The Living Rainforest

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The place is essentially a large greenhouse divided into two sections with a large café/gift shop area attached to it.

When you enter you come in from the car park and into an entrance hallway which is the “Human Impact Area” which has a few signs and exhibits (though no animals) showing the impact of humans on the rainforest. You buy a ticket here and can then enter into the greenhouse bit.

This is the “Lowland Forest area” and is the smaller part of the zoo. you can see this scale from the map and it is separate from “Amazonica” by a door with the type of plastic flaps often used to contain free-flying birds or butterflies. I really don’t see why they have separated this to be honest, the “Amazonica” section does not exclusively contain species found in South America (although it is largely South American species) and there isn’t really any need to separate them. The only reason I can think of is that the “Lowland Forest Area” doesn’t have any free-roaming animals so there may be some plants or something that are either particularly sensitive or toxic/dangerous to the animals. I don’t think it is an attempt to keep it more lushly planted because both areas are planted very lushly and the free-roaming animals don’t seem to have destroyed anything in the “Amazonica” bit.

Anyway, you go around the “Lowland Forest Area” which is a little bit boring to be honest. There are some really cool looking plants and it is very nicely done, but there isn’t the sound of lots of birds or animals or water or anything like that and the only animals species in here (in cages, not free-roaming) are Veiled Chameleons, Black and Green Poison Dart Frogs, Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches and a Fischer’s Turaco in an aviary (and a tank with butterfly pupae). This area is just one pathway leading round in a long U-shape and then you go through a doorway with plastic flaps and enter the main bit which is “Amazonica”.

I much preferred this area and it really has a much better rainforest feel. When you first enter “Amazonica” from the “Lowland” area you come to an enclosure with Goeldi’s Monkeys and even if you don’t immediately seen any of them, there are free-roaming birds, reptiles and mammals about so with those sounds, it feels more like a rainforest and is more interesting just with that. I won’t go through each individual enclosure and pathway but there is a network of little pathways going amongst the lush foliage with various little enclosures dotted around and a few free-flying species to make it feel even more like a rainforest. The free-roaming species were Linne’s Two-toed Sloth, Plumed Basilisk, Asian Water Dragon, Java Sparrow, Malagasy Teal, Yellow-winged Pytilia, Ringed Teal, Roulroul Partridge, Red-crested Turaco, Yellow-knobbed Curassow and Fischer’s Turaco. Notable exhibits were those for Goeldi’s Monkeys + Azara’s Agoutis, Red-billed Toucans + Azara’s Agoutis, a Crocodile enclosure (which was temporarily empty with a sign saying “Our Dwarf Crocodile has been moved to Germany to participate in the European breeding programme for her species. Look for updates on our website, facebook, and twitter pages to let you know how she is getting on, and which new animals will be moving into her enclosure”), a Pygmy Marmoset enclosure, Armadillo Enclosure and a large fish tank/pond (can be viewed from above or from the side through glass) with Ocellate River Stingray, Silver Dollar, Tambaqui, Sucker-mouth Catfish and Upside-down Catfish. There are also lots of smaller insect and herp enclosures. Pictures of these enclosures can be seen in the gallery if you are interested.

In the centre of the “Amazonica” area is a large pond that has giant lily pads at certain times though there were none when I was there yesterday (I remember seeing them on a previous visit and there were signs saying they could be seen at certain times of year) however there are other aquatic plants and this is where the two free-roaming teal species can be seen as well as a few of the other birds and both of the free-roaming reptiles in the surrounding plants.



So I really liked The Living Rainforest though it is definitely not a traditional zoo by any means. The plants are as big an attraction as the animals with many unusual looking species signed as prominently as the animals, which is fair because the attraction is meant to give a feel of a rainforest where plants are a massive part. It is a bit small and I only spent about an hour there, but I really enjoyed my visit despite the fact that there are only 39 animal species and no big star species or anything very odd. The entry price is a bit steep which they justify by making the ticket an annual ticket (a bit of a con really as there is no cheaper option for a single entry) but I think it is worth it anyway. The place is very hot and humid, a bit more so than most tropical houses I thought, but similar humidity and heat to a hot day somewhere in a rainforest which helped to enhance the whole rainforest experience.

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