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

I have never been in North America, so I cannot compare. But in recent years public acceptation for smoking declined severely in the Netherlands. Banning it from bars, restaurants and offices. So we are moving, but as I can tell from your experience, there is still a long way to go!

Regarding airconditioning, indeed it is a scarce thing over here. Most hotels and offices don't have airconditioning, and houses even almost non. But with the temperaturen rising the last years and hot and long summers the amount of airco's sold are exploding. But to double the amount is easy when you are around 0

 

The lack of air conditioning may be connected to the greater awareness of environmental issues in Europe, mentioned by. @snowleopard above.

I shudder to think of the impact of all those air con units blasting away throughout the summer, in the UDA and Canada. The excessive chilliness of buildings is extraordinary - and wholly unsustainable. Give me a European architectural solution to hot weather any day....

 

It is probably also to do with the fact that summers are cooler in W Europe than in most areas in the USA. Snowleopard is unlucky to be visiting in a heatwave, the Netherlands could well break their 75 year old heat record of 38.6 degrees celsius today or tomorrow.

 

38.6? In Australia we’d probably wear a hat in that weather.

 

This is pretty much spot on. The cultural change seen in Britain since the smoking ban was introduced contrasts sharply with what goes on in mainland Europe.

That being said, most in Europe seem to be restricted to smoking rooms in bars and clubs, and very few restaurants in my experience offer this. I can’t believe somebody was actually smoking in the reptile house!

 

That’s interesting, I’ve been to New York a couple of times in the last 2 years and I didn’t think the levels of smoking were that high. Then again I visited in the off-season so I guess in the summer there are so many people in New York City that there’s bound to be a lot of smoking.

 

In NYC there is a great deal of vaping. Far more than traditional cigarettes etc.

 

Most of my travel in Europe is done by train instead of car (last two trips have been completely car free). So I have not experienced the parking problems my Canadian friend is experiencing. The few times I have rented a car it is usually one day or two day rentals to a rural destination with a parking lot (or car park as the Brits say).

One thing I have noticed about car rentals in Europe vs USA. Here in the States (unless you rent an exotic sports car), all rental cars are automatic transmission. Every car I have rented in Europe (all compact/economy cars) has been manual transmission. Thankfully my first car many years ago was a manual, but there are a lot of Americans who do not know how to drive a stick shift and I wonder what they do overseas?

Now that @snowleopard has crossed into France (which I did not expect him to visit), I wait with anticipation to see if he makes it to my favorite zoo on earth! (Forum regulars know what I am talking about).

 

I had the exact opposite experience in Florida - the hired Chevy I drove there is the only automatic I have ever driven! The first couple of drives were rather interesting (and in roadworks around Miami - perfect learning ground..!) but after that it was fine - I suspect that's the easier way round of the two.

Apart from electric/hybrid vehicles manual transmission is very much the standard over here.

He's only made it to the very edges of France so far and I suspect he will go no further in that direction - but who knows?

 

This reminded me a quote that, if I'm not mistaken, Ric O'Barry (of all people!) said in a Dutch interview regarding Harderwijk: "If you speak two languages, you are bilingual. If you speak three languages, you are trilingual. If you only speak one language, you're probably American!"

I'm truly enjoying this thread by the way.

And we broke the record! Maybe we break it again tomorrow!

 

I often used to wonder why automatics were so popular in the U.S until I drove there. With all those stop signs manual cars would be a nightmare.

 

DAY 9: Monday, July 22nd (2 zoos)

After my surprise two-zoo afternoon in France, which I only did because those Belgian aquariums were closed, I spent the night at a motel near the Maubeuge Zoo and in the morning drove into Antwerp, Belgium. I ended up within spitting distance of the zoo, but it is the most extraordinary thing to be near casinos, bustling streets, all sorts of shops and hundreds of people moving about…and then around a corner is the entrance to a zoo! As one walks into the place, people are leaning out of their balconies doing laundry or smoking and it’s amazing to see.

Zoo/Aquarium # 27: Zoo Antwerp (Antwerp, BE)

This famous old zoo opened on July 21st, 1843, and therefore is only 5 years younger than the equally well-known Artis Royal Zoo in Amsterdam. There are many similarities between Artis and Antwerp, being that they are two of the oldest zoos in the world, both in urban locations completely surrounded by densely-populated cities, and both zoos have Bird Houses, Reptile Houses, Butterfly Houses, Aquariums, penguins, elephants, giraffes, gorillas, chimpanzees, sea lions, ornate statues and stately lawns. I’ll be honest and say that while Amsterdam took me almost 7 full hours to see everything, including the adjacent Micropia, I was done and dusted at Antwerp in 4 hours. I then quickly re-did the Reptile House, re-did the Nocturnal House (vainly looking for no-shows in the very dark environment), had lunch near the Savanna Aviary and re-did the Great Apes (my first and last Eastern Lowland Gorilla) to push my visit to the 5-hour mark. With 1 million annual visitors on 30 acres/12 hectares, Antwerp is a famous old zoo and arguably still a great zoo, but in my humble opinion there is just not nearly enough there for a full-day outing. Others will disagree, but that’s the wonder of assessing zoos, right?

Let’s take a gander, shall we?

If one goes by the order of the map (the numbers correspond with an approximate pathway through the zoo) then most visitors arrive at the 1897 Winter Garden, which is pleasant, but for most visitors I would estimate it to be a 5-minute stroll through a small Butterfly House in a very old building. The Small Monkey House is next, and this building is clearly an anachronism. It’s outdated and the primates have zero access to the outdoors. It doesn’t seem so bad when looking at tiny callitrichids but being inches from a full-grown male Colobus Monkey it is fascinating at how large they can be and the one I saw could cross his entire existence in about 5 seconds. There are other Primate Houses around the world that are just as miserable, but that is not an excuse for such a famous zoo. The species list is nice, but this is a house that should never again hold large monkeys. Species list (13 species): Colobus Monkey, Javan Langur, Golden-headed Lion Tamarin, Southern Tamandua, Emperor Tamarin, Red Ruffed Lemur, Ring-tailed Lemur, Hamlyn’s Owl-faced Monkey, Brown-headed Spider Monkey, Pygmy Marmoset, Goeldi’s Monkey and Black and Rufous Sengi. Mandrills are outside with two enclosures but loads of glare on the windows is a major deterrent to visitors being able to actually see the primates. I’d personally love to see Antwerp revamp the Small Monkey House by gutting it and turning it into a modern Insectarium. The exterior façade would remain, there would be a lot of space for a world-class Insect House inside, and it would go well with the next-door Butterfly House.

I purchased a fantastic zoo guidebook for 3 Euros, with 100 pages of information, and I’d stop and read each little chapter before progressing to the next exhibit. There would be tidbits of facts and figures in terms of looking out for a partly-hidden statue, or admiring a species that hides in a certain section of its exhibit, or even this gem: “Did you know that the males have a blue scrotum?” That is in reference to the Hamlyn’s Owl-faced Monkeys, and sure enough, the males do have blue scrotums. Thanks, guidebook! It makes me wonder if Smurfs have blue scrotums, but that’s a topic for another forum.

There’s a Flemish Garden, an amazing-looking restaurant called ‘Latteria’, some Queensland Koalas and Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroos in more exhibits with terrible glare (but no Dusky Pademelons listed) and then a row of parrot aviaries in a state of disrepair as construction is ongoing in that part of the zoo. The Moorish Okapi House is a historical gem, but the exhibit itself (both front and rear) is only okay with Okapis and Red Forest Duikers together. At this point I was wondering what all the fuss was about, with nothing really impressing me. Then I came to the penguin exhibit, with its 1878 Rotunda structure, the sprawling and slightly confusing Valley of the Great Apes (Eastern (1 specimen) + Western Lowland Gorillas + Chimpanzees) and the incredible Buffalo Savanna Aviary. Wow. Lots of penguins, lots of great apes, even Black and Rufous Elephant Shrews again, Barbary Striped Grass Mice, Common Gundis, then the Kitum Cave underground section that has yet more viewing of the apes and leads into the superlative Buffalo Savanna Aviary. The cave is 67 meters long and fantastic for all ages, with a kiddie climbing section against one wall. The massive aviary contains an exhibit for 5 Cape Buffalo, the 1893 Rhinoceros House, and 200 African birds of probably 20 species. I ate lunch in the ‘Restaurant Savanne’ and felt that this part of the zoo was one of two large areas that really stood out for having a sustained period of excellence.

After a delightful lunch, I nonchalantly strolled past the iconic Egyptian Temple that was built in 1856 (it is the oldest building in the zoo) and is the centrepiece for a giraffe, zebra, Asian Elephant area. There were two young, bull elephants in the yard (although a sign said that one is leaving soon) and Antwerp’s elephant exhibit is very small and probably just barely adequate for maintaining one or two bulls at any given time. Nearby are Common Hippos, Malayan Tapirs, Eastern Bongos (so close that you could reach over and stroke their horns) all in adequate enclosures that look a little rough around the edges.

Bird House: There are 11 aviaries that line the outside of this historic building, with another 9 aviaries inside and then at the very back of the house (still inside) are a series of 11 tiny ‘windows’ with no glass or wire and the birds flit around in the darkness. It’s all quite remarkable. A macaw aviary, with full glass, is again outside and so there are your Bird House statistics. I’m not going to type up a species list, but I will say that the building opened in 1893 and was reconstructed in 1948 after being badly damaged during WWII. It’s a very nice series of aviaries for mostly small birds. There is even a Cactus Garden outside and a bust of Charles Darwin that dates from 1898.

Then the second part of the zoo with a period of sustained excellence emerged. There is ‘Freeze World’, which opened in 1997 but was renovated in 2012 and so looks new and is an appropriate exhibit for Antarctic penguins (King, Gentoo, Macaroni). Near the Aquarium is not one but actually two different Harbour Seal exhibits, a species that has been at the zoo (“almost without interruption” says the guidebook) since 1847. There is an Aquarium, Reptile House and some outdoor habitats that all add up to a delightful corner of the zoological park.

Aquarium: There are exactly 19 tanks in this grand old aquarium, plus a Koi pool and a Goldfish pool. That might not sound like a lot of fish, but those 19 tanks are larger than average, and all are a very healthy size. There isn’t a single small aquatic exhibit anywhere, and most are packed with colourful fish. The highlight, of course, is the 2014 addition of the Great Barrier Reef, floor-to-ceiling tank at the end of the hallway with 4,000 fish. That one is simply brilliant. The Aquarium opened in 1911 but in 2011 it was renovated and so yet again Antwerp has sensitively given a facelift to an iconic part of the zoo.

Reptile House: This building was arguably my favourite part of the entire zoo and it’s an excellent Reptile House that opened in 1911, as the Aquarium and Reptile House are essentially one massive structure. I walked in just as a crashing crescendo of a thunderstorm was occurring, with a fake tree branch at one point dropping a couple of feet from the ceiling and making visitors jump. The Reptile House has 43 exhibits, plus a nursery room for juveniles and a walk-through area with some Green Iguanas hanging around on branches and a few birds fluttering in the trees. All of the terrariums range from adequate to excellent, with well-furnished exhibits and a few rarities alongside my daily dose of Bearded Dragons and Green Iguanas.

I’ve gone with the exact names on the signs, which includes 5 iguana species and 10 gecko species:

Species list: (77 species): Spectacled Caiman, African Rock Python, Carpet Python, Malagasy Ground Boa, Madagascar Tree Boa, Garden Tree Boa, Brazilian Rainbow Boa, Baja Rosy Boa, Rhinoceros Viper, Snouted Cobra, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Komodo Dragon, Spiny-tailed Monitor, Rhinoceros Iguana, Cuban Ground Iguana, Green Iguana, Desert Iguana, Black Iguana, Frilled Lizard, Weber’s Sailfin Dragon, Common Chuckwalla, Gila Monster, Mexican Beaded Lizard, Ornate Mastigure, Bearded Dragon, Chinese Crocodile Lizard, Smith’s Green-eyed Gecko, Common Madagascar Day Gecko, Ring-tailed Gecko, Olive Day Gecko, Gold Dust Day Gecko, Seychelles Giant Day Gecko, Peacock Day Gecko, Robert Mertens’ Day Gecko, Blue Dwarf Gecko, Klemmer’s Day Gecko, Veiled Chameleon, Major Skink, Solomon Islands Tree Skink, Fire Skink, Berberskink, Blue Spiny Lizard, Green Spiny Lizard, Black-lined Plated Lizard, Sudan Plated Lizard, African Spurred Tortoise, Pancake Tortoise, Red-legged Tortoise, Radiated Tortoise, Southern New Guinea Snapping Turtle, Nubian Flapshell Turtle, Malayan Box Turtle, African Keeled Mud Turtle, Central African Mud Turtle, Mountain Chicken, Green and Black Poison Dart Frog, Blue Poison Dart Frog, Yellow-banded Poison Dart Frog, Dyeing Poison Dart Frog, Imitator Frosch, Golden Mantella, African Clawed Frog, Amazon Milk Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Oriental Fire-bellied Toad, Kaiser’s Spotted Newt, Rubber Eel, Mexican Red-knee Tarantula, Emperor Scorpion, Sabah Thorny Stick Insect, White Spot Assassin Bug, Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, Cave Cricket and White Cloud Mountain Minnow. The birds in the small, narrow, walk-through section are Red Fody, Gouldian Finch and White-rumped Shama.

Outside the Aquarium/Reptile House combo is a rocky exhibit for Mishmi Takin and Himalayan Tahr, plus there are some Dromedaries and various macropods. One fantastic view is from the base of the lion ‘terrace’, with a Hagenbeckian view up past the lions, then the Dromedaries and right through to Takin Rock. Towards the zoo’s exit is the 1968 Jubilee Complex, with its bizarre Skywalk and exhibits for Coatis, Raccoons, Squirrel Monkeys, Red Pandas and Andean Bears. Those are all nicely done, but a couple of awful big cat exhibits still exist, for Amur Leopards and Jaguars. There is an equally awful, all-indoor California Sea Lion pool, but one hidden treasure is the ‘Nocturama’, which of course is a Nocturnal House. The exhibits there are fantastic and along a darkened hallway there are these species on display: Common Rat, Golden-bellied Water Rat, Balabac Mouse Deer, Northern Dry Zone Slender Loris, Gray Slender Loris, Aardvark, Springhaas, Southern Tamandua, Dourocouli, Two-toed Sloth, Southern Three-banded Armadillo and Egyptian Fruit Bat. There are only a dozen species, and two trips through the Nocturama did not reveal them all, but the exhibit quality in there is extremely impressive.

Antwerp Zoo has a great ‘feel’ to it, as many of the world’s most iconic zoos probably tend to have. The gardens are a work-of-art in themselves, with manicured lawns and pruned hedges and statues in all directions. Much like Artis, there is the sense that the zoo takes pride in its history and revels in it, so much so that the new parrot aviaries under construction have various signs detailing how the integrity of the ornate structure of the aviaries will be maintained. The zoo is a great one, particularly in the form of the Reptile House, Aquarium, Lion terrarce panorama, Egyptian Temple for Giraffes, Cape Buffalo Aviary and a few other exhibits.

I then drove 45 minutes southwest to this tiny Belgian zoo.

Zoo/Aquarium # 28: Harry Malter Familiepark (Destelbergen, BE)

The Malter family had a zoo in Schweinfurt from 1942-44, before being forced to close due to ramifications from World War II. There was a prolific touring circus for many years, from 1968-78, and it wasn’t until 1992 that the Harry Malter Family Park was established. When spending a trio of nights and visiting 6 zoos with my friend John (aka @sooty mangabey ), I discovered an English word that he used frequently to describe something that was rubbish. He’d go: “That’s a bloody naff movie” when we had one of our friendly debates about the world of cinema. Well, the Harry Malter Zoo is a ‘naff’ zoo and one more for my list but it’s a real stinker. Conversely, it was packed with families during my visit and I had to park quite far away. There’s a naff little map with ridiculous animal images, some naff playgrounds and mini-rides for little kids, and even a small circus tent with a ring inside with a scary-looking, naff clown doing tricks. I was a little embarrassed to be there, but I did see some Guinea Pigs, Flemish Rabbits, Rhesus Macaques, Tufted Capuchins, and a walk-through Ring-tailed Lemur exhibit outdoors and then visitors can go into the indoor walk-through lemur exhibit as well. There are some Bactrian Camels giving rides, a few prickly porcupines, a couple of Genets, some barnyard animals, a few marmosets and lorikeets and of course the daily dose of Maras and Capybaras. Spending 30 minutes here was a struggle, but I did add on a few seconds by admiring the new addition for 2019 – a toddler pirate boat.

 

This is indeed the wonder of assessing zoos - but in this case you’re wrong! Antwerp is one of the very best: a “full-day outing”? Two days! Anyone who can place Blijdorp, in its current state, ahead of Antwerp is clearly not to be trusted....

 

You should to know that Maubeuge Zoo is located on the site of former fortress built by Vauban, XVII c. famous military architect. Currently this is on Unesco Heritage List and zoo has very limited possibilities of reconstruction of this area. Last year zooo director showed us around the zoo and said that there was no other way to build Hippo house. Some years ago zoo was banned from EAZA. Now, after some years of hard work it is again full member of EAZA (one of the conditions of return was just rebuilding Hippo House).

It's good that Oostende and Oostduinkerke aquariums were closed. For you it would be two visits for 10 - 15 minutes (including 5 minutes for buying tickets and getting to tanks). And so you can visit two unplanned nice zoos (I visited both last year).

 

DAY 10: Tuesday, July 23rd (2 zoos)

Zoo/Aquarium # 29: Planckendael Zoo (Mechelen, BE)

The city of Mechelen is home to less than 90,000 citizens, but there are a lot of people in nearby Brussels who make their way to the countryside to visit this terrific zoo that receives a million annual visitors. The grounds were purchased in 1956 by the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp and Planckendael is the ‘sister zoo’ to Antwerp Zoo in a setup reminiscent of the San Diego Zoo parks. While Antwerp Zoo is famous for its urban setting on 30 acres in the middle of the city, and its long list of nationally listed buildings and structures, Planckendael is 45 minutes away and has 103 acres/42 hectares and with ‘space to burn’ in all directions.

With my hundreds of zoo reviews over the years, I’ve always been honest and up-front in my assessment of zoological parks and aquariums. Even though I really, truly enjoyed visiting Artis Royal Zoo in Amsterdam and Antwerp Zoo, both fantastic, legendary, extremely old zoos…if push comes to shove, I preferred both Blijdorp in Rotterdam and Planckendael in Mechelen. I’m not sure if it is because of my lifetime of visiting North American zoos, or my fondness for zoos with vast quantities of space and huge acreages, or not having to battle immense crowds while seeing people leaning out of their homes and peering down on proceedings. I simply prefer zoos with mainly all natural-looking exhibits. With Artis and Antwerp there was immense joy in touring the old, historic elements and those zoos have unique moments (the Japanese Macaque ‘spaceship’ exhibit at Artis or the extraordinary Skywalk set of pathways at Antwerp). However, both of those extremely old zoos have at least half-a-dozen exhibits that really need to be dramatically updated. I found that with Blijdorp, and also with Planckendael, I could walk around for hours and those zoos were remarkably consistent. Planckendael has its ebbs and flows of quality, but there’s nothing horrendous there and much that is terrific. Planckendael is a zoo that feels as if it is on the up-and-up, making incredible progress and everything around the grounds is modern, clearly defined into zoogeographic settings and of a relatively high caliber. If I came back to Belgium next summer and had to make a choice between Antwerp and Planckendael then I’d go with Planckendael. That might or might not fall in line with what other zoo enthusiasts would choose (my guess is that I’d be in the minority) but there you have it.

Being out in the countryside, Planckendael is so much easier to locate than Antwerp, plus the layout of Planckendael is an A+ in my opinion. A tidy entrance leads to a central path that goes through to a tall carving of animals that resembles a totem pole. From one particular spot it is possible to see the entrance arches for three different continental loops, and the zoo has 5 major loops all from that single main path. There is Asia, Oceania, America, Africa and Europe and I’m not sure how many zoos of the world are laid out in such a crisp, neat fashion. I loved it! One comparison could be the Georgia Aquarium, which is only a couple of acres but inside is a central path with loops spiralling off it. At many zoos of the world, in fact most of them, there are some cutbacks and tracking back to see exhibits tucked into corners or enclosures in a hodgepodge fashion. Planckendael is clean, simple, easy to navigate and has 5 big loops on a much larger scale than what can be found at Brevard Zoo in Florida.

Asia: I did this loop first and it took me a full hour as it is arguably the longest trail of the lot. There are a couple of Greater One-horned Rhino exhibits just across the main path, with Red-flanked Duikers inside for companionship, before the main loop begins and takes visitors past Bactrian Camels, Red Pandas, a spacious aviary (Red-crowned Crane, Black-headed Ibis, Cheer Pheasant, Blue-eared Pheasant), Snow Leopards and through incredibly detailed Asian-themed villages. The large Asian Elephant paddock is best seen from a high, overhead point, although one complaint that could be levied is that visitors never truly get another terrific vantage point to see the elephants but instead traverse the outskirts of the exhibit in much the same way as what occurs at Los Angeles Zoo. There is a smallish but still decent Asian Lion exhibit, another spacious mixed-species aviary (with Eurasian Spoonbills a highlight) that can be viewed through a train box car in one section, and then the zoo’s large Tropical House. A great deal of empty cages are seen in an area known as Silent Forest (I saw a hint of that at Lille in France), but there are approximately 20 bird species and even mammals are here in the shape of Common Black Rats, Northern Luzon Giant Cloud Rats (I saw 4 of them), Prevost’s Squirrels, Northern Tree Shrews and Pygmy Slow Lorises. Outside are Northern White-cheeked Gibbons and a mixed-species exhibit for Sulawesi Crested Macaques and Small-clawed Otters. Just down the path is a large Wisent paddock and the Przewalski’s Horse yard. Other than the sound of a sitar blaring a little too loudly from the undergrowth, I really enjoyed the Asian loop and a trend began to immediately emerge from this zoo. Lots of really good exhibits, a nice assemblage of animals, and nothing that needs to immediately be bulldozed. It’s my kind of zoo!

Oceania: This isn’t a very large loop on the map, but in fact Planckendael has an impressive collection of Australian animals. There is yet another spacious, netted aviary with 5 Aussie species (Tawny Frogmouth, Masked Plover, White-faced Heron, Chestnut Teal, Straw-necked Ibis), then ‘choice’ species such as Tasmanian Devil, Short-beaked Echidna, Double-wattled cassowary, Common Wombat, Swamp Wallaby and Koala. There are also more common types, such as Red Kangaroo and Emu, plus a small Aussie House with the following 7 species: Bearded Dragon, Eastern Blue-tongued Skink, Children’s Python, Red Claw Crayfish, Giant Prickly Stick Insect, New Guinea Spiny Stick Insect and Rainbowfish. I loved the boomerang benches!

America: This is yet another excellent loop that begins with a series of aviaries before the emergence of Capybaras, Bush Dogs and a brilliant walk-through exhibit for Geoffrey’s Marmosets and Golden-headed Lion Tamarins. When seeing what feels like hundreds of tiny boxes with monkeys inside over the years, it is incredibly refreshing to gaze up within a forested section of Planckendael and be able to locate puny callithrids far up in fully-mature trees. Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s marmosets in shoeboxes are becoming a distant memory. Seeing their tiny bodies move through the trees is as close as a sense of seeing them in the wild that I’ll likely ever have. It’s a marvelous exhibit and it’s becoming common for me to be in walk-through primate exhibits in Europe. Another enclosure that I really enjoyed is the vast prairie habitat for at least 8 Wapiti and no less than 9 American Bison. There is absolutely no doubt about which species has the right of way here, with the bison elbowing past the Wapiti at any given opportunity. The sheer numbers and the nice amount of space made for a wonderful mixed-species zoo habitat. There is a substantial barnyard area that might not appeal to zoo enthusiasts, but it was huge and incredibly popular with families. Then a series of South American species emerged, with species such as Black-rumped Agouti, Giant Anteater, Darwin’s Rhea, Guanaco, Alpaca, Vicuna, a walk-through Mara exhibit, Chacoan Peccaries and Coatis (labeled as both South American and White-nosed) over the heads of visitors as those active animals could pass over on tiny bridges between old-growth trees. I did feel as if the whole America loop could use a major carnivore exhibit (Puma or Jaguar) or even an omnivore (American Black, Grizzly or Andean Bear) to add a marquee species to keep the average visitor excited. However, the America loop ends with a moment of sublime brilliance and one of the best penguin exhibits that I’ve seen in my lifetime. This piece de resistance has a large number of Humboldt Penguins in a massive netted habitat that may lack underwater viewing but is still absolutely brilliant. Inside the walk-through aviary are the following other species: Chilean Flamingo, Scarlet Ibis, Black-faced Ibis, Fuegian Steamer Duck, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Black-necked Stilt, Black-necked Swan and Inca Tern. To have terns whizzing around while penguins and flamingos stink up the place was a delight.

Europe: This is easily the shortest and least impressive loop of the 5, although up first is a walk-through aviary that contains an exhibit for Elbe Beaver that would be easy enough to step into! Combined with the cassowary exhibit in the Oceania loop, where I could easily stick my hand through the spacious gap in the wire, it was a typical ‘Low Countries fend-for-yourself’ vibe. (Having said that, I’m rather disappointed that the Dutch or Belgians haven’t come up with something like a walk-through Spotted Hyena exhibit or a walk-through Ratel exhibit. Wouldn’t that take things to the next level?) In with beavers are Long-eared Owls, Barn Owls and Waldrapp Ibis to create an interesting mixed-species exhibit. After that there are Eurasian Badgers, Raccoons and Rabbits, thus ending an extremely short loop that is mildly disappointing. One highlight is the spacious vulture aviary that was added in 2012, containing a trio of species, and it can be seen from the parking lot.

Africa: Past some Ankole Cattle, the path leads to “the largest Bonobo enclosure in the world”, according to the zoo map and various signs near the entrance. Expedition Bonobo has a series of indoor rooms and an enormous outdoor habitat that will look amazing when the Bonobos are finally let out to rampage around. Seeing one of the apes coming out from the undergrowth will be a wonderful experience for some visitors in the near future, but during my visit all of the primates were in their series of indoor quarters (which are mostly all new). There have been more than 15 Bonobo births at this zoo, a remarkable achievement. The African loop at Planckendael is as impressive as the rest of the zoo, with species such as Banded Mongoose, African Crested Porcupine, Ring-tailed Lemur, Black Lemur, (both lemur species are in a walk-through exhibit…of course), a spacious walk-through waterfowl aviary with more than a dozen species (including Lesser Flamingos), Kordofan Giraffe, Grevy’s Zebras, Addax, Impala, a troop of Barbary Macaques (in a fantastic new habitat), Scimitar-horned Oryx, Arabian Oryx (that was a surprise!), Eastern Bongo, Kirk’s Dik-dik, Ostrich, Spotted Hyena and Cheetah. The entire African loop is of a very high quality, with the new primate exhibits for macaques and Bonobos certainly giving the zoo a forward thrust.

Planckendael is a zoo that complements its ‘sister park’ Antwerp quite well. If one wishes to see birds up close and personal, then Antwerp has a small Bird House with adequately-sized aviaries, plus rows of parrot aviaries and bird of prey aviaries in other sections. It’s terrific for intimate views of birds, but at Planckendael there is the free-roaming species in the Tropical House (Asia), a couple of large mixed-species aviaries on the Asian loop, yet more mixed-species aviaries in Oceania, America, Africa and Europe. These are all aviaries of a substantial size and they are modern and showcase the diversity of birds in a setting that I would personally rate far higher than the minute (by comparison) aviaries in Antwerp. However, I do understand different perspectives, meaning that some zoo nerds like to see a row of aviaries so that the birds are able to be viewed in seconds and they are easy to spot. I enjoyed Planckendael’s vast walk-through aviaries, where I had to peer amidst the trees in order to get a glimpse of wings, and the mixed-species environments all around the zoo are far more engaging in comparison to smaller, single-species aviaries.

Planckendael has more than 100 acres to showcase its long list of superb aviaries, its sprawling elephant paddock, the world’s largest Bonobo exhibit, and this is a zoo that is going places. Just in the past couple of years the zoo has had many examples of attendance-boosting events. There has been a baby Kordofan Giraffe, baby Asian Elephants (and some deaths), a baby Koala, the addition of Tasmanian Devils and new exhibits for Barbary Macaques and Bonobos. I found Planckendael to be a great zoo, with very few poor animal habitats and a nice collection that appears to be growing. Hopefully the facility can sustain its momentum and continue to be a modern zoological park with stellar exhibits. Antwerp used to be miles ahead in attendance numbers, but its 30 acres might seem a little confining in the coming years as Planckendael has found considerable success on its greater acreage. Either way, membership includes unlimited annual visits to both zoos and I envy anyone with such a deal.

I then drove an hour northeast to a zoo with a brand-new name!

Zoo/Aquarium # 30: Pakawi Park (Olmen, BE)

This zoo opened in 1976 and was known as the Olmense Zoo up until the past year, and with new ownership came a new name that is related to the park’s focus on cats (‘paka’ in Swahili means cat). Olmense Zoo actually shut down for 5 weeks in 2017 due to pressure from the Flemish Minister for Animal Protection, and now Pakawi Park is open with the son of the former owner in charge.

After the phenomenal layout of Planckendael, with its 5 curving loops, I was back inside a zoo with a random mess of pathways that struck out in all directions. Some folks like those kind of zoos, but the incessant backtracking is annoying and I’d rather have crisp, well-organized trails. The first thing that visitors see is a god-awful Chimpanzee yard, with indoor quarters that are so dark that it’s disgraceful that there are apes in there. Ugh. Next up is a crappy little Reptile House, a bizarre Bird Museum and a series of rubbish enclosures that are all ‘naff’. The usual motley assortment of Coatis, Agoutis, Meerkats and Maras are there, plus a rust-damaged walk-through Aussie aviary that is now closed (although a few birds still flutter inside). Visitors then arrive at a substantial Tropical House, with rows of small aviaries set over two floors and a very ‘cagey’ environment. At least 5 turaco species and 5 hornbill species reside in this house, with a few other notable species being White-fronted Lemur, Greater Vasa Parrot, Yellow Anaconda, Philippine Crocodile (showcased in near total darkness with flashes of fake lightning!), Northern Tree Shrew, Northern White-faced Scops Owl, Bearded Barbet and Cape Genet.

Outside the Tropical House is a series of small bird of prey aviaries that are for the most part dirty and barely adequate. The zoo has either 6 or 7 species of crane and so in terms of bird numbers things are impressive, but the quality of many of the aviaries leaves a lot to be desired. As one heads towards the back of the zoo things improve immeasurably, with a stunning European Brown Bear exhibit that is essentially a large chunk of coniferous forest. The Wolves (‘Hudson Bay’ subspecies) have a huge exhibit that is at least an acre in size, then there is a heavily forested American Bison enclosure and a vast African Savanna seen from a high boardwalk. Roaming the Savanna are Giraffes, Blue Wildebeest, Common Eland, Impala, Southern Lechwe, Plains Zebra, Ostrich and Springbok. There is an awful paddock for a couple of African Elephants, with some low-budget European zoos still maintaining elephants within inadequate surroundings, and one of the beasts was showing some stereotypical head swaying.

The zoo has an assortment of carnivores, with species such as Fossa, Puma, African Lion, Tiger (white ones), Amur Leopard and Eurasian Lynx, as well as some primates scattered around the park on islands. Pakawi Park isn’t a great zoo and falls in the immense shadow of the ‘Big Three’ in Belgium (Pairi Daiza, Planckendael, Antwerp), but there is enough there to suggest that the zoo is going to make a valid attempt at improvement. A few signs are up explaining little projects, and there is a large Tiger complex being built that looks to be about halfway finished.

It’s amazing how my life has gone from being fairly sedentary, although living with 4 kids always keeps one on their toes, to now walking 10 km/6 miles daily. Spending many hours at Planckendael in intense heat was wearying, but the zoo has many shady spots to relax in. Then driving to Pakawi Park was a break before I spent more than two hours at that zoo. Every day, whether it is two zoos or 4 zoos, there is a tremendous amount of walking and my legs are beginning to resemble steel pistons. One major difference between North American zoos and European zoos is the notion of drinking fountains. I had a friend who visited Woodland Park Zoo a few years ago and one complaint he had was that the zoo needed more drinking fountains. Well, that Seattle zoo has at least 7 places where one can drink some free water or fill up a container with fresh, clear, cool water. The average European zoo has ZERO drinking fountains open to the public. Why give people free water? If they are thirsty it will force them to shell out a handful of Euros on purchasing a drink…smart thinking! Everywhere outside of zoos already charges for lavatories (and one zoo has charged visitors to use the toilet) and everywhere already charges for parking, everywhere charges for ketchup packages, so why not have everywhere charge for water as well? On top of all that, at least half-a-dozen zoos have charged me several Euros (about $5 Canadian) for a zoo map when back in North America they are free at 95% of all zoos. I think that by the time I come back to Europe in a few years there will be an ‘air charge’ for gulping air as one strides around a zoo. I’ll take tiny sips of air and conserve energy so that I’m not pumping more money out of my wallet.

I freely admit that we are spoiled little brats in North America. Amenities in all directions 24 hours per day, personal taxes substantially lower, every family has at least two vehicles or more and they are the big gas-guzzling kind, at least 6 free drinking fountains in every zoo, and many people I know even pay a small fee (usually around $8 Canadian) and all their groceries are delivered directly to their door at home! We’ve done it ourselves on a number of occasions, especially before a big holiday like Christmas. You just go online and order $300 in groceries and it comes the next morning for eight bucks. Then we sit in our smoke-free, air-conditioned, huge houses and laud it over everyone else. Haha. There is a lot of truth in all of this, but Canada and the United States have many issues just like everywhere else. For example, I’m not sure that I could live in a country with a guy like Donald Trump in charge.

 

Assuming you're driving. This is Europe - many won't be! Antwerp is much easier than Planckendael by train - though of course, being Europe, Planckendael's still pretty straightforward.

Reeves' Muntjac - sadly we no longer have Red-flanked Duikers in Europe (and it would be odd for the zoogeographically-strict Planckendael to mix them with Indian Rhinos!).

This is the current EAZA conservation campaign, so you'll see a lot of this in the larger zoos.

Did you see their tiny indoor winter island? Easily the worst thing at Planckendael (though, as you say, there is little here that is below average).

One of Europe's best - certainly top 5.

They certainly had both in there when I was there. Chacoan Peccaries are still rather rare things over here.

Fantastic exhibit - the penguins-and-Inca-Terns thing is something I'm sure you'll see again.

Did you see the Slender-horned Gazelles? They are the only ones in Europe.

Give me a nice mix of both and I'm happy!

Drinking fountains have never been a big thing in Europe, probably due to so many cities being built before plumbing existed.

This super-flash space technology has, just about, made it to Europe as well, y'know?


Glad you're enjoying the trip though - Antwerp and Planckendael are both superb and complement each other superbly. Olmense... is what it is. Glad to have been there once; not too inclined to hurry back!

 

@Maguari Thanks for all of your comments. I'll address a few things:

- I did not see the Slender-horned Gazelles at Planckendael, but the guidebook listed them and I wasn't sure if the species was still at the zoo. Annoying that I never saw any! One thing about European zoos, the odd guidebook still exists even though those publications are basically nonexistent in North America.

- You are correct about the Reeves' Muntjac species, although the sign says Chinese Muntjac as I just checked the photo that I took of it (same species but different name). There is so much to remember with these reviews so please forgive that one.

- Planckendael in the Top 5 European nations for Aussie animals? Wow. I was really impressed with the entire zoo but of course that indoor holding for the gibbons is disappointing.

 

Well, I'll let this one slide.

I think it is for mammal diversity, certainly in terms of non-macropods. Not many places keep more than one or two non-macropods - other obvious exceptions include Duisburg, Budapest and Hamerton.

There will be many, many more with more Aussie birds and herps though - although the White-faced Herons are still quite a major rarity.

 

@snowleopard I might eventually post a few more elaborate comments based on your reviews of Antwerp and Planckendael, if I can find any time and energy to do, but here's just a few things.

First of all I still feel kind of guilty over missing out on our meeting at Planckendael and you missing out on a free ticket. That one is on me and I again apologize for the mistakes I made. If I can make up for this somehow please let me know.

Secondly while I may disagree in some areas with your reviews of Antwerpen and Planckendael I am glad to hear you enjoyed both zoos and believe them to be pretty high quality zoos, even if they do have their flaws. And I think I largely do agree with your assessment of the exhibits at both zoos.

Just a few comments:
- The callitrichid exhibit was originally a true walkthrough with the small monkeys able to get down to ground level and interact with visitors. This however caused too many issues and was changed into the current set-up where the monkeys cannot go down from the trees.
- The barnyard was originally a walk-in petting zoo that was closed because sadly too many people disrespected the animals and parents didn't do enough about it. Groups can still enter with supervision from a volunteer or staff member, I believe. That said, I personally still believe that this area would be better off revamped to house wild ungulates or even other wild species rather than domestics.
- I would probably be harder on the European zone at Planckendael than you were by calling it only mildly disappointing. It is in my opinion more than a little disappointing and beyond its years. However, during the preview of the new bonobo house a guide told us that the revamping of the European zone is the next project at Planckendael. I have also heard that in the next few years there are supposed to investments in projects at Planckendael to further improve and modernize the park. There is some currently unused space near the European zone, but as it is a wet area the species will need to chosen carefully. However there are certainly possibilities.
- With regards to the indoor gibbon housing: it is really that much smaller than the average indoor gibbon housing? I do not think so. However I do agree that it is very poorly furnished and pretty poor compared to the outdoor island.
- As far slender-horned gazelles go: I last saw them at the end of June so I believe they are still there. They might have been off-show for any number of reasons, sadly.
- Unfortunately there is currently only one Arabian oryx at Planckendael while there used to be a breeding herd. I do hope those days eventually return.

 

This is a bigger problem than the size, yes. But given how much that exhibit must've cost, I still think they could've run to to something a little more suitable! But it's a rare misstep at a great zoo.