Prague Zoo

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After a full day driving 680 km from Warsaw to Prague on the 25th, I had the following day and a half to visit the fantastic Prague Zoo. A map of the zoo can be seen here. I really liked the map actually; it has contour lines to show how steep various bits of the zoo are and I think the balance of clarity and including all of the exhibits is pretty well done.

I stayed quite close to the zoo. In fact, the view from the window of my accommodation was of the Indonesian Jungle Pavilion. Allowing me to maximise time at the zoo and minimise the need to get up too early.

The first enclosure that I saw upon entering the zoo was the fantastic enclosure for Red Pandas which I thought made good use of the existing terrain – this later proved to be a bit of a trend for Prague Zoo - with very nice planting with plenty of climbing area for the pandas.

I decided on my first day to fully explore the upper area of the zoo first, so headed up past the Pandas to the Indonesian Jungle Pavilion. This wasn’t such a huge building, but very nicely done with the standard lush planting and high heat and humidity of a tropical dome sort of building. The building contains a small entrance area with a few turtle and fish tanks followed by a Komodo Dragon Enclosure (temporarily unoccupied when I was there) followed by a large area with an enclosure for Pig-tailed Macaques, and one for Palawan Binturong (and a small enclosure for mudskippers), and then a nocturnal area, and finally an area at the top with enclosures for Orangutan, Mouse Deer, Tree Shrew and various turtles. The nocturnal section especially contained some nice rarities including Sunda Slow Loris, White-striped Dorcopsis, and Philippine Palm Civet.

The two criticisms that I do, however have of the Pavilion are that a few of the enclosures in the nocturnal section – especially for the Dorcopsis and Bettongs – were a bit small, and there was a distinct lack of free-flying birds. There were supposedly a few free-flying birds and I saw a few things that I think were birds up in the foliage, but there could have been much more in my opinion and there was a lot of birdsong in the building but that, unfortunately, was made by speakers hidden in the foliage.

From there, I continued on to explore the rest of the Upper area going up past the very nice parrot trail which had an absolutely fantastic array of small parrot species, and then up to the Plains section, Across the continents, and Australia (I am referring to sections of zoo as they are marked on the map linked to above). Most of these enclosures were pretty standard paddocks though there were also quite a few particularly nice looking ones such as the Brown Hyaena Paddocks. Another highlight of this upper area – particularly along the path by the Plains section – was the view over the lower part of the zoo, the river and then the city of Prague beyond.



After having explored the Plains section, Across the continents, part of the Northern Forest, Australia, and the Polar Bear areas, I went to the African area. Here, the main highlight was the Africa Up Close building and the surrounding area outside it. I really liked the theming in this area – apparently called Africa Rocks – with various small mammal species in rather nice enclosures. And a nice design of rocks and a few plants. I then entered the Africa Up Close building itself which had a fantastic array of species.
A few of the enclosures were a little small, but nothing was horrendous, and the building shows a really nice selection of species from odd invertebrates to various nocturnal species, a few reptiles and amphibians and a very extensive list of rodent taxa.

I then went around past the pretty typical hippo enclosure and a few rather typical – though fairly large – African hoofstock enclosures. The Africa section then continued across a bridge over a small road where the main Savannah Paddock was located.
The paddock holds Blesbok, Beisa Oryx, Nile Lechwe, Eland, Rothschild's Giraffe, Ostrich, Sable, Kafue Lechwe however also in this area are a few smaller enclosures in the indoor building for the above taxa including Aardvarks as well as additional outdoor enclosures for Red River Hogs and the seemingly mandatory inclusion in most zoos of meerkats.

This area (back across the bridge) also has the Elephant Valley for Asian Elephants (you’d have thought African would fit better but anyway…). The enclosure itself wasn’t huge for a group of seven elephants but I didn’t think it was too small and around the area was lots of theming with various statues and models and fake shrines and things which was quite a contrast to the purely functional indoor off-exhibit area. There is a public viewing area into the off-exhibit area with various signs explaining the functions of different things as well as displays of chains and things used for controlling the elephants, with why and how they are used etc.

I then continued past the outdoor elephant area which is long and thin in shape, before heading down past the Northern Forest area with a few nice enclosures and down to the lower part of the zoo.

This part of the zoo is much more flat than the upper area and is located on the banks of the Vltava River. It’s also not as geographically organised with different bits here and there and feels a bit more random, though the map is very good with making sure you don’t miss anything. I didn’t have enough time during the rest of my first day to see everything so I decided to just look at a few bits here and there and then look at all the bits I had missed the next day when I returned to the zoo for a further half day.

I also had a go on the chairlift to give a view of the zoo from above and to allow me to go down the very steep ‘Zakazanka Path’ which had a few enclosures for native reptiles.

For the most part, the enclosures in this area were very good. The Sichuan Bird House was particularly nice with a good range of species and I thought the Water World and Monkey Islands area was also really well done on the whole. The Giant Salamander house was another really nice part – though photography was not permitted – and the wetland birds section was another highlight with some nice aviaries. However my favourite enclosures were the cliff-side enclosures for various hoofstock such as for Himalayan Tahr which has viewing from the bottom and the top and makes good use of terrain that would be difficult to use for most other things.

I think it is now relevant to talk about a few enclosures that I thought weren’t particularly good. Many of the outdoor aviaries weren’t so attractive with mesh viewing, though were perfectly alright for the birds, and the rarity of some of the species held made up for the boring enclosures. The Gorilla Pavilion was also pretty typical and not super great, nor was it really poor, but the main enclosure that wasn’t up to standard was the Polar Bear enclosure. The main problem with enclosure is that it is just too small and it really contrasts with a lot of fantastic enclosures around it.
Additionally, a few enclosures in the Feline and Reptile Pavilion weren’t great, with the Indoor tiger enclosures being quite small and bare.



Overall then, I really enjoyed my visit to Prague Zoo. Generally, the standard of enclosures is fantastic and there is a good range of cool and unusual species displayed around the very large zoo.

After a little over half the day the second day at Prague Zoo, I took a bus and a tram to the Morsky Svet aquarium. To get there by public transport, I took bus number 112 from directly outside the zoo to a stop called trojska and then tram number 17 for two stops to a stop with a very long and confusing Czech name (the second stop on the other side of the river). The aquarium is located in an amusement park type thing with bumper cars etc. Inside, the aquarium is pretty much just a large portion of a single warehouse with no outdoor areas or anything like that. There is a small upstairs area with an educational cinema type thing and a few tanks. However the majority of the aquarium is the downstairs area which has a few large tanks and a few rows of smaller tanks. The aquarium is geared more towards families and young children and there is a lot of theming and some games and things for children. The entire ceiling is also covered in various sea-related designs with some large models hanging down from it. For the most part, the tanks are ok for the inhabitants and many of the saltwater tanks looked quite nice, however generally the freshwater tanks weren’t as nice looking with things such as plastic plants and aesthetically at least didn’t come up to the standard of the aquariums in most major zoos.
A few of the tanks however were rather small such as the tank holding a baby caiman which - though possibly ok for now while the caiman is still small - will not be able to hold it for long as it grows bigger.



There were also a few unusual fish species such as a Goliath Tigerfish, some Polka-dot Splitfins (Chapalichthys pardalis), Japanese Pineapple Fish, and Stonefish (and probably a few more that I don’t realise are unusual).

Overall then, the aquarium is not huge, and definitely not worth sacrificing time at Prague Zoo for, it doesn’t need much more than an hour to see. However it was nice to look at a few cool fish etc. (Prague zoo doesn’t have very many) and since it’s easy to get to by public transport from the zoo and I had time after my second day at the zoo, I thought it was a nice little addition to my trip.

The next day, I drove to Pilsen and after stopping off at my accommodation, had the day from around midday onwards at the zoo. Pictures and review to come (probably this weekend or next week).

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