Zoos of the world

[flowerfluff]

Hi everyone, hope you're all surviving the school break 😂

My dd2 who has ASD is hugely obsessed with animals, wildlife and nature. I genuinely think she would live outside if she had the chance! She's 7, and we have literally been to all zoos and nature reserves within the UK. We flew to Scotland before the giant pandas left Edinburgh Zoo and that was her first flight, she loved it and she's got the flying bug now.

My eldest is going on a school residential and needed her passport renewing, so I thought I'd just get passports out of the way and got dd2s first passport too.
She has always said she wants to travel purely to see the different animals and nature of the world, and trying to narrow my search down to 'the world' is proving kinda difficult.

She isn't able to deal with loud noises and crowds very well, however we are able to self adjust and move her away or pop her ear defenders on until away from the noise. She knows that sometimes it can't be helped but trusts us to get her to a 'safe place' asap.

I guess my question after that huge ramble is really that has anybody got any amazing recommendations for zoos or nature reserves around the world? They don't have to be ASD friendly however if they are this would be a giant bonus, but as above we are able to help her whenever we need to.
Her favourite animals are snow leopards, cheetahs and red pandas. She will never touch any kind of animal so sadly zoo keeper experiences are out.

Another vote for Port Lympne in Kent; absolutely amazing to stay there and no touching. My SEN DD loves it as we can take it slowly and it's not crowded. It's expensive though.
They also distance themselves from being a zoo.

Australia zoo in Brisbane (Steve Irwin's zoo) is incredible. I went there and met him just before he died. It's still the best zoo experience I have ever had.

Slightly off the tourist trail but the Cheyenne Mountain zoo in Colorado is the best I’ve ever been to! Alongside Munich

Bioparc in Valencia!

San Diego and Mexico City Zoos! Both have pandas ;)

Australia has some fab zoos. PPs have mentioned some and I'll add the one in Canberra https://nationalzoo.com.au/

It has a lovely open feel, a good range of animals, and if you fancy a splurge it has a fantastic hotel on site where you have a glass wall between you and some of the animals - eg some rooms are with lions, others tigers, giraffes etc. Jamala Wildlife Lodge it's called.

Jamala link https://jamalawildlifelodge.com.au/

Not a zoo but have asd child and at around that age we took him to Arola bears in Finland which has brown bears in the wild between c April and mid August. Very quiet and remote.

Loved rainforest as well like in Costa Rica and Australian wildlife, Lumholtz Lodge, lady ex vet rescues tree kangaroos etc who've been in road accidents. Within UK puffins on Skomer and also he loved Tresco red squirrels on Isles of Scilly.

San Diego zoo, one of the best in the world. Plus there's the safari park, half an hour away.

@SofiePendragon if you were going to recommend one of those two which would it be please?

Do you have any pets at home?

I'm honestly surprised San Diego is getting so many votes. I thought it looked quite tired when we went and the enclosures for the animals seemed quite small.

Chester zoo is worth a re-visit.

It’s getting snow leopards very soon, and already has cheetahs (in a temporary enclosure at the moment). There are also red pandas, who have moved house recently and you’re now able to view them at tree- top level when they are indoors, which is pretty special.

Just a thought Op, would your DD enjoy being a zookeeper for the day? I did this at London Zoo a few years ago and it was brilliant. Just a small group of us and we got to feed tigers, muck out and feed the giraffes, fed penguins and went behind the scenes of the aquarium and fed piranhas. It ended with us going in with the lemurs and I had one sit on my knee whilst I fed it. I learnt so much that day about behind the scenes at the zoo. It really was a fab experience.

Have you been to the Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore?
It has snow leopards and red pandas.

Another shout for Fota (we saw baby cheetahs)

I've been to Houston Zoo- it's huge and so many animals to see

Prague zoo is brilliant. They have an enormous elephant area, and when we went the silver back gorilla got up onto a branch and started posing like a body builder. It was hilarious.
As an aside food and drink in the zoo is very cheap unlike the UK

I really like Howletts and Port Lympne in Kent.

Something different is Moose Garden in Sweden. I am fascinated by moose and you can get close to the moose here and even hug them if you want to. They have lodges you can stay in too

Beekse Bergen, you can even stay in lodges that have the patio facing into certain animal enclosures.

Pairi Daiza looks amazing too

Jimmy's farm has a polar bear now I believe.

As per PP recommendations, Zoo Parc Beauval is wonderful... HOWEVER it can get extremely crowded, particularly on the walkways at the lower end (we went during summer hols) so choose carefully when you go as it may be very overwhelming for your DD.

Peak Wildlife Park has polar bears:
https://www.peakwildlifepark.co.uk/polar-bears

I don't think touching the animals is generally part of a zoo-keeper experience (eg, tigers for instance...). I don't think it would be an issue for your daughter if she didn't want to touch.

As far as safaris go, I can't recommend Zambia enough for a no crowds/game dense experience, but I'd wait till she's older as camps inside the national parks are unfenced so animals can & do come into camp.

FOTA is lovely, feels really relaxed and spacious. The animals wander about a bit and last time we were there staff were following the lemurs around picking up their babies and putting them back on their mothers. Apparently they are quite careless parents. One member of staff told us the lemurs often go down to the beach overnight for a bit of a rummage around.
They feed the cheetahs by running a zip line pat them with their food hanging from it so the cheetahs have to sprint and ‘catch’ it.

You can stay at the FOTA hotel which is fabulous.

Another vote for Beekse Bergen!