Pairi Daiza is considered one of the rising stars of the zoo world. I had the pleasure to visit this place myself and form my opinion and I thought my fellow Zoochatters would be interested in a small review. Feel free to give you own opinion. Pairi Daiza is a large zoo with generous opening times. I was no less than 11 hours in the zoo and I think I can say that is enough to comfortably see everything and have some time to eat as well. The animal collection is comprehensive and contains most of the important zoo animals with at least one or a few representatives, though rarely more than that. All the usual crowd pleasers are there as well as enough rare species to please a regular zoochatter - most notably bear cuscus, spix' macaw and bulwer's pheasant. Most exhibits are heavily themed and that theming is usually human-based. Exhibits that take you to the animal's natural habitat are rare. This however, doesn't mean the theming is bad. It is in fact incredibly good. I don't know any zoo that does decoration like Pairi Daiza. Tigers? Lets build them a castle. Orang-utangs? A marble palace would be nice. Gorillas? Those would like good on a vulcano. All of it is of the highest quality and with impressive attention to detail. Historical artifacts and huge quantities of minerals are all over the place. It looks absolutely fantastic and I although it can be over the top in some cases, I don't think any zoo in Europe can match this level. No expenses are spared to build a comprehensive themed area. And they manage to fit some animals in there was well. The scenery is so overwhelming that the animals sometimes get overshadowed. This is all fine and good of course, but something didn't feel right. Many enclosures range from decent to good, but rarely more than that. Don't get me wrong, there are amazing enclosures (like the ones for seals and raccoon dogs) but they are spread thin. Many enclosures look stunning on first sight, but with a more critical eye they are often not that great. The asiatic black bears and visayan warty pigs for example have large but empty enclosures. The giant otters and tigers live in probably adequate but not overly large enclosures, while the sea turtles live in a downright unacceptably small tank. The elephants have quite some space, but it is nothing but an empty paddock. There are just too many examples of enclosures like this. I should say that with the exception of a few aquatic critters and maybe the elephants, no animals are actually housed "badly" in any way. One to one comparisons with other zoos will probably show many enclosure are little to nothing worse than the general standard. That being said, Pairi Daiza has little financial constrains, and little space constrains. A condition like this is very rare in the zoo world. Therefore it was dissappointing to see than although a huge amount of money is spend on decoration, the enclosures themselves are not that great from the animal's perspective. For an ordinary visitors the park may seem like a perfect zoo, but I don't think the animals would agree on that. Maybe I expected too much, but I'm sure they could have done so much better. As said above, Pairi Daiza is one of the rising stars of the European zoo world. In terms of decoration and scenery it has reached an extraordinary high level. Therefore it may already look like a world class zoo, but the enclosures show there's a lot of work still needed to really become one. Pairi Daiza has the space and it has the money. If it uses both wisely, it could truly become a brilliant zoo for visitor and animal alike. I'm looking forward to see this zoo improve in the years to come. And if it does, it may really become one of Europe's top zoos. PS. Spix' macaws are absolutely awesome! Ever since I read animal books when I was a child, the Spix' macaw was the prime example of a critically endagered species. Seeing them with my own eyes was breathtaking. I've always dreamed about seeing one, but I never thought I would. They are stunning.
Are the Spix using their flight space more confidently yet- or still just clinging to the wire as high up as they can get?
