And of course, we also checked out the rest of the animals living at Ouwehands Dierenpark in addition to the giant pandas! Since our visit in 2019 there haven’t been too many major changes – the main one is the new koala house and themed area. Unfortunately we didn’t end up seeing any koalas on the day of our visit, so I didn’t take any/many pictures, so for another time! There was also some work ongoing at the sun bear house. Most of the park I remember seeing before, but there were a few parts that I just couldn’t recall – like the tiger area, part of the elephant outdoor space, and also the bonobo’s – either I just didn’t pay attention on the first visit, or they are in fact also new parts.
My second time to Ouwehands Dierenpark to see the pandas! After a few days at Pairi Daiza, we took an evening train back to Brussels, then caught the Eurostar to Amsterdam, and then a train to Utrecht for the final nights of our little European tour^ After a good nights rest we headed for Rhenen by train for a day at Ouwehands Dierenpark – this is the second visit for both my mum and I and we were excited to see baby Lang Yue^ We visited first in February 2019, and sadly missed out on seeing first-born cub Fan Xing 梵星 due to the travel regulations for the time she was still in The Netherlands, luckily I’ve seen her since in China, but I didn’t want to miss on seeing Lang Yue as a little one. Overall no changes to the panda area here, but Wu Wen‘s yard has been made suitable for a youngster, with a wall blocking off the upper area of the inside space. Onto the pandas:
Even making my 4th visit to Pairi Daiza – there’s still new things and old favourites to see every time! This was my 4th visit and my mum’s 3rd visit, so we’ve seen most of the park already. I mentioned in my last post that we needed an accessible room for my mum, she wears a prosthetic leg so just needs a little less fast-pace and definitely fewer hills. We opted not to take a wheelchair hire, but even if we had, I don’t think I would have been pushing the wheelchair up the few hills there are at Pairi Daiza, I’ve done the hill at Edinburgh Zoo and that was a stressful experience (worried I might let go accidentally on the way down XD)! But because we’ve both been before on multiple occasions we didn’t really feel like we were missing something, and perhaps next time we’ll try out the wheelchair and see how that goes. We very much stuck to the more accessible parts of the park – my mum is generally fine with a small number of stairs, so we weren’t restricted in areas where there were only stairs, but steeper hills like the majority of Kingdom of Ganesha and the back part of Land of Origins weren’t on the cards for this trip. The map online does have indicated where paths are not wheelchair/pushchair accessible, however doesn’t have hill-steepness marked on which would be another useful option. But onto what we did see:
With the size of Pairi Daiza and the number of animals to see alongside the pandas, I really think the best way to have a great experience here is to take advantage of the Pairi Daiza Resort, staying on site and getting the most out of multiple days. Previously my mum and I have stayed in a polar bear room for 1 night in 2022, this time we wanted to try out a different theme, as soon as I saw the opening of The Farm House Lodge, I knew I wanted to stay in this one! The farmyard area was here on my previous visits, however this area also housed the old entrance and some staff facilities if I remember correctly, but now it’s all for these animals. The animals are (mostly) free roaming, so there are double-gates to get in and out of the farm, the lodges are completely located inside here – lets get in and take a look:
After a few days in Berlin, it was time for the next panda stop, heading to Pairi Daiza in Belgium! As well as it being my 4th visit to Zoo Berlin, this was also my 4th visit to Pairi Daiza, and second time staying on site in the resort. Of course, the trip was all about the pandas – and actually this was my first time there when there was just the 2 adult pandas, previous visits have been for cubs Tian Bao, and Bao Di and Bao Mei. This was definitely a more relaxed visit with just 2 pandas to see and both living in the same area, which was quite nice and reminded me of my usual Edinburgh Zoo visits where it was always just adults and those were still a fun experience!
