Of course as well as seeing the pandas at Ouwehands, there were plenty other animals to see! I didn’t get nearly as many pictures as I usually take, so I don’t have many pictures, or of every animal that they have. But it’s a very lovely park, it really feels a little in the wilderness and it’s quite a big park, which was a nice surprise that I didn’t expect. So today sharing some pictures and a little info of what I have from Ouwehands. I was really hoping to visit again this year, even before the baby panda was born, as they have a pair of polar bear cubs which are just adorable in the videos posted on their social media pages! Our visit was on a weekend in February, and actually the weather was great, it was sunny and not too cold, and whilst there were a lot of people at the zoo, it wasn’t so busy that there were too many people.

The giraffe enclosure is one of the first to see on entering the zoo (at least when heading for the fastest route to the pandas!) – there was just one giraffe when we visited, but there may be more now. The enclosure was quite typical for a giraffe enclosure, but what was great was the elevated walkway alongside the enclosure meaning, you were right at perfect giraffe head-height! There were a few hanging food and enrichment items along this and when we were there the giraffe spent all of its time around here so we got a very nice view.

After coming out of the giant panda enclosure, there were of course also red pandas to see – this pair spent all of their time in a tree, which is how I usually end of seeing red pandas! And after this there was an interesting area which seemed to me designed from several decades ago, with cute little wooden buildings having an older style (there is a Dutch name for this on the map of the zoo, but it doesn’t translate to anything I understand in English), there were some pigs which were pretty cute and not getting a lot of attention, but also some very good education exhibits. There was a whole room full about different bear species and they even had a range of bear skulls which is something I’ve not seen in a zoo before. After this you could walk around on an elevated walkway above the bears and the wolves, again I’ve not really seen something like this before, and I liked the natural state of the enclosure. It was really big and there were quite a few different sections you could explore, after the elevated path there was another education point (I don’t recall if any were available in English, but there were plenty of pictures to understand what was being conveyed), and then there was another section where you were right up close to the wolves, and I think there were even tunnels under the paths for the wolves to go under to get to different sides.

Another walkthrough area was with the seals, you were able to walk around the edge of the large pond area and some of the walkway was over the water, you could see the seals swimming beneath! This one which jumped onto the platform was zooming around all over the place, he/she was very entertaining! There are also sea lions in the zoo, and when we were there there was a short ‘show’ with the sea lions performing – we did go along to see and it was pretty cute. They have several sea lions in total, but only a few are involved in the show at a time, and each one only isn’t out for a long time – there were individual ‘tricks’ but also some synchronised work which was pretty impressive! I know shows like this can be quite controversial, but to me it very much looked like voluntary participation and a component of enrichment for the animals.

The gorilla house was also an impressive building, which seemed to be a newer addition to the zoo (or maybe was just recently renovated) – the outside of the building was glass and the outdoor enclosure for the animals, there were so many different apparatuses for the animals, with bridges and trees and different platforms to explore. And then on the inside you could view the animals from this angle which I got the pictures below, and there were also enclosures on the opposite side with different monkey species (I’m not so much a monkey/primate person, so I don’t know the specifics!).

There is so much that I didn’t get pictures of, or get to see very well – the zoo also has lions and tigers and they weren’t very active on our visit. The tropical house was also very good and filled with so many different species, as was the aquarium building with all the fish (it was dark, so not optimal for pictures). We did also see the polar bears, but I seem to have not taken any pictures for some reason – however this past winter twin polar bear cubs were born, so all the more reason to go back to see how cute they are in person!

Your Visit

Getting to Ouwehands Dierenpark

Ouwehands Dierenpark is in Rhenen, which is about an hour from Amsterdam (city or airport) by car. We took the train on our visit – it was fairly easy, travelling from Amsterdam Centraal we took a train to Utrecht then switched onto a smaller local line, which ended in Rhenen. In total the train took maybe 1 hour 20 or so, which isn’t too bad. I booked our tickets online in advance, but it’s really not necessary, it’s easy to buy them from the train station. I will say that there didn’t seem to be a ticket booth at Rhenen station (it’s very small), so I think you would need to buy the return ticket from the train guard on the train. From the station it’s easy to get to Ouwehands, it’s around a 10 minute walk along a straight flat road. We stayed at the neighbouring hotel to the zoo, which was perfect for our visit, I also am sure it’s the only hotel in the area – it’s a very small place, so unless you have a car to travel further afield, there’s not much in the vicinity other than the zoo (which is perfectly fine for me!).

In Ouwehands Dierenpark

I bought our tickets online, I think perhaps there was a small saving by doing this, but I don’t remember, but it was easy to show them at the gate and get in. It was a Sunday when we were there, and the staff were well prepared for lots of visitors with plenty of ticket booths open and guides at the entrance to make sure people knew where to go for tickets. We also got a map, which I think had English on it, if it didn’t, it was a very big map with a lot of pictures so it was no trouble to use and figure out which animals were where. Signage around the zoo was also good, it was an easy place to navigate – but we still managed to miss a few things on our first walk round and saw them the second time.

There are quite a few different places to eat or get a snack, we went to the Passaro Restaurant which is near the entrance and it was pretty good, with a wide range of food and drinks to choose from. We did think about having lunch in the pandasia restaurant, but it was very busy, I think maybe the most popular spot to eat!

And ending with the gift shops, there was a more general gift shop by the exit, featuring all the different animals in soft-toy and souvenir form, but of course I really liked the panda gift-shop located in Pandasia above the panda enclosure. It was larger than the main gift shop and only sold giant panda items, games, socks, cards, stationery, toys, t-shirts – you name it, you can buy it here! I also liked the touch of the Pandasia themed paper bags that you could buy for your purchase.