http://trustedplaces.com/review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo <b>London Zoo</b><br />London, Regent's Park, NW1 4RY, United Kingdom en http://trustedplaces.com/uploads/placepics/trustedplaces.comaPlacePic['name']}.140.jpg http://trustedplaces.com/review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo http://trustedplaces.com/review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo/184787
Review by Glen_Bailey

Rating: 3.00
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I have conflicting thoughts about zoos. I think itâ¬"s great that the population of a city can visit a zoo and see animals that they may never otherwise see in their lifetime. I also think a zoo is a great way to educate people about different species of animals, their habitats, threats to their survival and ways to prevent this.

On the other hand, I feel that the animalâ¬"s recreated environments should closely reflect that of their individual needs and be as concrete free as possible. I donâ¬"t see the need to build enclosures in concrete and with minimal features. It surely is not beneficial for the animal and certainly is not appealing to look at.

With that in mind, I feel that the London Zoo has a little way to come to make its enclosures more appealing to both man and beast. The zoo has clearly grasped this idea as there are several new enclosures, namely the Gorillaâ¬"s, a walk in bird enclosure, the Penguinâ¬"s (I walked past the old penguin enclosure and was shocked to see that it was all concrete) and the tropical.

I wasnâ¬"t sure how new the butterfly enclosure or the bug house was, but these are also along the lines of what I expect from a zoo (the fact that the butterfly enclosure is inside a giant bouncy-castle style caterpillar is brilliant). Seeing butterflies with transparent wings is something of a novelty. Even more so when they land on you and you can see your hand through their wings. Inside the bug house I was suitable impressed with the display of ants near the doors. They do ant things like taking bits of leaves from one area to another via several ropes. It was only after I got close enough to them that I realised that it wasnâ¬"t an enclosure as such, you could reach out and touch them if you so desired. I had no desire to do this having seen what happened to my sister when she sat on an ants nest in Australia or my partner when she stood on an ants nest in Costa Rica.

Whether its butterflies or bugs youâ¬"re into, both are worth looking at.

If youâ¬"re at the zoo on a cold day, make sure you swing past the Tropical Rain Forest enclosure (maybe more than once depending on how cold it is). The highlights for me were the two, two or three toed sloths (Iâ¬"d seen them in the wild in Costa Rica also much to my excitement). And by the time we got down to ground level, the â¬Stropical rain stormâ¬]]> Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:13:27 +0000 /review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo/184787810016111 Glen_Bailey 51.534948878392 -0.1559006961239 http://trustedplaces.com/review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo/1u54p7
Review by cbrookes

Rating: 4.00
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London zoo is an amazing day out!! Lots of animals to see especially the new gorrila enclosure. Food realativly expensive so best taking a picnic, but plenty of place to sit out side and eat. Great family day out.]]> Sat, 06 Oct 2007 18:46:42 +0000 /review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo/1u54p71096094678 cbrookes 51.534948878392 -0.1559006961239 http://trustedplaces.com/review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo/1594u7
Review by Frankie

Rating: 5.00
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London Zoo is terrific. There are some wonderful, amazing creatures there and so close you could touch them (in the farm animal section you can touch the animals but other places you can't touch, for their safety and yours).

In the special Gorillas exhibition me and some friends had an amazing experience! We sat down next to a glass fronted caged part of the gorilla enclosure (most of it is open air with no bars though). Inside was the older female gorilla. She gets jealous of the younger female being with the male, so they get to take turns hanging out with him. Anyway, we sat down to draw her and she came over to investigate! We were sitting on little fold up chairs and she sat down right next to us on the other side of the glass. It was amazing! Being face-to-face with this biiig personality. We could see her breath on the glass. It was quite crowded with visitors and everyone saying "look at the gorilla posing"! Very hard to describe the impact of being near this animal in real life.

Another knockout was the Butterfly tent in the shape of a giant catapillar. A clever system of 'doors' which were curtains of plastic chains hanging down let humans enter and prevented the butterfies from flying out. Inside was a tropical environment with exotic plants (pink bananas and peculiar pouch shaped plants) and butterflies flying free around you. Despite it being rather crowded in there at 3 o'clock it was another amazing experience. You could see a special incubator with pupae lined up inside and butterflies hatching out. The most beautiful butterflies just flitting past. One was transparent like pretty lace (called a Glass Butterfly) and there were the biggest moths in the world displaying their wings proudly on the trunk of a palm tree.

Wow.

We didn't get a chance to see everything, maybe a third, even though we spent the whole day there.

The Zoo is beautifully kept, the staff are very friendly and even though it was a hot lovely day in August, there were no queues in the Oasis cafe.

It's a bit sad to see the big game animals in relatively small spaces but the enclosures are excellent quality and with the state of the world today, at least some animals are safe at the zoo.

Full entry price is about £13 for one adult, but everything (except food and gifts) is free once you're in and lots of '2 for 1' and other discounts are easily found on the web.

Heartily recommended.




http://zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo


tel: 020 7722 3333]]> Sat, 11 Aug 2007 22:54:17 +0000 /review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo/1594u71640017772 Frankie 51.534948878392 -0.1559006961239 http://trustedplaces.com/review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo/1a82d7
Review by kellytron

Rating: 2.00
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I love the zoo (despite being slightly evil)so this gets two stars anyway, but this is really the worst zoo I've been too if I'm totally honest.
Small, confusing design, so many empty areas/work in progresses and expensive. It cost £4 to get into Tokyo and that kicked this Zoo's ass (as do Melbourne, Sydney and Budapest - all highly reccomended)]]> Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:25:21 +0000 /review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo/1a82d71561124682 kellytron 51.534948878392 -0.1559006961239 http://trustedplaces.com/review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo/1d00t8
Review by sommerhalder

Rating: 1.00
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Having lived and travelled to many countries I would rate the london zoo amongst the worst in terms of value for money. Yet not only do you have to pay horrendous entry fees (blimey if you want to bring your whole family there) but also is there little on offer. Compared to other zoo's, I found it very small, containing few animals only, and most importantly, I didn't think that the animals were kept in the best possible way (little space, hardly any natural settings etc.). All in all you better spend your money on other London "attractions"....]]> Fri, 29 Sep 2006 17:43:58 +0000 /review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo/1d00t8462223128 sommerhalder 51.534948878392 -0.1559006961239 http://trustedplaces.com/review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo/1c60n8
Review by NikoTheFinn

Rating: 4.00
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You just have to love the London Zoo. Animals everywhere. Which is just as well, because that's what i've come to expect from a zoo. i was there a couple of years ago, when the new bear cubs were born, and they were really quite cute. Not sure how quickly bears grow, but i presume they will be less cute and more on the ferocious beast side by now. Also the reptile house is quite a treat. My girlfriend is scared of snakes, so when i dragged her through the terrarium with its displays of snakes big and small and bright and lively on both sides of the narrow path she got a little claustrophobic and we had to skedaddle asap. Where's Samuel L. Jackson when you need him, eh? Get these mo-foing snakes out of my mo-foing zoo, cool daddy-o. One downside - expensive.]]> Tue, 26 Sep 2006 07:56:00 +0000 /review/uk/london/attraction/1n52x8o/london-zoo/1c60n81704701949 NikoTheFinn 51.534948878392 -0.1559006961239