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The Bavarian Adventures Of A Tea-Loving Dave - April 2015

Discussion in 'Germany' started by TeaLovingDave, 3 Mar 2015.

  1. Brum

    Brum Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    One last question for now, how did this trip compare to last years visit to Berlin and the surrounding areas? :)
     
  2. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Not sure; think I might have to ponder on that one awhile. Nowhere was as good as the best of Zoo Berlin and Tierpark Berlin, but equally as it was a return visit to Germany I think my comfort levels were a tad higher.
     
  3. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Rather belatedly, I have finally finished my Berlin trip reports and as such will now be working on writing about this trip :)

    A nice short post to start with:

    April 7th 2015 - Prelude

    The time had almost come for our much-anticipated trip to Munich; although this was only the second time that I would have travelled abroad, I felt much more relaxed and confident than I had a year prior. As our flight would depart from Manchester Airport in the early morning of Wednesday April 8th 2015, it was deemed prudent to make our way south towards Manchester the previous day. Fortunately, as noted in the past, we would once again be travelling with Claire, a friend of Helly's parents who lived in Ramsbottom, a market town in Greater Manchester. As such, the plan was as follows: to pack for the flight and set off from Northumberland to Ramsbottom in the afternoon, where we would stay at Claire's house overnight to attempt a little sleep before driving to the airport in the early hours of the following morning.

    The drive down the west coast of England towards Lancashire was a pleasant one; the weather was fine and sunny and the roads were relatively congestion-free - no doubt due to the fact it was the middle of the week and prior to rush hour! We reached Ramsbottom in good time, and very soon arrived at Claire's house. Claire, like Helly's parents, is a retired doctor and they have known one another for many years - as such, in many ways she is a de-facto aunt to Helly and her sister. When we arrived, we found that Claire had cooked us a hearty chicken and garlic casserole to ensure we would have plenty of energy until our arrival into Munich. After eating, the five of us sat and talked about our plans for the following week for a few hours before we retired to bed at about 10pm, knowing we had an extremely early rise the following morning.
     
  4. sooty mangabey

    sooty mangabey Well-Known Member

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    As you start to write up your 2015 trip, may I ask whether you have any plans for 2016? Did you write somewhere that you were hoping to do the Prague-Pilsen double-header? If so, I'll look forward to reading your views on them, as well (in about 2018, at the current rate of progress!). In the meantime, interested in your views on these Bavarian places.....
     
  5. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    That is where I have been campaigning for the next trip to occur, but as we'll once again be travelling with Helly's parents and Claire we have to take their desires into account too - and Helly's father along with Claire are both leery of visiting Prague, due to the city being popular with stag parties :rolleyes: so it looks more likely we'll be doing Hamburg.

    Cannot complain too much, however, as this *would* permit a visit to Walsrode, Hannover and Vogelpark Niendorf. Time will tell, at any rate.
     
  6. Maguari

    Maguari Never could get the hang of Thursdays. 15+ year member Premium Member

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    Stag parties or no, and with all due respect to Hamburg, Prague is much the nicer town of the two!
     
  7. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    April 8th: Arrival Into Munich

    Part I: Flight

    We woke at about 3am, and after quickly grabbing a cuppa we packed the car and set off for Manchester Airport. It took only about 40 minutes to reach the airport, and it was not too difficult for us to find a parking space. As a result, we were able to check-in with plenty of time to spare, with only a brief delay due to a minor issue with my passport; I cannot drive and as such lack a driver's licence, and as a result my passport is my only photographic ID. This means I have had to carry it with me more often than I would like, and it has ended up becoming a little worn and battered over the years; this, along with the fact I now look little like the passport photograph taken almost nine years prior, meant that the staff at the airport went to some lengths to verify my identity!

    However, once we had checked-in and passed through security, we found ourselves with an hour or two before our gate would be announced; we spent this time getting further hot drinks and something for breakfast from one of the many food stalls. Eventually, the time came to head to our gate and board the plane - our flight was with Lufthansa, and was predicted to take a shade over two hours. By now it was about 9am and broad daylight, with clear skies and sunny weather; the forecast suggested that the weather over the continent for the entire flight route would be along these lines, which I felt boded well. The flight was rather pleasant and - now knowing what to expect - any nerves were somewhat reduced compared to how they had been the previous year. As the plane approached Munich itself and moved below the level of the clouds, I was extremely glad that I had chosen a window seat; as I looked out, I caught my first-ever view of the Alps, rising high south of Munich. Although I knew I would be seeing them from a significantly-closer range soon enough, this view felt special; a sign that our trip to Bavaria had truly begun.

    When we landed at Flughafen München, I was pleased to find that I experienced none of the problems with my passport which had been encountered on the UK end of the journey. This allowed us to collect our baggage and leave the airport quite promptly, having arrived just after 10am local time. Flughafen München is located approximately 15 miles to the northeast of Munich itself, and is connected to the city centre by a pair of S-Bahn lines; the S1 passes through the northwestern suburbs of Munich on its way into the centre, whilst the S8 runs through the eastern suburbs. Either would take us to the station where we intended to disembark, Marienplatz, and the difference in journey time between the two options was only 5 minutes or so. As such we elected to catch the first service running once we entered the S-Bahn station, which in the event proved to be the S1. As such we were able to get our first view of portions of the city centre, including München-Hauptbahnhof, prior to our arrival into Marienplatz.
     
  8. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Part II: Sightseeing

    As I was already aware from my preparatory reading about Munich, this station - situated under the square of the same name - was one of the busiest in the entire city, being an important interchange for both the S-Bahn and U-Bahn networks on several lines. As we ascended the steps leading from the station into Marienplatz itself, we marvelled at how different the architecture and "feel" of the city already seemed when compared to our experiences of Berlin. The square - which has been the primary such location in Munich since 1158 - was large and bustling, even in a mid-week morning, with a beautiful Marian Column at the central point. This, the Mariensäule, is historically significant as the first such column to have been constructed north of the Alps in 1638, at the height of the Thirty-Years War. Subsequent to the end of the war, such columns would become a common sight in the city squares and plazas of Central Europe. On the north side of the square was the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall), the centre of local government and administration in the city, a massive building constructed in the Gothic Revival architecture style over the course of the late 19th century. Looking closer to a cathedral than it did a government building, the centrepoint of the Rathaus facade was a giant ornate glockenspiel.

    [​IMG]

    Several times a day, the glockenspiel chimes whilst several statues and models incorporated into the facade move along with the music re-enacting folk stories of Bavaria. To the east of the square, the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) still stands, being used as a venue for meetings of the city council despite having largely been superseded by its neighbour. This building - constructed in the late 13th century - was no less impressive-looking than the newer building, albeit in a different manner; although until this point I had only seen photographs of traditional Bavarian structures, along with the stereotypical images one views in the media, I could tell it was clearly deeply rooted in the construction style and traditions of the region. I was particularly interested to see this building for another, darker reason; the Altes Rathaus had been the site of a dinner held by the Nazi party to mark the 15th anniversary of the unsuccessful Beer Hall Putsch, during which Joseph Goebells delivered a speech calling for an anti-Semitic pogrom which has gone down in history as Kristallnacht.

    Marienplatz was only ten minutes walk from Hotel Blauer Bock, where the five of us were booked; I had fortunately had the foresight to print off a map of the immediate area prior to our departure from Northumberland, and as such I was able to lead the way. The hotel had been very-much recommended by Claire's German friend whom she had consulted at length when helping to plan the trip, being well-situated for the S-Bahn and U-Bahn, reasonably priced and located opposite the world-famous Viktualienmarkt. When we reached the hotel, we found that we were still too early to gain access to our rooms, but were nonetheless able to check in and leave our bags and suitcases in a locked closet behind the reception desks, which would make exploring the city whilst we waited for our rooms to become accessible rather more feasible. At the reception desk of the hotel, we were also able to collect free maps of the city centre and of the S+U-Bahn system. We decided that we would first explore the Viktualienmarkt and surrounding environs before making our way back to the hotel, with the intention of parting ways and exploring the city at our own pace before reuniting at the hotel.

    The Viktualienmarkt comprises a massive food market open six days a week, covering an area of approximately 22,000 square metres and containing over 140 stalls and shops, from bakeries and fast food stands to delicatessens selling a wide variety of food including exotic fruit, cheeses, game and poultry, herbs and spices and confectionary. In the centre of the marketplace there stands a traditional Bavarian maypole, decorated with figures displaying the various traditional trades and crafts of the region.

    [​IMG]

    Having wandered off from Helly's parents and Claire, the two of us spent some time exploring the marketplace and looking for interesting stalls and shops which could prove useful in the days that would follow. We paid particular notice to a large soup kitchen in the centre of the Viktualienmarkt, Münchner Suppenküche, which we had read about in the weeks prior to our trip and which was highly recommended online, particularly for the quality of their goulash soup. Observing the wide range of soup on offer, we decided that we would not allow our trip to end before we had eaten there at least once.

    As we had a few hours before we would be able to gain access to our room, we decided that the best thing to do in the circumstances would be to explore the wider city in order to get our bearings and "situate" ourselves. As such, consulting the free maps which we had obtained from the reception desk of the hotel, we thought that it would provide an interesting diversion to walk from the Viktualienmarkt, via Marienplatz, to the Hauptbahnhof. The most appropriate route, it seemed, would be to walk through Marienplatz and along Neuhauser Straße for approximately a kilometre, before reaching Karlsplatz. At this point, we would continue on along Bayerstraße for another 500 metres or so until we reached Bahnhofplatz, the road on which the Hbf was located. A walk of this length would generally take us no longer than a quarter of an hour, but we intended to take our time and get a feel for the city.

    The first portion of this walk took us along a pleasant but very busy pedestrianised shopping street filled with shops, restaurants and cafes; the architecture was an interesting combination of younger post-war buildings interspersed with older structures, some of which appeared to be of an age with the Altes Rathaus. The street itself is one of the oldest thoroughfares in the city, being first mentioned in records as long ago as 1293. At the end of Neuhauser Straße, the gothic archway of Karlstor - one of the last remnants of the original medieval fortifications of the original city centre, and called Neuhauser Tor until 1791 - stood overlooking the square of Karlsplatz. Along with a large ornate fountain, this is also the location of the Karlsplatz (Stachus) S+U-Bahn station; the latter portion of this name denotes the fact that the residents of Munich prefer to call the square by the colloquial name "Stachus" after a popular pub demolished during the construction of Karlsplatz in the 18th century. As one would imagine due to my well-known interest in medieval history, I found the sight of Karlstor extremely interesting. The remaining walk through the city centre en-route to the Hauptbahnhof took us through a much-more modern-looking collection of office blocks, modern shopping centres and apartments.

    The Hauptbahnhof was a massive and very modern-looking building, having been rebuilt and expanded on many occasions; the largest such development having taken place in the years following the Second World War, which had inflicted severe damage on the city as a whole and left the Hbf more or less a ruin. As one of the primary upsides of the German train system as opposed to that found in the United Kingdom appears to be the consistent designation of particular train platforms to a specific service - to the point that the platform a service will depart from is marked on the timetable posters found throughout a station - one of the ulterior motives we had for walking to the Hbf was to explore the station prior to the various journeys which we would be required to take over the coming week, to discover which platforms we would require for each service and most importantly to work out where each platform was located within the station. This would prove particularly important for our journeys to Stuttgart and Innsbruck, both of which were long-distance trains we had booked in advance to avoid the more expensive "walk-up" cost and which were both early morning services; for this reason it was imperative that we arrive at the platform for each journey in plenty of time.

    Whilst at the station, we also took the opportunity to discover what food stands and shops were located on the main concourse - this would allow us to pick up snacks where necessary prior to our longer journeys, something which is always useful when travelling to collections and cities with which one is unfamiliar and where obtaining food in a hurry may or may not be feasible. One location which we paid particular notice to was a bakery called Rischart; this was one of about a dozen such locations scattered around the city, being a very popular and successful chain native to Munich and - having been founded in 1883 - is still managed by the same family, the current director being a fifth-generation member of the Rischart family. We had previously noticed two branches of the chain in Marienplatz; a very large take-away bakery and patisserie, and a sit-in cafe which, we gathered, served somewhat more high-end products than the standard bakeries in the chain did. We picked up a selection of both sweet and savoury products from the branch on the Hbf concourse for our lunch - including soft pretzels, cheese breads, apple strudel and quark cheesecake - and set off once again for Marienplatz and the Viktualienmarkt, eating as we walked.

    When we reached Viktualienmarkt, we found Helly's parents and Claire finishing a meal at a restaurant located opposite the Hotel Blauer Bock. We sat down with them and discussed what we had seen and done thus far for a time, before deciding to enter the hotel and gain access to our rooms. The Hotel Blauer Bock, as the name would indicate, had as its logo a blue ibex; the ibex theme was found throughout the building in ornamentation, paintings and the decorations within our rooms. In point of fact, even the metalwork of the bedside lamps within our rooms was adorned with brass statues of ibexes leaping into the air.

    [​IMG]

    Helly and myself found this ongoing theme quite attractive, and rather appropriate considering we stood to see Alpine Ibex at several locations over the coming week. Our room itself was spacious and pleasant, with a shared bathroom down the hallway; Helly's parents and Claire had elected for the more expensive option of en-suite rooms, but as we did not intend to spend an excessive amount of time within our room other than to sleep we were quite happy to have a more basic level of room. As the others planned to visit museums and continue sightseeing after getting unpacked, with the intention of meeting up with us once again in the early evening to eat somewhere, Helly and myself sat for a time in our room discussing where we wanted to go in the following few hours.

    Having looked once again at the maps with which we had been provided at the hotel reception, we decided that a walk in the Englischer Garten would be a fine idea; this large and wooded area of parkland stretches from the city centre to the northeastern limits of the city, and at 910 acres is larger than Central Park in New York or Hyde Park in London. Due to the sheer size and scale of the park - covering 5km from end to end, and including approximately 80km of footpaths and bridleways - we decided that it would be best to restrict ourselves to exploring the southern portion of the Englischer Garten; the park being more or less divided in two by a major road approximately one-third of the way up, with bridges and tunnels connecting the two halves. Both halves contain numerous creeks and lakes, many of which feed into the Isar River; this major river flows south-to-north through Munich and is the second-biggest tributary of the Danube within Germany.

    We decided that we would catch a U-Bahn north to the Münchner Freiheit station, which is located about five minutes walk from one of the entrances to the Englischer Garten. On arrival into the Garten we would gently walk south through the parkland, enjoying the view and keeping our eyes open for wildlife, before leaving through the southern exit and walking back to Marienplatz through the north-eastern district of the city centre. The Englischer Garten was - as expected - very peaceful despite the large number of people who were spending time within the park, many of whom were drinking within the numerous beer gardens scattered throughout.

    [​IMG]

    The majority of visitors on this sunny and warm spring afternoon were sat around the Kleinhesseloher See, a large ornamental lake located not far from the point where we had entered. I was immediately struck by the number of geese roaming the grass beside the lake, and more specifically the fact that although some were the Greylag Goose (Anser anser) and Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) found within most parks in the United Kingdom, the majority represented a long-established breeding population of introduced Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus), technically speaking a wild lifetick for ourselves. Much of the avifauna we saw within the park as we slowly walked south through the woodland and pastures of the Englischer Garten were commonplace taxa of little note; however as we moved further south into an area where the woodland and creeks were particularly dense we started spotting more and more Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata), again an introduced breeding taxon but one which we *had* seen in the wild previously, back in the United Kingdom. However, we had never seen wild Mandarin in quite such numbers or density; in some areas there were close to a dozen visible on the water, walking along the paths and sitting in the trees. We exited the Garten at a point next to a large and very striking building which stood on Prinzregentenstraße; the Haus der Kunst. This was an art museum in the neoclassical style constructed in the 1930's and designed by the architect Paul Ludwig Troost as the very first example of Nazi monumental architecture and propaganda - something which was of some interest to myself as my younger brother actually wrote his BA History of Art dissertation on the Nazi Monumentality movement of architecture. In the present day, the Haus der Kunst is used as a venue for travelling art exhibitions, with no permanent collection of its own; as none of the exhibitions present at the time of our visit were of much interest to us, we decided not to enter.

    We then briefly walked along Prinzregentenstraße and Von-der-Tann Straße before turning onto Odeonsplatz; a square which contained the U-Bahn station of the same name and access onto the Hofgarten, a 17th century ornamental garden in the Renaissance style designed for the nearby Münchner Residenz, the former royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs of the House of Wittelsbach. The Hofgarten is now in effect a reconstruction of former glories; having been significantly altered in the 19th century and almost entirely destroyed during the Second World War, the garden has since been rebuilt along similar lines to the original design, whilst retaining certain of the features introduced in the 19th century. Possibly the most noteworthy feature within the Hofgarten is a memorial monument to the White Rose movement, a non-violent intellectual resistance group opposed to the Nazi regime during the 1940's and comprised of students belonging to the University of Munich; after a campaign of graffiti and anonymous leaflets opposing Nazism, the group were eventually captured and executed. The Residenz itself comprises a complex of palatial buildings and courtyards, and is the largest extant city palace within Germany, with portions of the palace dating to the mid-14th century. However, our chosen route back to Marienplatz took us only along the outskirts of the complex, and as my historical interest in viewing stately homes is limited we did not plan to return to investigate in greater detail. A nearby structure at the southern end of the Odeonplatz which I found particularly attractive in appearance was the Feldherrnhalle (Field Marshall's Hall); a monumental loggia commissioned in 1841 by King Ludwig I of Bavaria. However, although I did not realise the significance of the structure at the time, the Feldherrnhalle is noteworthy as the site of the final brief skirmish which ended the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch.

    [​IMG]

    We continued south along Residenzstraße - pausing as we reached the square of Max-Joseph-Platz, in order to admire the Nationaltheater München, an opera house built in the neo-classical style and home to the Bavarian State Opera and Ballet. This structure is relatively new, having been built in 1963 as a direct recreation of a previous building on the site which had been gutted by the air raids which hit Munich in 1943.

    [​IMG]

    Residenzstraße eventually ended at Marienhof, a small park situated to the rear of the Neues Rathaus at Marienplatz, and the former site of a number of old medieval structures destroyed during the Second World War. Just beyond here, we once again reached Marienplatz and met our three travelling companions next to the Altes Rathaus, planning to search for somewhere to eat.

    Walking east from the Altes Rathaus along Tal - for all intents and purposes an un-pedestrianised continuation of Neuhauser Straße - we soon came across an attractive looking restaurant and pub called "Paulaner im Tal", which appeared to be owned and run by a local brewery and, although a relatively new building, emulated a traditional Bavarian public house, with location-appropriate food and drink. Not wanting to merely try food we could eat anywhere in the world, we decided this location would be well-worth a try; something which proved very much accurate. Although I very seldom drink alcohol as I have little liking for the taste nor the sensation of inebriation, I had resolved prior to this trip that I would at least try local beer - the reasoning being that if I were to try beer anywhere in the world, Bavaria would surely be an appropriate place to do so. In the event, the beer I selected - from the eponymous Paulaner brewery - went rather well with my food; roast boar in beer gravy with cabbage and a potato dumpling, followed by a gigantic sweet yeast dumpling in custard. The others also enjoyed their meals, although the potato dumplings met with a somewhat mixed reception - however, all was not lost, as I happily ate those dumplings which were not wanted! I would very much recommend this restaurant to any Zoochatters who plan to visit Munich - and although I admittedly have little basis for my judgement, I also thoroughly recommend the range of beer available.

    Having enjoyed a very good meal, we made our way back to the hotel, discussing our plans for the following day as we did so. Having been awake since the early hours of the morning, we were very tired by this point as one would expect; as such, Helly and myself fell asleep very rapidly upon going to bed - eagerly anticipating our first zoo of the trip the following morning.
     
    Last edited: 4 Nov 2016
  9. FunkyGibbon

    FunkyGibbon Well-Known Member

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    So glad to see the new thread has hit its stride. I am particularly looking forward to hearing and seeing more of Alpenzoo, as well as the major collections.
    Interestingly (for whom?), I had my first Paulaner here in China. There is a western supermarket, and it has various beers, but most of them aren't British. There is also a devastating and total lack of cider. So as a last resort I went for the wheat beer. It's actually a bit of a favourite now.
     
  10. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    Great posts as usual TLD, and I'm looking forward to the zoo reviews! :)

    Sounds like you had a better time at Munich airport than I did when I was last there (a few years ago) - while checking in for my flight from Munich to Jeddah, the whole computer system failed! :p
     
  11. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Very interesting descriptions TLD, and you haven't even set foot inside a Zoo yet!

    I don't think though that I would have been able to resist going to the Zoo immediately, even taking into account that 3 a.m. start!
     
  12. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    I must say, I'm rather looking forward to writing about Alpenzoo myself; considering the fact it is a collection a lot of people talk about glowingly, but little has actually been posted about the place on Zoochat (currently zero threads and about a dozen old photographs), I plan to initially post my review of Alpenzoo in a dedicated thread, much as I did for Magdeburg.

    Ah, but then I would not have had a full day at the zoo and would have had to return the following day anyway :p I would have possibly considered it were it not for the fact Helly would not have coped as well doing a zoo on little sleep as I can!
     
  13. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    April 9th 2015: Tierpark Hellabrunn

    Part I: Initial Experiences At Hellabrunn

    We rose the next morning feeling refreshed and eager to see our first zoological collection of the trip. After getting dressed and packing our bags ready for our trip to Tierpark Hellabrunn, we made our way downstairs to the main dining room of the hotel. One of the most appealing features of the Hotel Blauer Bock - and certainly one of the main reasons why we had decided to book rooms there - was the fact that a self-service continental breakfast buffet was included in the price of our stay, and ran from 7am until 11am. As such, although there would be a handful of days where we would be leaving the hotel too early to eat at the hotel beforehand, we knew that we would be able to eat a good breakfast before the majority of our trips - this would both give us the maximum amount of energy prior to a busy day, but also allow us to avoid the expense in time and money incurred by trying to eat a main meal at the zoo. Instead, if necessary, we would be able to get by with fast food stands and snacks purchased as the day went on.

    However, the breakfast buffet surpassed our expectations in this regard; having experienced a "continental breakfast" in the past we expected something relatively light, along the lines of various pastries and preserves along with tea or coffee, possibly with fruit available as well. In fact, as we entered the annexe of the dining room where the buffet selection was located, we found that the range of food on offer was much more varied - and it was apparent that there was no enforced limit to how much one was permitted to eat. There *was* a wide variety of pastries and preserves, both sweet and savoury, but there was also a large selection of cheeses, cold meats and smoked fish, along with various dried and fresh fruit, containers of plain and flavoured yoghurt, jugs of milk and various fruit juices, several different cereals and massive tureens of freshly scrambled eggs. Along with the aforementioned fruit juices and milk, there were also large jugs of freshly brewed coffee on every table in the dining room.

    Helly and myself chose a selection of food and went into the dining room, where we found Claire and Helly's parents already sitting at a table and discussing their plans for the day; we joined them and enjoyed a *very* good breakfast indeed. I myself chose to eat scrambled egg with a pair of different bread rolls and a selection of cheeses, then returned to the buffet to get some muesli and dried fruit, which I mixed with some plain natural yoghurt and a tiny pot of honey. I also pocketed a handful of prunes, dried apricots and nuts for Helly and myself to snack on as we walked around the zoo, along with a boiled egg or three! Having sated our hunger very effectively, and also ensured we would have the maximum amount of energy for our busy day, we bid our farewells to our travelling companions and made our way to the Marienplatz U-Bahn station.

    Here, we caught the U3 line south to U-Thalkirchen, a journey of approximately 15 minutes. As we walked through the station, we observed approximately a dozen murals and paintings on the walls of the subway leading to the surface showing a variety of exotic wildlife; as we were anxious to make the most of our time at the Tierpark, we decided that we would take photographs of these images on our departure rather than waste any time beforehand. We reached the surface on the west bank of the Isar River, which flows alongside Tierpark Hellabrunn, and as such had to cross a set of bridges taking us over the main body of the river, along with a side-channel which - although originally natural - has been maintained for the purposes of power generation and extends alongside 12 km of the river to the south of the city centre. As we would soon observe, the Isar River has several such artificially-maintained side-channels - all of which, along with their mother, were thick with waterfowl in the shallows despite the high speed of water flow throughout. We observed numerous swans, geese, ducks and herons, with swallows and swifts skittering over the water. On reaching the east bank of the river, we were immediately met with the main entrance to Tierpark Hellabrunn; having arrived about ten minutes after opening time, there was already a relatively long queue for entry, which gave us an opportunity to get a feel for our surroundings. The path to the entry kiosks - a rather standard row of covered kiosks with the zoo logo above, akin to myriad other zoo entrances we had seen - was dotted with flags marking the centenary of Tierpark Hellabrunn, which had occurred a few years prior. However, one of the most interesting features immediately prior to the kiosks was a rather attractive pair of statues depicting Alpine Ibex; as these were rather akin to the style of statue work with which I had been rather taken at Tierpark Berlin a year earlier, and I have a liking for realistic statues in zoological collections, I took this as something of a good omen.

    [​IMG]

    Immediately on entry to the collection, we made our way into the giftshop next to the entry kiosks; although Tierpark Hellabrunn discontinued the production of zoo guidebooks several years ago, we had been given the impression that back-issues of old guidebooks could still be obtained. As these would be useful both for the purposes of finding our way around the collection - a map within a guidebook tending towards being somewhat more sturdy than the paper maps which we had been given on entry - and for knowing what to expect, we felt it would be wise to try to obtain a guidebook - if possible, multiple copies so that we could give some to certain UK Zoochatters who had expressed an interest. In the event, the guidebook which we were able to obtain was not, in point of fact, the final one which had been produced, but an earlier edition. However, it was still recent enough that it was still broadly accurate in terms of the layout of the site and the taxa found within the collection, and as such served our purposes nicely. We also picked up a couple of magnets and postcards from the giftshop; this time for the much simpler reason that we felt like it!

    Having opened in 1911, Tierpark Hellabrunn is significant in terms of zoological history as the first example worldwide of a "Geo-zoo"; that is to say, a collection where rather than species being displayed together in taxonomic groupings - for instance, a "carnivore house", a "bird house" and so forth - the factor determining how taxa will be grouped is the geographic origin of these species. Although I think this is a very good idea in theory, I had experienced mixed feelings at how it was achieved when I visited Zoo Leipzig a year prior, another collection which is now organised in such a fashion. Equally, I have *very* mixed feelings about the plans to transform Tierpark Berlin - very much a collection in the old taxonomic style - into a Geo-zoo. As such, I was very interested indeed in seeing how the concept was achieved here, at the place where it was first developed. The first zone we would enter was "Parkteil Europa",

    The first enclosure we encountered, directly opposite the entrance plaza, was a very large paddock for Persian Fallow Deer (Dama mesopotamica), one of my favorite deer taxa and a particularly interesting case of captive breeding, along with in-situ conservation, helping to bring a species back from the brink of extinction. This taxon once ranged throughout Mesopotamia and the Middle-East, extending to Egypt and Libya in the south and - due to Neolithic introductions - Cyprus and certain of the Greek islands. However, by the mid-19th century the species was restricted to Iran, and was thought entirely extinct by the 1940's. In 1956, a tiny population of 25 individuals was discovered in southwest Iran; through careful management both in-situ and in captivity, the world population now stands at approximately 365 individuals. However, due to extreme genetic bottlenecking causing the population to be genetically homogenous, the taxon is still very vulnerable to disease. As such, captive breeding of this species in Europe and the Middle East is still very important; currently the group held at Tierpark Hellabrunn represents a bachelor group of males surplus to the studbook population.

    I was very pleased by the quality of the enclosure for this taxon; the paddock was very large and well-wooded, and surrounded a central cobbled area where a reasonably-sized indoor house was located. The natural woodland of the enclosure - which I could already tell was a feature common to much of the Tierpark - gave it a very pleasant and natural feel, as did the ditches which partially separated the enclosure from the visitor paths. These ditches contained fast-flowing water, diverted from yet another side-channel of the Isar; the Auer Mühlbach. As i had already observed when looking at satellite images of the Tierpark on Google Maps, creeks like this were found throughout the collection, all fed from the nearby waterways; the concept of using natural flowing water for the purpose of enclosure division and barriers was one which I found very interesting indeed, having only encountered such a technique at one other collection; Birdland Park and Gardens back in the United Kingdom.

    On the opposite side of the path, and accessible from the entrance plaza, was Café Mühle; a large rustic-looking cafe with an outdoor terrace overlooking a large pool, and ornamental waterwheels built into the base of the terrace where it met the water. Although very pleasant-looking, as we had recently eaten we chose not to go inside. On the other side of the pool, there were a series of pleasant wooded paddocks for West African Pygmy Goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) which formed part of a petting area accessible from the main footpath by way of a bridge over the creek which fed the nearby pool. Again, Helly and myself had no desire to enter the petting area - which even a half-hour or so after the Tierpark had opened was full of members of the public and their children - but nonetheless we thought it was a good example of its kind; as noted, it was spacious with several paddocks for the inhabitants, with mature trees dotted around the paddocks, and there were keeping staff on hand to ensure the animals were not overwhelmed by the attention given to them.

    We next reached the first of those enclosures which I had been particularly looking forward to seeing; a very large wooded enclosure dotted with hillocks and rocky outcrops and expanses of grassland, and which contained Alpine Marmot (Marmota marmota marmota) and Apennine Chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata). Both represented lifeticks for myself, but I had particularly been looking forward to hopefully seeing them at Tierpark Hellabrunn for two reasons. Firstly, the Chamois was an unusual taxon only found in captivity at a pair of European collections, and one which like the Mesopotamian Fallow Deer is a taxon which has come close to extinction in the last century, and is slowly coming back from the brink as a result of careful conservation management. Secondly, and possibly more importantly, the Marmot was a taxon which I had failed to see at Zoo Berlin a year prior as a result of the fact that as a species which hibernates over the winter, the individuals held at said collection were still off-display at the time of my visit. As my visit to Bavaria was a week or so later in the year than the trip to Berlin had been, and Bavaria is rather further south than Berlin, I was very much hoping to be in more luck this time. A mere glance at the enclosure revealed numerous holes and burrows scattered throughout; encouragingly, most of these appeared to look well-maintained. Within moments, we spotted first one, then two, then almost a dozen marmots running around the enclosure; often at the feet of the Chamois feeding within the enclosure.

    [​IMG]

    The creek running through the enclosure contained a number of wild waterfowl, including Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope), Common Goosander (Mergus merganser merganser), Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula), Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca), Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos) and Atlantic Canada Goose (Branta canadensis canadensis); this selection of taxa was more or less typical of those found throughout the creeks and ponds of Tierpark Hellabrunn. I was particularly pleased to see Ferruginous Duck, a species which I had never seen in the wild until my trip to Munich.

    We next reached a rather unusual, and as such quite interesting, exhibit labelled as "Maushaus"; an old food kiosk from the 1970's which had long stood empty, it had recently been redeveloped and now comprises a glass-fronted exhibit with a model villlage found within, housing a group of Domestic Mouse (Mus musculus domestica). Although exhibits displaying domestic rats or mice would seldom earn more than a brief glance from myself, I was rather taken by this exhibit due to the unusual style of presentation within. A little further along from here, we reached a rather large, deep pool surrounded by thick vegetation and several mature trees - some of which appeared to have been coppiced - with the centre of the pool containing a mid-size sandy island found at the centre of the pool. Various species of wildfowl - as already noted, a feature of Tierpark Hellabrunn as a whole - were present on the pool and the creeks that fed it; however, the intended inhabitants of the enclosure were a group of Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus). The enclosure seemed pretty large and suitable for the inhabitants, although nowhere near the largest enclosure for the taxon I had ever seen; however, it was apparent that at the time of our visit there was some degree of ongoing work to this enclosure; the fencing by the public path looked somewhat new and out-of-place, and at one point where the path came particularly close to the pool there was a makeshift metal mesh barrier.

    (edit 04/11/2016 - the new forum software has a character limit, so when editing this post to add images it has forced me to split this post; the original conclusion to this segment of the report can be found below)
     
    Last edited: 4 Nov 2016
  14. Maguari

    Maguari Never could get the hang of Thursdays. 15+ year member Premium Member

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    See, here, you've mistaken a grudging British attempt at a continental breakfast for an actual continental breakfast! :D
     
  15. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Quite :p it's a bloody good thing I had a very active week, or else I would still be burning off the calories now!

    You can tell I'm working from slightly more detailed notes this time, I suspect..... at this rate I may end up writing a lot more for each collection than I even did for the big Berlin collections!

    ------

    Part I (continued)

    We then reached a very large and pleasant wooded enclosure dotted with boulders and fallen tree-trunks, which contained a single elderly Brown Bear (Ursus arctos); for all intents and purposes standing-in as a representative of the European nominate subspecies, which I am given to understand had been held in this enclosure since the collection originally opened, but in fact being a non-subspecific individual.

    [​IMG]

    As the collection also held and bred Kamchatka Brown Bear in the 1950's, I can only assume that the individual in question may have some degree of lineage deriving from this taxon; however as I have never seen a Kamchatka Brown Bear in person, I cannot gauge any potential resemblance accurately. The enclosure, as noted, was rather good and pleasing to the eye, and seemed to be a suitable size for the sole inhabitant; I feel that it would still be suitable were multiple individuals present, and as such I hope that when this elderly individual eventually passes away the collection retains Brown Bear - ideally bringing in pure subspecific European individuals, as the appropriate taxon for the geographic area represented by this portion of the zoo.

    It is worth commenting here, I feel, on the quality and style of the signposting within the portion of the collection which we had seen thus far. I was rather impressed by the standard of information imparted by the labels on each enclosure; at the top of each information board was the name of the Geo-zone being viewed at present, beneath which was a photograph of the taxon displayed and their common name in German, with their scientific name and common name in English in smaller italics below. Beneath here there were several paragraphs discussing the threats facing the taxa in question, their place in the ecosystem represented by the Geo-zone where they are displayed and other such information. This meant that overall each enclosure gave large amounts of information about the taxa displayed; something which is always good to see in a zoological collection. I also found the non-zoological signposting within the collection rather good, using as it did cartoon images of animals to convey the required information in an amusing manner; something which helped ensure the point would stick in the mind of the visitors. For instance, the posters marking paths and areas which were off-limits to the public displayed a cartoon orang-utan displaying its palm in the international "keep away" gesture; the signs ordering the public not to feed the animals showed a rather nauseated-looking giraffe being offered ice cream, chips and other such food.

    [​IMG]

    We next reached an enclosure for Alpine Ibex (Capra ibex ibex), a taxon with which I am rather fond. The paddock was quite spacious and largely comprised a series of rocky crags and platforms on several levels, with a few flatter, grassy areas; between the paddock and the public path was yet another moat, whilst behind the paddock the "Bat Grotto" building could be seen. Although the enclosure could have stood to have been slightly bigger and to have provided even more climbing opportunities for the inhabitants, I was overall quite pleased with the enclosure as a whole and thought that it was perfectly suitable for the taxon contained within. Certainly the group of Ibex appeared to have plenty of space and seemed in good health. Just opposite this enclosure we came across an extremely large enclosure for Eurasian Elk (Alces alces alces); the biggest I had seen thus far at Tierpark Hellabrunn by some margin. The enclosure comprised a massive expanse of mature trees which had likely been present prior to the collection having been built, interspersed with open grassy areas, and housed a small group of Elk.

    [​IMG]

    Despite the size of the taxon, the enclosure was - in point of fact - so large that spotting the inhabitants was harder than one would expect. As such, this enclosure was certainly a very good one in terms of the requirements and welfare of the taxon at hand.

    The next enclosure we reached, next to the one containing Alpine Ibex, was a broadly similar paddock which was signposted as containing Rocky Mountain Goat (Oreamnos americanus); however, we were unable to see any within the enclosure at the time of our visit. Much like the Ibex enclosure, it was large and contained numerous rocky outcrops and platforms; in other words precisely the sort of enclosure which is most suitable for the effective display of caprine taxa. Just around the corner from here, we reached a large and rather appealing enclosure for a small group of Turkomen Markhor (Capra falconeri heptneri); as already noted I am rather fond of caprines as a whole, but I would probably have to say that this particular taxon is one of my favourites - not only are they often somewhat more active than other species, but their characteristic spiral-horns are particularly impressive, especially when one views a fully-grown male, not to mention unusual when one considers the usual curved-shape found in the horns of Capra goats. The enclosure was somewhat larger than those for the neighbouring two caprine taxa which I have just discussed, but in design was broadly similar; areas of flat grass were dotted with large boulders and rocky outcrops - albeit none as sheer as those found in the previous two enclosures - with the creek between the enclosure and public path being somewhat wider and more shallow than it had been when it passed in front of the Ibex and Mountain Goat enclosures. I was able to see a cluster of tiny amphibians floating in the moat where the sun hit the water; unfortunately I was not able to get close enough, nor get a good enough photograph, to identify them at this point in time. However, having now become aware of the potential for wildlife within the water, I made a mental note to keep my eyes peeled throughout the Tierpark.

    Just before following the path around a corner towards the "Bat Grotto", we observed that the extremely large paddock opposite the Markhor exhibit appeared to be one of the external exhibits for the Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) held at Tierpark Hellabrunn. The paddock appeared to be one of several connected to a central house emerging from the landscape in a low, rounded shape akin to the back of a whale, and comprised an open grassy paddock with one or two logs scattered around the enclosure, divided from its neighbours by a high barrier constructed in a drystone-wall style from various massive boulders. At the front of the paddock was a deep, dry moat descending in a series of steps; although there was a barrier on the public side dividing the path from the moat, the overall effect was similar to that achieved by the use of a haha. On the whole, I found the paddock rather pleasing and thought it would be a good one for the taxon held within; it was large and spacious and seemed to give the rhinoceros held within plenty of space.

    [​IMG]

    I made a mental note to endeavour to see all the individuals of this taxon held within the collection over the course of the day, if at all possible; this was part of a target I had set myself on observing that if I saw all the Indian Rhinoceros held at those collections I was planning to visit over the course of the following week, and taking into account those individuals I had seen a year before at the two Berlin collections, by the end of my visit to Bavaria I would have seen every member of this species on-display within Germany.
     
    Last edited: 4 Nov 2016
  16. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    I don't think the placement of the word 'slightly' near to the word 'detailed' is an accurate description of your post! :p

    You mention that there were wild Ferruginous Ducks which I find rather surprising (should I?) in a built up area or near to human habitation. Were they definitely wild and not just free roaming in waterways in the zoo? (I would doubt the Red-crested Pochards as well but I have seen those in fairly built up areas around Bavaria. )
     
  17. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Difficult to say for sure; however I saw the species at two other locations in Munich over the course of the week (the Englischer Garten and the Olympiapark) so wild ones are definitely present in the city.
     
  18. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    Very interesting, thanks.
     
  19. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

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    Part II: Bat Grotto And Environs

    As we turned the corner and made our way down the path towards the Bat Grotto, we saw the exterior enclosure for the Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) held at Tierpark Hellabrunn. The inhabitants - a non-breeding pair - were extremely active and making good use of the enclosure, which seemed a reasonable size for the taxon and looked quite pleasant; largely open grassland, the enclosure featured a mound built into one slope overlooking the boundary moat, within which was a covered shelter area for the tigers, with a number of mature trees dotted around the edges of the enclosure. Various objects such as car tyres were suspended between some of the trees, undoubtedly in order to provide some level of enrichment for the inhabitants of the enclosure. Although I have seen many exhibits for this taxon which indisputably represent better, more "up-to-date" enclosures, I nonetheless thought that this enclosure was a good one entirely suited to its purpose.

    [​IMG]

    As we approached the Bat Grotto, we reached a set of three aviaries which were partially arranged along the exterior wall of the Grotto building itself. The first of these, and also the largest, contained Red-billed Blue Magpie (Urocissa erythroryncha) - one of the more common corvids in captive collections but nonetheless a taxon which I always enjoy watching, as a result of how active and vocal they can be. The aviary comprised areas of scrubby grass interspersed with rocks and boulders, with a handful of the mature trees which were already present incorporated into the aviary with mesh preventing the inhabitants from escaping at the point where the tree left the aviary. Wooden platforms connected some of the trees within the aviary, providing climbing opportunities for those animals held within. The aviary as a whole was very spacious but seemed curiously more suited for a non-avian inhabitant than it did for the magpies; as such I wondered whether these were a stopgap measure to fill an otherwise empty enclosure, and whether the aviary had been originally intended for another taxon.

    The second and third aviaries were somewhat smaller, and located entirely against the wall of the Grotto; in point of fact it was obvious there had once been four aviaries here, and that they had been merged together to produce two larger enclosures. As such they were more or less akin to one another in design and feel; a wood-chip substrate was scattered with rocks and logs, with trees dotted around the aviaries. Between the trees and the ground, and from tree to tree, climbing and perching opportunities were provided by cut branches, logs and ropes.

    [​IMG]

    The back of the aviaries were bamboo-clad, and contained access routes for the inhabitants to access the Bat Grotto itself. The first such aviary was signposted for Cuban Amazon (Amazona leucocephala leucocephala) and Cuban Hutia (Capromys pilorides); however, the former taxon was not visible at the time of my visit. Having missed Cuban Hutia by a handful of months at Tierpark Berlin a year prior, I was rather pleased to see several highly-active individuals within this enclosure; especially as the taxon represented a lifetick for myself. The second such aviary contained Azara's Agouti (Dasyprocta azarae), Kinkajou (Potos flavus) and Red-billed Blue Magpie. Needless to say, considering the nocturnal nature of the taxon, we were unable to see the Kinkajou; however, the agouti and magpies were very active within the enclosure. This pair of aviaries seemed to be entirely suited to the taxa they contained; although a little worn and old-looking, they were still fit for purpose and looked reasonably pleasing to the eye.

    We then entered the Bat Grotto itself; the interior was designed to some extent to resemble the interior of a mine, with imitation stone walls and wooden beams giving the impression of a tunnel carved into the rock. The building comprised three distinct segments; the central corridor, through which we had entered, contained a handful of tanks along one wall and led to another exit from the building. To the left a side-corridor led to a a large and well-lit room, whilst to the right was a dark corridor leading to a smaller room which was kept in nocturnal lighting. The tanks in the central corridor contained a selection of invertebrate taxa; from left to right the tanks contained Tanzanian Giant Tailless Whip-scorpion (Damon medius), Indian Ornamental Tree Spider (Poecilotheria regalis) and Mexican Redknee Tarantula (Brachypelma smithi). Each tank was quite well-done; I particularly liked the second of these, as it was very lushly vegetated and provided numerous climbing opportunities for the inhabitants. Having viewed the invertebrate tanks, we made our way into the large room to the left of the Bat Grotto.

    This room continued the overall "cave" feel, with the mock-rock walls extending throughout the room itself and into the various interior enclosures visible within. Two of these, to the left of us as we entered, represented the indoor enclosures for the Azara's Agouti and Cuban Hutia previously mentioned; each enclosure had large amounts of logs and branches dotted around on several levels, with ropes and netting increasing the amount of climbing opportunities available, and numerous rocks and boulders located in several places on the ground. The overall effect was rather good; however at this point in time we were unable to gauge for sure how well the exhibits suited the intended inhabitants, as it appeared that all of the animals in question were currently in their exterior enclosures. The third and largest enclosure in this room - directly ahead of us as we entered - comprised a large and open-fronted exhibit for Fischer's Lovebird (Agapornis fischeri), Madagascar Fody (Foudia madagascariensis) and Village Weaver (Ploceus cucullatus), with a bare earth substrate throughout, a handful of trees dotted around the enclosure, and the rear boundary of the exhibit consisting of a wall-to-wall window onto the Ibex enclosure. Although the front of the exhibit was open with no glass separating the inhabitants from the public area, they seemed content with remaining within the safety represented by their enclosure.

    [​IMG]

    As one may recall from my discussion of similar enclosures at Magdeburg and Port Lympne, I rather like this form of exhibit; in this particular case it fit in very well with the overall feel conveyed by the house as a whole. To the right of the room, there was a relatively large terrarium containing Round-eared Sengi (Macroscelides proboscideus); however, a signpost to one side indicated that the terrarium usually also contains Fat Sand Rat and that this taxon was temporarily off-display. I rather liked this exhibit; the substrate was sandy and interspersed with rocks and hollow logs, along with a handful of small cacti, and the sengi within were active and unusually confiding for the usually-timid taxon.

    [​IMG]

    We then made our way across to the right wing of the Bat Grotto; a much smaller annexe than the one we had just departed, and one which was kept in darkness. Here, we came across signposting indicating the presence of free-flying Seba's Short-tailed Bat (Carollia perspicillata), along with aquarium tanks for both Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) and Blind Cave Fish (Astyanax jordani); however, the former taxon was apparently off-display whilst the tank was refurbished. This portion of the Bat Grotto - ironically enough, considering it contained the titular animal which gave this portion of Tierpark Hellabrunn its name - struck me as the first portion of the collection with which I was not particularly impressed. It was not bad, per se, but I have seen similar exhibits done at many other collections to a much more successful and visually appealing degree; as such I was left somewhat cold. That said, when one considers the outside aviaries and the portions of the Grotto which I have already discussed, the Bat Grotto was a solid exhibit and one which was, generally speaking, largely comprised of appealing enclosures with a good range of taxa on-display.

    As we exited the Bat Grotto, we came across a very large and sandy paddock for Przewalski's Horse (Equus ferus przewalskii); there appeared to be close to a dozen individuals within the paddock, which was of a similar size to the Eurasian Elk enclosure we had seen previously. However, whilst that enclosure had been thickly wooded, this paddock was rather plain, with the only notable features within being a number of shaded feeding areas where the inhabitants would be able to escape from the sun and rain if need be. This must not, of course, be taken as a criticism of the enclosure; this style of enclosure is very well-suited to wild horses and asses in my opinion, and is one I have seen at many collections in the past.

    [​IMG]

    Just opposite this paddock, there was a sizeable but empty aviary which was signposted for Common Raven, along with a label stating that the inhabitants had moved in October 2014 to one of the captive animal collections managed as part of the Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald; a national park - the first opened in Germany - located within the Bavarian Forest. This is a vast area of high-elevation forest on the German-Czech border which continues into the Czech Republic as the Bohemian Forest, and which is internationally significant in conservation and environmental terms as the largest-surviving expanse of continuous forest in Central Europe, and a remnant of the Hercynian Forest, which in antiquity stretched from the modern-day Black Forest in southwest Germany to the eastern-most expanses of the Carpathian Mountains in Romania; as such, I would rather like to visit this area one day, as it contains a large number of native Central European taxa which I would rather enjoy watching in the wild. The former Raven aviary appeared to have been kept in good condition, having several wooden shelters at the rear-top of the aviary with rockwork at the rear-base, bushes and shrubs dotted around the aviary and various branches and platforms stretching from the ground to the roof. As such, I suspect that the aviary was in the process of being converted for new inhabitants.

    As we followed the path along to the right, we noticed a handful of unusual birds feeding on a nearby patch of grass; they looked familiar, but having experienced the taxon only as a wintering-species in the United Kingdom it took me a moment to place them as Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris), which are a year-round resident in Bavaria. These individuals seemed rather more confiding than those I had seen back in the UK, and as such I was able to get several good-quality photographs of them as they fed. A little further along, we reached a rather large but somewhat dilapidated-looking enclosure for Missouri Cougar (Puma concolor missoulensis); as I have a well-known liking for small cat taxa, and subspecific-level members of this species are relatively rare in European collections, I was quite pleased to see this taxon on display.

    [​IMG]

    Despite the enclosure looking a bit old and dilapidated, it still seemed to be - by and large - suited to the taxa held within; it gave the inhabitants plenty of space and demonstrated a variety of substrates from bare earth and grass to extensive rocky platforms, and had significant numbers of boulders, fallen trees and branches on various levels - the latter factor meant that there were numerous options for the inhabitants to climb or hide from the public gaze. However, as the inhabitants are - to my knowledge - now somewhat elderly and unlikely to breed again, I suspect that when they eventually pass away this enclosure is likely to be redeveloped extensively; despite my aforementioned liking for the enclosure, I think this would probably be beneficial on the whole, although it is by no means vital. We next reached a large and rather pleasant enclosure for Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus); this taxon is one which I have long been surprised is not more popular in UK collections, as it is visually appealing and possesses many of the qualities which attract both the general public and zoo enthusiasts, and as such I am rather pleased that the taxon is rather more popular on the continent. The enclosure was quite thickly-wooded, interspersed with open areas of grass, with a pile of logs and rock work at one end of the exhibit which appeared to be intended to partially mask the internal housing for the inhabitants; the latter detail is something I rather liked, as it both gave the inhabitants a means of escaping the view of the public and achieved this purpose in a way which blended in with the overall feel of the enclosure.
     
    Last edited: 4 Nov 2016
  20. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    I just thought it was worth briefly mentioning - since I can't find anything on ZooChat about the place (I may not have looked properly) - that I did manage to visit here in 2012. The forest itself and the captive collection is very nice and the species there (may or may not still be there) that would probably interested you (TLD) most is Beech Martens.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 17 Dec 2015