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.

CERZA in Normandy (near Lisieux) was a fabulous surprise- a massive and well set out safari park. We had a really great day there.
Singapore zoo is next level amazing.

Healesville Sanctuary about an hour and a half out of Melbourne.

Big cats and zoos don’t mix. In the wild, cheetahs have a huge territory. A zoo is a poor second best. Wait and see them in the wild. Snow leopards are virtually impossible to see in the wild. Red Pandas are in zoos and again not easy in the wild.

Some camps in Africa have a minimum age of 12. Zambia is more expensive than Kenya. Many camps are not fenced and not many are child friendly. Wildlife Worldwide could help. I would be very wary of seeing cooped up big cats in a zoo and thinking that’s ok. Any big cat in a smallish enclosure isn’t really right for that animal. See them in the wild if you can.

We thought Dublin zoo was very good.

Bioparc doué la Fontaine in the Loire valley is really good, made out of old quarries used very ingeniously to make various regions, the most incredible of which is a gigantic netted aviary. https://www.bioparc-zoo.fr/
best zoo I've been to. And very convenient for the lovely centerparcs Bois aux Daims which is much superior to the uk parks

And the red squirrel walkthrough....

I love Los Angeles zoo.

Another vote for Singapore and Costa Rica. The night zoo in Singapore introduced me to animals I'd never even heard of. I just happened to be in the country on a work trip and took myself along for the evening. It was brilliant and I'd love to go back.

We went to Costa Rica on a family holiday a couple of years ago. We opted for a guided tour and visited Rincon de la Vieja, Arsenal, Sarapiqui, Tortuguero and the Guanacaste coast before crossing into Nicaragua. We saw so much wildlife: sloths, armadillos, caiman, giant sea turtles, different types of monkey and hundreds of types of birds. Stunning country.

If she likes big cats then Parc des Felins in France would be a good one.