Zoo, Dublin

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I first visited Dublin Zoo in 1999, and thought that is was horrible. I had no intention to visiting it again and haven't done so for nearly 10 years. But this year I decided to have another look, and I was very pleasantly surprised by the changes! The elephants now have a very nice enclosure, rather than just a concrete slab, and even have a pool in which at least the baby elephants can completely submerge themselves. They had a whale of a time at the pool, pushing and shoving each other, and running in and out of the water.

They have also added a lot of land to the zoo, and created a whole new African Plains section with rhinos, giraffe, zebra and ostriches.

My friend and I thought we'd be in and out of there in no time, but ended up spending the whole day there, and were among the last ones to get kicked out of the zoo shop at 6pm.

Admission to the zoo is €15 for adults and €10.50 for children between 3 and 16 years.

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Inside Dublin Zoo, the Houghton House has been reconstructed to appear as it was when opened in 1898. Unfortunatley the house was closed when we visited the zoo in January.

The house was built in memory of Samuel Haughton who was secretary of the then Royal Zoological Society of Ireland for 20 years until his death in 1897. He was also Professor of Geology at Trinity College and a noted science writer. Unfortunately perhaps, Haughton is better known for working out the maths of how to hang someone humanely, so that the neck broke the instant they dropped.

On the ground floor there were ten dens for wild animals. Visitors viewed them from a central corridor. Above on the first floor there was a refreshment and lecture room and a balcony looked out over the zoo.

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Ok... it was January, it was wet, and it was windy and cold. And I do understand the neccessity for Zoo's to carry out construction work when their are no tourists around.. I really do. But when we visited Dublin Zoo, the place was a complete building site, there were virtually no animals on show, in or out of cages and the whole thing was one major disappointment. What annoyed me so much was the fact they charges 15 euro to get in (full price) when 5 euro would have been far more appropriate for the time of day and year.

I can only assume from the good reviews of this zoo that things are very different in the summer months :-(

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We really enjoyed this zoo, its one our favourites.

We have strong opinions on what a zoo should be: it should be about the animals, not the guests! Most of the animals seemed pretty happy, but we fely sorry for the Jaguar being on his own but maybe eventually he'll get a mate :)

The African plains gave lots of space to the animals which was great to see :)

The farm with its domestic animals inspired us to get our babies, so in February we had two new guinea pig additions to our home :)

We went around christams time last year, and hope to do the same this year, and spent most of the day there away from the crazy xmas shopping rush (best time to go in our opinion). There was very few people even at the weekend, we got to take our time and take some great pictures.

Ive attached a few pictures as the animals are what make the zoo, you can find opening times and prices etc. on the zoo website: http://www.dublinzoo.ie/

I have been to quite a lot of zoos around the world now and would say Dublin zoo is fairly average. There is a good selection of animals, my personal favourites being the rhinos, and they seem to be well looked after. The main disappointment with the zoo is actually viewing the animals. The sightlines are not great, in some cases just a window or two into the enclosure, and if you are lucky you might catch a glimpse. For us it wasn't so bad as it was a cold and rainy day and not crowded. I would imagine it would be a horrible experience if the place was packed with visitors.
This being the biggest zoo in Ireland it's probably something more for the locals to enjoy. Visitors from overseas probably have something better at home and can give it a miss.

Phoenix park is the home to Dublin Zoo. I visited it for the first time in 2007, and was duly impressed. It is obvious that many millions of Euros have been sunk into producing a very well planned and attractive ‘zoo experience’. This appears to be dramatic change from some years back when it had a bit of a reputation for being a very old-fashioned place when tatty and bored animals were squeezed into tiny living spaces. Much like living in a North Dublin Council estate.

Of special note is the ‘African plains’ section which is set around an attractive lake. With clever design features, you can often look out over wild African animals with very few visual clues to tell you that you are still firmly in the centre of a European city rather than the Great Rift Valley.

The tiger enclosure was another winner, set on a steep hill you get a great view wherever they are. The Elephants have a fantastic space, and with the arrival of Asha, the first elephant born in Ireland a real crowd-pleaser.

All the usual suspects you would expect to find in a zoo make an appearance with a few notable exceptions. I couldn’t find any camels (my personal favourites, due to their bad-tempered personalities) or any Panda (not so much bothered about that, they are too cute by half).

A great family day out. Alwats good to visit the in-laws.

The first baby elephant born in Ireland came along in May 2007. A rare event anywhere, but it called a real stir here. A competition arrived at the name of 'Asha'. I wanted 'Bertie'.

The whole of Dublin Zoo has been comprehensively redeveloped over the past few years, and the new elephant area is one of it's crowning glories. Whilst the animals now seem to have more room than in the average Tanzanian safari reserve, it does make it a bit more difficult to get a good view of little Asha. I only saw her from quite a distance. Lets hope their success in 2007 leads to more pounding of little feet in the future.

P.S Note to my offspring : asha was walking within 8 minutes - what are you playing around at ?

To be honest it's not the best ZOO I've ever seen but it's nice place to spend some free time. Good for families. It tends to be very! busy at the weekends and when kids are off school, o avoid those times if you can.