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Top 10 Dutch Zoos?

Discussion in 'Netherlands' started by ShonenJake13, 1 Mar 2017.

  1. ShonenJake13

    ShonenJake13 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    So for those of you that have visited, which 10 zoos would you say constitute the top 10 in the Netherlands, and why?

    Personally I would put (in no particular order) Burgers', Apenheul, Blijdorp, Ouwehands, Beekse Bergen, Artis, Avifauna, Dierenrijk, Amersfoort and GaiaZOO in there.
     
  2. sooty mangabey

    sooty mangabey Well-Known Member

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    Ten pretty much covers all of the major Dutch zoos! Apart for Emmen and Harderwijk, I can't think of any other major collections in the Netherlands (although there are a host of interesting small places there as well).

    For what it's worth, my top three would be:
    1. Arnhem
    2. Amsterdam
    3. Kerkrade

    I love Rotterdam too, but it's gone downhill, markedly, in recent years; the new Emmen looks horrible; Apenheul is marvellous, but pretty specialised.
     
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  3. SealPup

    SealPup Well-Known Member

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    Avifauna, Artis and Blijdorp were most memorable: though I missed many others because if time. Arnhem was a disappointment, though like Jersey, this was because of the hype - it is still excellent by world standards.

    I had not heard of Kerkrade?
     
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  4. sooty mangabey

    sooty mangabey Well-Known Member

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    Kerkrade is the location of Gaiazoo, in the far south-east of the country. Very modern, and thus lacking the charm of some of the older places, but very nicely done, with some excellent exhibits (and a sadly predictable animal collection).
     
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  5. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    In my personal top 3 Burger's, Blijdorp-Rotterdam and Beekse Berger are competing, the places 4 to 7 will be made-up between Apenheul, Gaia Zoo, Avifauna and Artis and the last 3 places will go to Mondo Verde, Dierenrijk and Aqua-zoo Leeuwarden.
    I didn't include Ouwehand- Rhenen and Dierenpark Amersfoort because it's already about 20 years ago that I last visited these 2 ( yes, I'm shaming myself :( ! ).
    It's however the smaller places which make the Dutch zoo-scene so special.
    Collections like De Paay, Zie-Zoo and recently also Faunapark Flakkee are getting new, rare, unussual species every year but also collections like the Oliemeulen, Taman Indonesia, Berkenhof's Tropical Zoo, the many butterfly-parks, the smaller aquariums and so on, and so on, are always a pleasure to visit !
     
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  6. ShonenJake13

    ShonenJake13 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    One thing I have just noticed is all of my top 10 bar Avifauna have apes :p bias perhaps? ;)
     
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  7. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I am not normally one for listings, but given that it pertains to my home country I will "happily" oblige!

    1. Rotterdam - Blijdorp
    2. Arnhem - Burgers
    3. Kerkrade - Gaiapark
    4. Hilvarenbeek - Safari Beekse Bergen
    5. Rhenen - Ouwehands Dierenpark
    6. Amsterdam - Artis
    7. Apeldoorn - Apenheul
    8. Alphen a/d Rijn - Avifauna
    9. Amersfoort - Dierenpark Amersfoort
    10. Rijswijk - Serpo

    And yes everyone .... has bias!
     
  8. kiang

    kiang Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    And not even a sniff of Emmen anywhere, changed days indeed.
     
  9. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    @kiang, to be honest I have not been yet to the new establishment, but yes I have QUITE A FEW reservations and preconceptions on visiting now. What does not entice me to visit is the purported animal and plant desert it seems to have become in the new set up, the turning it into a attractions park environment with animals and plants as a side show, the taking leave of the animal communities in a zoo park setting of old that made it a homecoming welcoming place, the lack of educational elements, the tied up road system meaning you have a one-way only route and the set routes you cannot divert from. But really most of all: the large crowds visiting and clogging up the park since opening, tend to make up think again. Yes

    If the old Noorder Dierenpark in Emmen had still been there it would have made my top 10 list somewhere in the middle.
     
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  10. snowleopard

    snowleopard Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    How many zoos are in the Netherlands? There is easily a dozen that I'd love to visit but is it true that there are actually close to 50 in total?
     
  11. SealPup

    SealPup Well-Known Member

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    Why did Emmen move? I aimed to see Emmen 1.0.
     
  12. Mr. Zootycoon

    Mr. Zootycoon Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    There are 52 official zoos in the Netherlands. This ranges from the well-known ones like Rotterdam, Burgers' and Amsterdam, to very small obscure ones like Klein Costa Rica and Avonturion, and comprises both (inter)national attractions, regional or local attractions, and even some sanctuaries that opened their doors to get more income. In the Netherlands, if a facility permanently has more that 10 exotic animals and is open to the public for more than seven days a year (excluding pet shops and circusses), it's a zoo. I visited almost all of the larger zoos, but there are still several small collection I still haven't seen.

    To keep it short and simple: they had no possibilities to expand any more on the old location.

    My personal top of Dutch zoos:
    1. Burgers' Zoo. This zoo has such a great diversity of species and habitat. All the well-known zoo animals but still enough obscure taxa to please ZooChatters. It's unique approach to "immersion" exhibits is another reason this zoo is at my number one.
    2. Artis Amsterdam. Unlike most Dutch zoos, Amsterdam doesn't try to "forget" it's past, it is actually proud of it. The beautiful history buildings, renovated to suit the inhabitant's needs, as well a focus on more that just animals (architecture, botany, microbes) makes it stand out.
    3. Ouwehands Rhenen. I'm probably biased because it's one of my home zoos, but given it's increadible rate of building great, new exhbits when lots of the other zoos stay behind, I think it deserves it's place just above Rotterdam. Several rare species are entering the zoo as well. My opinion might change (for the good or for the bad) when the pandas arrive.
    4. Before Rotterdam's financial crisis of the past few years, I would probably listed it in my top 3. Currently, it's still a brilliant zoo, but they stay a little behind the rest. Some parts are amazing, others just don't suit one of the Europe's best zoos.
    5. Apenheul. A small and highly specialised park, but it still offers a truly unique collection with both the beloved as well as rare and obscure primate species, and the few non-primates are a nice tough. Combined with the best primate exhibits I've ever seen, it really competes with Rotterdam for the 4th place.

    The next zoos deserve a mentioning, so in no particulair order:
    Avifauna is our biggest bird park that recently started to keep mammals too. Not the greatest park to visit, but given it's nice flight show and numerable rare taxa, as well as the beautiful pelican pond, makes it worth a visit. Aquazoo Leerdam is only a small obscure collection, but all their exhibits are of great quality. Overloon is really improving and developing from a minor collection to one the larger zoos. Their announcement to start keeping giraffes confirms that. Zie-Zoo is building cheap but truly good exhibits, which are less concerned with visitors, and more with animals. They have a great collection too. Of course, I couldn't leave our very own Safari park out of the list, so I mention Beekse Bergen too. It also deserves it's unique place in the overcrowed Dutch zoo collection.
     
  13. ShonenJake13

    ShonenJake13 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    So so far, based off of people's answers for sure those in the top 10 are Burgers', Artis, Blijdorp, Apenheul, GaiaZOO, Ouwehands, Avifauna and Beekse Bergen...so there's still two spots going!
     
  14. lintworm

    lintworm Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    My personal top ten would be the following

    1. Burgers Zoo; partly biased because I have been to this zoo almost 400 times in my life, but the collection has many rarities, none of the enclosures are really substandard (at least from the animal point of view) and it has an excellent aquarium and some of the best animal exhibits around
    2 + 3 Blijdorp + Apenheul; A few years ago Blijdorp would be number 2 for sure, but I am not impressed by the new developments and the downgrading of the animal collection. Apenheul has however steadily improved over the years and it's collection has become better and better in terms of primate diversity
    4 Artis; Probably the zoo with the most impressive changes over the past 10 years, but it is not there yet. Still it is easily the best Dutch zoo when it comes to zoo history.
    5 Beekse Bergen; An safari park well above average
    6. Gaiazoo; A very green zoo with a nice species selection make it an enjoyable zoo to visit, though it feels a bit small...
    7. Rhenen; I never really liked this zoo, though the changes in the past years have made me more positive about it. I am curious what the pandas and bonobos will add to this zoo.
    8. Avifauna; A proper bird park
    9. Amersfoort; Another zoo that has been steadily become more interesting, doing so with limited funds.
    10. Taman Indonesia; A very small zoo, but for such a small private zoo it has a very high quality of thematization, exhibit quality and an interesting collection of almost solely Indonesian animals.
     
  15. ShonenJake13

    ShonenJake13 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    So Amersfoort is also in the top 10 then..! One more spot left!
     
  16. FunkyGibbon

    FunkyGibbon Well-Known Member

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    It's interesting that you didn't visit those two 'medium' collections for so long given how frequently you appear to visit zoos in general. Any reason why? I will have to spend some time in the gallery checking out all the places you reccomend, it's really cool to see those lesser mentioned names.

    I'm surprised in general to see Harderwijk getting so little love, it's been in my top five Dutch zoos to visit for a long time.
     
  17. ShonenJake13

    ShonenJake13 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    I think it's generally the theme park-y feel of the place, plus their keeping of cetaceans that turns most people off! It is in my top 15, but doesn't quite make the cut in my personal top 10!

    (The others that fill up spaces 11-15 are Overloon, Aquazoo Leeuwarden, Zie-Zoo and Mondo Verde)
     
  18. Tim May

    Tim May Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    My personal favourite Dutch zoos are, without doubt, Amsterdam (Artis); Rotterdam (Blijdorp) and Arnhem (Burgers); all collections that I’ve visited many times and always enjoy.

    Of the more specialist collections, I like both Apenheul and Harderwijk very much. I sympathise with the earlier comment about the “theme park-y feel” of Harderwijk; it is very commercialised but the main dolphin exhibit provides probably the best cetacean accommodation I’ve ever seen.

    On the subject of Dutch zoos, a question please:-

    How are the tarsiers that Rhenen (Ouwehands) received from the RSCC doing? And are they on public display?
     
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  19. ShonenJake13

    ShonenJake13 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    If you're talking about the main saltwater lagoon neighbouring the walruses I am inclined to agree! The best dolphin exhibit I've ever seen (though I've only seen the ones at Harderwijk, Madrid and Duisburg to be fair).

    They are doing ok, not sure how many they have at the minute, but they will (rather confusingly) be going onshow in a side-exhibit in Pandasia, the new panda exhibit. The spotted cuscus that Ouwehands also received from the RSCC will also be getting a side exhibit in Pandasia. As has been mentioned in the Ouwehands thread, these are more likely to be putting such rare species onshow rather than for the geographical aspect!!
     
  20. lintworm

    lintworm Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Apparently they have 1.1 at the moment.
     
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