What a January I had! Filled with so much more snow than expected XD I already posted about seeing the pandas when I was in the Netherlands, so also saw some other residents of Ouwehands, but with a few extra days on top of that, I also went to ARTIS zoo in hopes of seeing their baby elephant, and of course, I ended the month at Zoo Berlin, where it was very unexpectedly snowy as well!
Ouwehands Dierenpark
When I visited Ouwehands Dierenpark this was the second day of snow in the country, so it was lying relatively thickly but luckily the main paths were quite clear – so even in my unprepared state with trainers, I found walking about to be ok. Lots of the animals chose to be inside, understandable, but I still got to see a few outside. It was great walking in and immediately seeing a tiger cub outside and running around in the snow! I’m not sure that’s something I’ll ever get to see again, and I got lucky later in the afternoon when all three of the cubs were outside – some more cautious than other, but still super cute. Also seeing the polar bears starfished in the snow was great, again, not something I think I’ll get to see again. Over the winter there was an evening lantern event, so whilst I didn’t stay to see them lit up, I could see all the lanterns in the daylight – also looking very nice covered in snow.
ARTIS Zoo
Once I made it back to Amsterdam, I was keen to get to ARTIS Zoo to see their baby elephant. On the day I was going there was an amber weather warning and it was actively snowing steadily and quite windy. So I went a little later in the morning. I think I got the worst of the weather on the walk to the zoo, it was horizontal snow! But once I was there the snow was falling regularly and it was a nice visit – and also pretty quiet with very low numbers of visitors, so it was pretty pleasant. I’ve been to ARTIS a few times before, but in the snow, for the most part, I had no idea where I was within the zoo! Everything was absolutely covered in thick snow – for sure an experience! When I got there I headed straight for the elephant house, they were all inside when I got there but just a few minutes later the whole family went outside including the little baby – who was only 2 weeks old! So cute! He was sticking close by mum and mostly stayed underneath her, but did brave the weather and try to climb on some rocks a bit, but it was quite slippy, so he ran back to mum! There were still cafes open so I enjoyed a hot chocolate break inside out of the cold which was nice, then continued on. There are a few inside options at ARTIS as well, which makes it pretty well suited to a snowy visit. So I checked out the butterflies and the walkthroughs with the sloths, small monkeys, and birds.
Zoo Berlin
Being at Zoo Berlin at the end of January was thankfully a planned trip, however I didn’t imagine there would be snow! Luckily flights weren’t impacted at all so getting there and back was easy, and at least this time I knew it was going to be cold before leaving home (like -10 degrees C cold!), so I had winter boots and coat which made a snow visit significantly more enjoyable! Compared to the other two zoos, there were more visitors here in Berlin, although it was still relatively quiet for a Friday and Saturday. Although I saw plenty of people who had not come prepared for snow and were just in light jackets and shoes, or even just a hoodie! But I really had a great time in my 2 days at the zoo and I think I saw more animals than at either Ouwehands or ARTIS despite the weather being even colder. For sure a highlight was seeing the red pandas so active, they were so interested in interacting together and seemed to be enjoying the snow, and they were out for most of both days of my visit. Other highlights included seeing the sand cats (such cuties!), baby Willi the hippo (also a cutie, and so tiny compared to the adults) and having great viewing of the seals, I had no idea that there were 5 of them because I’ve only seen 1 or 2 of them before, and not really had a great view of them either.
