| Product: |
Edinburgh Zoo |
| Date: |
19/12/00 (414 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Good range of animals, excellent education section
Disadvantages: Poor catering, some enclosures far too small
Edinburgh Zoo is situated on the west side of the city, easily accessible by bus from the town centre, or straight from the motorway from Glasgow. It’s not at all well sign-posted but the main entrance is hard to miss, set as it is in a large attractive looking building up some steps from the main road. This is easily the biggest Zoo in Scotland and worth a visit if you’re in the city for a few days, although I couldn’t describe the experience as an unqualified success and found certain aspects somewhat disturbing.
Cost
It’s not the cheapest day out in Edinburgh, but if you go as a family a special ticket is available for about £15, which I thought reasonable value for what is definitely a whole day of entertainment. Queueing is apparently a big problem in the summer, but it wasn't a concern when we visited, being in the middle of winter with baely a soul in the Zoo.
One word of warning though – everything else in the Zoo is clearly designed with the intent of ensuring that you don’t leave with any money left in your pocket. There are unsightly vending machines everywhere, the shops are expensive and I would definitely recommend taking a packed lunch, since the food in the restaurants is appalling and costs a small fortune (you’ll spend considerably more than the entry fee to provide even a basic meal for a family of four).
The Animals - the Positives
The Penguins
Edinburgh Zoo is world famous for its penguin collection, which live in an enormous purpose built enclosure in the centre of the Zoo. The penguins can be viewed from the side of the enclosure, or from above on a bridge, or underwater via large viewing windows. My children particularly liked the underwater option, as the penguins glide right up to the glass. Any way you choose to watch them , this is a very impressive feature and a must see on any visit to the Zoo.
Although it wasn’t on
when we visited, in the summer the penguins leave their enclosure in the afternoon and go for a bit of a walk around the area nearby. Apparently they first did this by mistake when a keeper left the gate open, but now they do simply because they like doing it. It is some sight to see a couple of dozen penguins wandering around the paths in orderly fashion, literally a foot or so away from you, like some sort of biscuit advert.
You can also watch the penguins being fed including, in the breeding season, dozens of babies (the Zoo has the largest breeding colony of penguins in the world a keeper told us).
Tigers
Apparently the Zoo has a pair of Siberian tigers that have recently had cubs. Unfortunately, tired little legs meant that we didn’t get far enough up the hill (about which, more later) to see them, so I can’t comment personally, although I have heard that they are incredibly cute.
Meerkats
This is the first time I’ve seen these little animals in the flesh. You’ve probably seen them on the TV – they look like little mongooses and one of them stands up and keeps an eye out for intruders while the rest eat. A nice touch is the fact that they wander about what is basically an open enclosure with just a very small wall keeping them in. The feeling of intimacy this creates – especially for kids – is a major plus point.
Lemurs
My favourite bit of the Zoo was the lemurs who live in a large enclosure not far from the entrance. A fair size fence rings the enclosure but it’s easy to see these animals who seem to spend the entire time playing games. I could have watched them all day.
The Animals – the Negatives
Polar Bear
There is one polar bear who lives on a rock in a very small enclosure, far too small for such a large animal. Sadly on the day of our visit the poor bear was pacing back and forwards incessantly wh
ich is apparently what it does every day. With no mate and no space in which to exercise this single animal seemed a very good argument in itself for closing zoos down. Very depressing to watch and, to be honest, had that been the first thing I saw I don’t think I’d have gone any further.
Big Cats
Like the polar bear, the lioness Jody lives by herself on a rock that can’t have measured more than about a dozen square feet. I’ve never seen an animal look so uninterested in her surroundings and she was lying in the same spot when we left the Zoo as she had been when we entered. (Although healthy, the Zoo had to be stopped from putting the lioness down last year by a massive public campaign).
The other big cats are kept in smallish enclosures with glass fronts - again they seem far too small for such huge creatures, although the Zoo in its defence is raising funds just now to complete new enclosures for the tigers and lions.
Rhinos
Although the two rhinos (and a baby) seemed to have a fairly big space, it was basically just a muddy field with a metal fence. Very old-fashioned looking and not at all natural. Once more the animals seemed all but comatose, simply standing doing nothing all day. Just after we visited a report in the local newspaper revealed that the Zoo had been heavily criticised for the state of several enclosures, including this one.
Other Attractions
There is a maze in the Zoo which, at the moment, is too new and has very small hedges making it somewhat easy to navigate round.
It does have a nice Darwinian theme, though, and will be a excellent I susopect for kids when its grown a bit.
Next to the maze is a slightly strange area called the Magic Forest which seems to consist of some small glass-fronted enclosures with marmosets in them. It was hard to tell though since the way in which the building is set out means that the sun was shining strai
ght on the glass for most of the day - not the best planning ever !
The “Hill”
One major minus point if you have small children or are taking elderly relatives out is the fact that the Zoo appears to have been built on a bit of land left over from the creation of Mount Everest. It really is a very steep hill, up which it is a real task to push a buggy or pram. Not the Zoo’s fault I know, but something to bear in mind.
The Zoo do supply wheelchairs and buggies for a small deposit and, if its not too busy there is rather a good Safari Jeep with a trailer which will take you round the Zoo and provide a running commentary, all for 50 pence which is excellent value.
Education
There is a large education department in the Zoo and it certainly shows. Plenty of talks (all interactive with questions encouraged) take place during the day, while the signage throughout the Zoo is of a very high standard, combining interesting facts with bright pictures. The only fault I could find was the lack of a foreign language facility anywhere, either in the talks or on the signs.
Catering
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, the catering is very poor. I don’t know if there’s someone new in charge, but last time we went (about three years ago) we had lunch in the Members’ House (a beautiful eighteenth century building in the middle of the park) and it was both delicious and relatively inexpensive. Whatever the reason, however, the food now is unhealthy and unappetising and it seems much more expensive.
If you take a packed lunch though you won’t be disappointed as there are plenty of picnic areas, most with a great view of one animal or another.
Shopping
There are two gift shops in the Zoo, a big one at the entrance and a smaller on beside the penguins. The range of products in the big shop is very impressive and quite tasteful, although
again there does seem to be a feeling that every last penny should be milked out of the visitor with prices certainly erring on the high side. The staff are very friendly however and were prepared to chat away to my puppy-mad daughter.
Overview
To sum up, Edinburgh Zoo is very beautiful in places and has a large number of interesting animals and well-designed enclosures for them to live in. Unfortunately, this is balanced by the fact that some animals live in disgusting conditions in enclosures that are far too small. No matter how nice the penguin enclosure is, it doesn’t make up for the nineteenth century state of the lion area.
One thing that has just struck me is that there seemed to have been a lot of building work since I last went to the Zoo, but it all seems to be new offices for admin staff and nothing at all on the animals. I may be wrong, but it seems a strange set of priorities for a Zoo that makes a great deal of its conservation role.
Addendum : Just after writing this I noticed a bit in the local newspaper accusing the zoo of putting down very rare baby Oryx because they had nowhere to put them. This isn't the first time lately that the Zoo has had very negative publicity due to the fact that they seem very keen to kill any animals which don't fit their business plan.
***QUICK UPDATE***
The Zoo is currently closed due to the foot and mouth epidemic, but I thought it worthwhile to point out that the caterers (who apparently had only been in place for about a year, replacing the old in-house caterers) have been kicked out due to the poor quality of their service. Hopefully that negative part of the Zoo will improve when it re-opens.
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