring, however amazing these animals truly are, regardless.

As far as exhibits go, is there anything you have noticed is strikingly different between North American zoos and Northwestern European zoos, other than the minimal barrier thing you have mentioned several times already? And how would you evaluate general exhibit quality in Europe compared to North America?

With regards to your sustained and substantial efforts with regards to writing these reviews and posting pictures, I have said it before but I will say it again: so many sincere thanks for all your hard work, it is very much appreciated. I hope you enjoy all your work as much as we do.

It is a tiny station where few trains stop and you can't get there from very many places. Unless you're lucky, you'll need several stops to switch trains to get there and that just eats up time. For many Belgians it is just more economical and more practical to get there by car. Belgians are quite attached to using their cars anyway.

Please allow me to add a few more comments to Snowleopard's reviews of Antwerp and Olmen/Pakawi Park that I forgot earlier.

With regards to the elephants at Antwerp: only imagine that the original animals of the breeding herd that later moved to Planckendael once lived there. Also, for one summer there was even an adult bull as well...

The only thing I personally actually like about the elephant exhibit at Antwerp is the outdoor pool. It is big and deep enough for both elephants to fully submerge in, so at least there's something decent there. But the pool is really just about it that is decent about that exhibit. Given that there is no real possibility for better elephant accommodation at Antwerpen I believe this is the one megafauna species the zoo should absolutely give up as soon as possible. Even the holding of adolescent bulls isn't going to remain acceptable in these conditions for too much longer. Antwerp should really stop keeping elephants and use the space for another species. Personally I believe some type of African ungulate like Arabian oryx (once kept in the Egyptian temple), scimitar-horned oryx or addax would fit at the location rather nicely.

With regards to the elephants at Olmen: that exhibit was only opened in 2012 too. I really wish Olmen had done better, even if these are former circus elephants and their current conditions are certainly better than being a circus, but still far from great. The fact that that shamefully subpar exhibit (and the one at Antwerp that is almost just as bad) actually do meet the bare legal minimum here in Flanders makes me think that the rules regard elephant housing should be made stricter.

At the very least the legal minimum sizes both inside and outside should be increased substantially a partial sand-bottom stable and indoor pool should be made mandatory and the outdoor paddock should have to be equipped with more enrichment opportunities.

 

After zoo trips, I'm always dreaming of meerkats and barbary macaques.

 

I can much appreciate a recommended route on a first visit, although I don't always intend to follow them (my own first time visit tradition = buying a zoo map and having a coffee to map out my personal route).
Even loops aren't a real problem (although I find them a little childish ) if shortcut's exists and you can walk in both directions.