Rolling Traveler

When I was a kid, I loved anything to do with animals: the nature documentaries on the BBC; the Life on Earth book my brother got one Christmas; the rock pools on the shoreline in County Mayo; the zoo in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. I never lost that fascination, but I did go through a period where I wouldn’t go to the zoo anymore. I still wanted to watch the animals, but it wasn’t politically correct to like zoos, and I felt guilty about even wanting to go. Recently, I’ve come to appreciate zoos again, especially ones which are really making an effort to provide suitable enclosures for the animals that can’t be released into the wild. I can’t claim to have reclaimed the childhood sense of wonder visiting and animal watching, but I’ve enjoyed the visits. However, zoos present certain challenges to wheelchair users, and I strongly advise doing a little research about the zoo you plan to visit beforehand.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Gaia Park Kerkrade Zoo in the Netherlands. Getting there without a car would’ve been tricky, but fortunately my good friend Thomas (who took the photo for the new banner you can see) was keen to go and check it out, and he has a car with a big enough trunk for a wheelchair. We didn’t do any research beyond checking the weather (it was lovely) and the opening times, and there were a couple of surprises in store for us.

The car park had a very rough surface, so getting from the car to the tarmac path was a bumpily unpleasant ride. The path from the car park to the zoo was fine, except for the last part. The zoo is located within a larger park, and the area is quite hilly, and the slope down to the gates of the zoo was really long and steep. I kept the chair under control, but I wouldn’t fancy trying to go up it on my own.

Within the zoo, there were similar problems. The accessibility of the park is good but not great. It was occasionally treacherous going, with dirt tracks and gravel pathways, and up and downhill slopes. There were a couple of times when I had to ask for help, which I’m not good at, or even give up on seeing something. However, there were also some areas that were very easy to get around, with smoother surfaces and gentler slopes. It definitely wasn’t designed for a wheelchair user, but it wasn’t an impossible task to get around either. I’d say over half of the park was doable in a manual chair without help.

The topography of the park is not something that can be helped, at least not cheaply, but there were 3 man-made barriers to wheelchair users. The wooden bridges had an odd design, with the planks running lengthways instead of widthways, which meant the wheels and casters could easily get stuck in the gaps between the planks. It was like trying to ride alongside tram rails. Also, while I could see into most of the enclosures as well as anyone else, there were a few where the barriers were at or above my eye level. I guess those animals were unsuitable for children, since a kid wouldn’t be able to see over the barrier either. Finally, the disabled access restrooms are at the bottom of a very steep slope; that tells me that the designers never pushed a wheelchair anywhere. The restroom itself had a couple of odd design elements, including the toilet roll holder being too far from the toilet, and a trash can with a rather heavy lid.

All that said, it was a fun day out. It’s not really cheap - the tickets are €12.50 and you have to pay for parking - but you can see where the money is going. This is not a dilapidated, sad Victorian zoo, but a growing, interactive zoo that is aiming towards the best possible conditions for these animals born in captivity. Some of the enclosures are huge, deserving of the name habitat. There’s a strong emphasis on education, with detailed posters in Dutch and English about the animals, and their behavior and habitats, and the zoo is organized into trails focused on particular themes, like the equatorial expedition and the tundras of the past and today. There’s even one that takes in the dinosaur exhibit of actual size models of the prehistoric beasts.

The highlights of the day were the tropical bird enclosure, where you can walk on walkways up in the treeline, surrounded by colorful tropical birds, and the monkey enclosure, an area of about forty trees with an entire tribe of monkeys living in it. Nothing separates you from the monkeys, so you can really observe them from many angles. The Savannah enclosure is also impressive, with zebra, giraffe and springbock living together in a large run. The Cheetahs and the gorillas were also given large enclosures with several observation points beside them from where you can observe the animals closely and safely, and most importantly, without disturbing them.

A thumbs down to the enclosures for the owls and ravens, which are far too small for such large birds. They haven’t enough space to take even a short flight, so they just sit there listlessly.

Overall, the Kerkrade Zoo has the potential to be a fun day out, but wheelchair users will need someone with them to push and help at several points. It rates Satisfactory for wheelchair accessibility. If you like zoos, it’s a good one to visit. If you don’t, it’s not going to convince you to think otherwise, so I wouldn’t bother.

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