During the visit of my son and grandson, we took the opportunity to go to one of the various zoos in Belgium and choose Planckendael outside Mechelen, and not far from Brussels.
Planckendael is a branch of the Antwerp Zoo, the 3rd largest zoo in Europe in terms of number of species.
It was established in 1956 as a refuge for sick and injured animals from Antwerp Zoo. Later it developed as an animal park of its own right, to me far better then the Antwerp Zoo.
Planckendael now has hundreds of animal species from all five continents. The park extends on 42 hectares (104 acres).
The map of the whole zoo, which nobody really looked at so we turned around from one continent to the other and missed the Europe and the Ocean part.
The entrance, we could get in very quickly as I had booked the tickets online. Grandson Toby has a nice view on Daddy's shoulders.
The tour started with these beautiful sculptures.
The animals all have a very big space and if there weren't the fences which also fitted in the landscape, you could think that you walk amongst them.
A "friendly" looking crocodile, didn't move at all and people doubted if it was real.
Here is a part of the elephant territory outside
and for the winter or nights inside. It was huge !
The monkeys too had a lot of space and hopped and climbed around and searched for fleas in their partners fur.
We arrived at the Buffalos, which looked very impressive to us !
Two camels were fighting or made a love dance, it was difficult to say ! They roared and growled !
The rhinoceros were sleeping in the sunshine
Suddenly we were in Africa. There was a nice shop with African crafts.
The Giraffes could be watched from a balcony while they were eating.
There also were Zebras
and a quite impressive ant eater. I never thought that it was so big !
We wandered around to see most of the other animals. As I am not sure of their names, I prefer to shut up !
In the zoo were also lots of playgrounds for the children, pick nick areas, and a restaurant. Of course there were several ice cream sellers too.
After at least 4 hours of walking around we all were tired and returned home, with the intention to come back ! It's such a beautiful place and worthwhile to spend the whole day there.
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