Looking at the top 50, I have managed to visit 25 of them this year, plus 9 that have not made it. Surprised that nobody has gone for the West Midlands Safari Park!
Monkey World - A real haven. Howletts - My childhood zoo and why I love animals. Marwell - Scenic and with decent variety. Port Lympne - My other childhood zoo. No longer a real favourite but I'll always have fond memories, particularly of their Sumatran rhinos. Paradise Park - Red pandas! Preferable to London Zoo for me. I have been to a few others, a couple of them as a young kid and so I only have vague memories.
I sincerely hope they don't try and get any of the great apes at South Lakes. I enjoyed my 1 and only visit there,but feel they should concentrate on improving the standard of enclosure and space for the good selection of animals they already have there,NOT to try and cram more species in. Sorry if slightly off topic. My top 5 would be as follows. (Pretty restricted as I have only been to 6 zoos in last few years.) Number 1 - Yorkshire Wildlife Park. A great place that just keeps getting better and better.I'm sure in another 10 years it will be in top 5 collections in the UK. Number 2 - Chester Zoo. Really well laid out zoo,tons of animals that really need 2 days to do it justice. Fantastic Elephant enclosure,pity about the Lion enclosure. Number 3 - Twycross. Another zoo with a fantastic Elephant exhibit. Some great animals,just needs bringing up to 21st Century with new bigger and more luxurious enclosures. (Rubbish for photos with way too much glass) Number 4 - Paradise Wildlife Park. Mainly for the White Tiger. I know some disagree with the ethics but its still a stunning creature. White lions are great too,but as with all their cats except the Tigers,need much larger enclosures. Number 5 - South Lakes Wild Animal park/zoo. I know its not very popular with a great deal of people on this forum but they have a great selection of animals.The pole feeding is great photo opportunity and haven't even seen the new Leopards or Wolves yet.Just need to improve greatly on some of the enclosures they are in. I am a keen photographer so this has swayed my views on some collections. I hope zoo owners and managers take note of the popularity of photography in zoos now and take this into consideration when building new or renovating old enclosures.
Below is a list of the 10 favourite zoos in the UK, as decided by the numerous contributors to this long and highly informative thread. For a full list of at least 50 zoos that received votes then please go to "page 6" of this thread and everything is typed out there. Chester - 32 votes London - 18 Whipsnade - 17 Cotswold - 12 Bristol - 11 Colchester - 11 Paignton - 10 Dudley - 8 Edinburgh - 7 Twycross - 7 I'm bumping this thread because no one has posted on it in over two years and my guess is that Yorkshire Wildlife Park would likely be a much stronger contender if there were to be any updates. Also, I just finished reading Chimps, Champs & Elephants (Paignton Zoo) and Rhinos on the Lawn (Cotswold Wildlife Park) and found both publications delightful and I wanted to see where those respective zoos ranked in the minds of zoo enthusiasts. In particular, I was intrigued to note that Cotswold has a rich history that focused on subtle improvements to the zoo over a long period of time. There didn't seem to ever be an attempt at bringing in elephants, great apes or much in the way of megafauna (although the zoo does have rhinos, giraffes, lions and wolves) but instead the various curators at Cotswold continually improved and updated existing features and also maintained beautiful gardens that allowed the animal exhibits to blend in with the terrain. After reading the book I found myself perusing the photo gallery and learning even more about the zoo and so when I glanced back at this thread I was not at all surprised to find Cotswold as the 4th most acclaimed zoo in the United Kingdom. If I ever take a trip to the land of pubs, fish n' chips and my beloved football team (I watch almost all of Everton's matches) I'll have to ensure that Cotswold Wildlife Park is on my itinerary of zoos to visit.
It definitely should be - apart from being generally delightful, it's also the most 'English' zoo there is.
That would not surprise me in the slightest! The above "top ten" seems pretty similar to the list I would have produced a few years back, although the exact rankings would not have been the same and I possibly would not have included Dudley or Twycross, which would have been just outside the top rankings. However, the intervening years have led to one major change to my personal UK zoo rankings - Edinburgh Zoo, which I ranked as the second-best zoo in the country not *too* long ago, would now fall somewhere in the late 'teens at best It really is a fantastic collection, and one located in a unique and very attractive setting if it were a little easier for me to reach I would quite possibly visit almost as often as I do Chester Zoo.
Having wasted a bit of time thinking about it, I'm not sure I have five favourites. How do you compare the ethos of Durrell to the view from Port Lympne? However, my pick for five best are: 1. Chester 2. London 3. Edinburgh 4. Marwell 5. Whipsnade ...in roughly that order. None are perfect and some are disappointing, but I think they're still a cut above the rest. I like Paignton and they do stellar work behind-the-scenes, but the zoo just doesn't excite me. I can never put my finger on why. Cotswolds is also very nice, but falls into my Bristol / Living Coasts / Highland Wildlife Park category: superb at what it does, but missing too much to displace the heavy-hitters. Which is not to say I want it to change. All four collections belong on any itinerary of Britain's best.
Having wasted a bit more time thinking about it, I realized I could choose five favourites. Ignoring what I usually consider the best is actually quite liberating. 1. Chester 2. Bristol 3. Durrell 4. Slimbridge 5. Highland Wildlife Park
As noted above, I used to count Edinburgh as the second-best collection in the UK, but have significantly changed my feelings in this regard in recent years; as such I am interested to see that you continue to rate the collection in third place! Given how much I once loved the collection, I would be quite pleased if you could change my opinion back as such, would you care to detail why you continue to rate this collection so highly? These things happen; although Blackpool is a pretty good collection when viewed with an impartial eye, when considering the collection I feel a similar way to how you feel about Paignton.
When I contributed to this thread back in October 2014, I listed my five favourites as:- 1. London 2. Whipsnade 3. Chester 4. Marwell 5. RSCC and commented that Bristol, Colchester and Cotswold all came very close to making either fourth or fifth position. I don’t think my top four have changed but, sadly, the closed RSCC (which is greatly missed) has to drop off the list; I would replace that with Bristol at number 5. Regrettably, I have not yet visited Yorkshire Wildlife Park but I suspect, when I do, that might well become a firm favourite.
For me, it was going back again. I had the same impression as you after my 2015 visit, but returning last year with low expectations reminded me that most of the zoo remains unchanged. And, in terms of rankings, it doesn't matter how Edinburgh compares to its former self, but how it compares to everywhere else. Budongo, Living Links, the geladas, the otters, etc. are still some of the best exhibits in the country. The new developments for tigers and wallabies are pretty good. Even with its unfortunate trajectory, I think Edinburgh does stand as one of the UK's premier zoos. Like you, though, I no longer count it as one of my favourites.
I can remember looking at one of these threads years ago. My favourites in no particular order would have to be (and forgive me there does have to be 6, I can't bear to remove one!) Yorkshire Wildlife Park Having only visited last year as it is a two hour drive to get there I was incredibly impressed and I organised a visit back shortly afterwards. I love the site, the idea that with the hidden fences in ditches, you get a good view but the animals keep their privacy and don't have people screaming in their faces. The enclosures are good but also very modest, I like it. Cotswold Wildlife Park It is just such a lovely place to be, the bird aviaries and the walled garden are a delight. Again like YWP, not much overspending on a visitor level, enclosures are done well and subtly with so much attention to the gardening and landscaping which does the place so much credit. Clouded Leopard enclosure must be one of the best in the UK. Strikes me as a very sensible place. Whipsnade Zoo Many childhood memories here. I love the concept, world's first truly open plan zoo, and I hope they bear that in mind in future redevelopment. The views across the downs are amazing and the site again is just such a pleasant place to be. Linton Zoo Many many memories here, the animals and people too. A small place with good intentions, anywhere that invests in new land just to build a massive zebra paddock and not crowd it in with new species shows the level of interest they have I think. A very pretty site, the idea of one man and his family. For a very small zoo the conservation contribution is very good. Africa Alive! Another pleasant place to be. The lion enclosure is very nice as are all of the enclosures for hoofstock. Lovely views and just the right level of a well marketed commercial approach. It does Africa very well, not too over done. Howletts Wild Animal Park A visit to this place just feels very different to any other. The animals are very much at home here, you will only see them if they want to be seen, I love that concept. The breeding successes are second to none and you can see why. A modern approach has come to it lately and in enclosure design it does seem to suit the place well.
Having had time to reconsider my choices ( & having now visited YWP & revisited Edinburgh ) my 5 favourites would be 1 Whipsnade 2 Chester 3 Yorkshire Wildlife Park 4 Colchester 5 Edinburgh / Hamerton YWP probably wouldn't make my realistic best 5 yet, that would be 1 Chester 2 Whipsnade 3 Colchester No problem with those, 4 & 5 take your pick from Paignton /Edinburgh /Port Lympne /Howletts /Bristol /Cotswold ( I think Hamerton & YWP will be there soon)
I have only really visited zoo local to my area so for me it would be: 1. Chester 2. Welsh Mountain 3. Blackpool 4. Knowsley 5. Amazon World South Lakes used to be on the list but has been knocked off for obvious reasons. It could find its way back though, if it is somehow able to redeem itself.
1. Paignton/Living Coasts 2. Durrell 3. Chester 4. Bristol/Wild Place 5. Twycross 6. Colchester 7. Edinburgh 8. YWP 9. London 10. Exmoor
You did read the thread title didn't you ("Your five favourite UK zoos")? Not only do you list 10, you sneak in an extra couple by twinning them. Go to the bottom of the class.
Fair Enough Shorts....! What a dumb-a*s*! ok, so.....; 1. Paignton 2. Durrell 3. Chester 4. Living Coasts 5. Twycross
