Hi! I'm David and I'm a new member but have read the Forum in the past. I decided to take up zoo photography about 5 years ago; but ended up photographing (steam) trains for the last few years instead. Now I need a change and 2018 is going to be the beginning of my zoo photography journey. Well it will once the weather gets warmer... My local zoos are Chester (yes another one...) and the Welsh Mountain Zoo. It must be over 30 years since I visited WMZ (it's not the best zoo for someone who has used a wheelchair for over half a century) but hope to go there this year. My new year resolution for this year is to hopefully visit and photograph at least 10 different zoos. Quite a challenge considering that I have only visited 7 in the last 50+ years. If anyone else on here uses a wheelchair I hope to make a website of my zoo adventures with information about access, both at the zoos and using public transport to get there.
Welcome to the site David, I look forward to hearing about your adventures, it'll be interesting to hear about things from a slightly different perspective. What is it about zoos and steam trains? There seems to be a sizeable sub-section of zoo-nerds who are into steam trains (or is that train-nerds into zoos) -I can't see any connection myself but it seems a common intersection (no pun intended).
Welcome to ZooChat. I know Edinburgh Zoo can arrange transport to the top of the hill and back down again for wheelchair users if you let them know in advance.
Glad to have a member from Wales. Your comment about Chester Zoo (which I visited a few years ago) forced me to look at Google Maps. I never realized until now that Chester is right on the border of Wales.
I also think having a guide for wheelchair accessibility is a fantastic idea! I have been to Europe five times now but am always shocked at how poor the handicap facilities are in relation to the United States (where it is legally mandated by the Americans With Disabilities Act). There are hotels I have stayed at with dangerously steep stairways and narrow hallways that would never be allowed to operate in my country. I mean it would be literally impossible for them to get a building permit no matter what city or county they were in. I have also seen zoo pathways reconfigured with less steep grades or better railings in order to be in compliance with the Disabilities Act.
In that case skip Paignton, Dudley and Edinburgh. All three are basically built on hills And welcome to ZooChat, you can join the many Dave/David members already on here!
Unfortunately I never got to travel to America, my travelling was done in Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia. Today my travel is limited because six years ago I was diagnosed with kidney failure so have to have hospital treatment three mornings a week which would be prohibitively expensive. I am entitled to the treatment in Europe and Australia with a lot of planning. So now I am effectively limited to trips that begin Friday lunchtime and get home Sunday night. So that gives me some opportunities in Europe, Paris, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Berlin etc. And at a push, Rabat, I want to visit Morocco before I expire.
I said difficult not impossible, I don't give up that easily. Two of those are currently on my list of possibles, as is Belfast...
The Romans founded the city of Chester and stationed a whole legion there to keep the Welsh in their place (as they saw it). It is not particularly unusual to hear Welsh spoken by visitors to Chester Zoo nowadays. Croeso i ZooChat, David
