Hamburg: Hagenbeck Tierparck
During our weekend in Hamburg we gave the children the choice on Sunday: taking another boat tour (along the harbour) so we could see the famous Speicherstadt and Hafencity area's or go to the zoo. Well, that choice seemed to be quickly made.
Since my workshop had been at the zoo entrance I knew my way on the metro already well to get to this historic zoo. From the explanations in the nearby hotel during my first nights in Hamburg, I had learned that Hagenbeck was a fish trader in the 182x's and he got rather by accident once 4 seals from the fisher men (of from his father according to wikipedia). He decided to expose them to the city inhabitants which was a great succes. Due to this, he started to trade in more animals and started to expose them further.
His son Carl Hagenbeck continued the trade and exposition of wild animals....and "wild" humans!!
Since my workshop had been at the zoo entrance I knew my way on the metro already well to get to this historic zoo. From the explanations in the nearby hotel during my first nights in Hamburg, I had learned that Hagenbeck was a fish trader in the 182x's and he got rather by accident once 4 seals from the fisher men (of from his father according to wikipedia). He decided to expose them to the city inhabitants which was a great succes. Due to this, he started to trade in more animals and started to expose them further.
His son Carl Hagenbeck continued the trade and exposition of wild animals....and "wild" humans!!
In 1907 he opened the Tierparck with quite innovative ideas. It was the first zoo in the world without grill bars shielding the animals from the public, using open ditches instead in area's that would ressemble their natural habitat. He also grouped and exposed (and combined them) by natural habitat rather by biological type. These principals which some of them he patented are now common in zoos.
What we found uncommon was that we could get a bag with fruits and vegetables to feed some of the animals. Especially feeding the elephants, who seemed very eager to continue to grab carrots and appels all day long, was a great experience for the children. But they didn't like the elephant snot on their hands as much :D.
What we found uncommon was that we could get a bag with fruits and vegetables to feed some of the animals. Especially feeding the elephants, who seemed very eager to continue to grab carrots and appels all day long, was a great experience for the children. But they didn't like the elephant snot on their hands as much :D.
Personally I enjoyed the long section "ice sea" the most with tunnels visiting several pools with walruss, pinguins, polar bears, ... and see them all swimming under water. Especially the walrusses put up a big show.
After our visit to the zoo, we had to head back to the hotel to check out and we lacked just a bit of time to visit another part of the city with a short walk. Oh well, we always claim it's good to leave things on the to do list for the next visit. This way we had a relax return, time for another ice cream and some more train and metro rides through the city and towards the airport. Excellent and easy public transport in Hamburg by the way!
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