From Flora to Fauna: Artis Zoo, Amsterdam

Now that you’ve had enough of all the tulips in Keukenhof and all the flora of Amsterdam, here’s an article about the animals of Artis Zoo. When I looked around the main sights to see in Amsterdam, I noticed that the local botanical garden is one of the oldest in Europe, and the oldest in the country. RP and I tend to choose places where you can spend more time outdoors rather than large museums, so we chose to visit the zoo this time. Even though the entrance fee costs 20 euros, and there are virtually no student discounts (except if you’re for the Netherlands), it turned out that the zoo was so cool, all that money proved to be worth it.

I’m always a bit hesitant about going to zoos, because there is one in my hometown and I’m not exactly loving the way animals are kept here. But in the Netherlands, conditions were pretty good, and animals weren’t all kept in cages, since many had a big outdoor space separated from the public with a simple moat.

Since the Zoo is pretty huge, we made up a system to get to see it all. First we visited the camels, reindeer and donkeys, located very close to the entrance. They were very chill and had a huge space to coexist in:

camels and reindeer chilling at Artis Zoo

The weather was a bit chilly that day so we decided to check out the bird house and the monkey house. The birds were only separated from our curious eyes by a small gate which only reached up until my knees, and were left to roam free:

bird house and flamingos outdoors

The big bird you can see on the 3rd photo was extremely friendly. He was next to a lake in the outdoor part of the bird house and he was at arm’s length and still didn’t fly away.

The monkey house was also a great adventure. It was awesome to see what a playground they built for the smaller monkeys and some iguanas, they were totally climbing all around the places, right above our heads, with two employees standing in permanent watch.

Monkey house at Artis Zoo

iguanas coexisting with monkeys at Artis Zoo

This little guy seemed to be the boss of all the beavers:

The king of beavers at Artis Zoo

And this little fella was posing for the camera long after we, and all the tourists left:

life at Artis Zoo

The lions and tigers were in a too small of a place, in my opinion, compared to how many they were. At one point the lion seemed to be very hungry, since he was actually pounding on their entrance door and walking among his friends very anxiously:

lions at Artis Zoo

The giraffes and zebras had an extremely big space for themselves and seemed to live in happy harmony with each other.

giraffes and zebras at Artis Zoo Amsterdam

But I’ve saved the best for last! One of my favorite experience at the zoo has to be seeing the cute little penguins from so close! I LOVE penguins and getting to finally see them in real life was one of the best memories for me!

penguins at Artis Zoo Amsterdam

The other best thing, a real visual journey, was the Aquariums. And by aquariums I mean the tens of perfectly arranged fish tanks, one containing more beautiful sea life than the other. The colors were amazing, the tanks were huge, you could actually sit for hours and just admire the underwater sea life brought to you without even having to get wet.

aquariums at Artis Zoo Amsterdam

If you’re looking for other activities in the city, take a look at Amsterdam in Bloom, Boat Trip on the Canals of Amsterdam, The Anne Frank Houseand Amsterdam in October.

Do you like to visit the Zoo when in a new city?

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Amsterdam in Bloom Boat Trip on the Canals of Amsterdam The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam Amsterdam in October