If you wouldn’t know where to look, you would walk right by. The majestic Antwerp Zoo lays hidden in a quiet corner of the Astridplein. But it’s right there, next to the train station (Antwerpen Centraal), where a one-way trip to childhood is waiting for you.
The history of the Antwerp Zoo dates back to 1843, which makes it one of the oldest zoos in the world. Eventually aiming at the rich ‘beau monde’ in Belgium, the zoo showed nothing but a horse and some goats accompanied by a bunch of of stuffed animals. But soon monkeys, tropical birds and snakes were added to the collection. While the two World Wars caused quite some casualties amongst the animals, the zoo was able to grow steadily, both in size as in number of animals. Right now the zoo exhibits 586 different species! And that was exactly what I was looking for.
I hadn’t visited the zoo since I was 11. So I decided to take the tour exactly like I did when I was 11: take a map, work out a entire route leaving the coolest animals for the end. Quietly walking towards the hunting birds and then completely forgetting everything once I catch a glimpse of all the different animals waiting to be discovered.
I go completely nuts, run straight for the lions, stop midway to sneak up on the monkeys, yell to nobody in particular “Oooh, the sea lions are being fed”, run into the palace where the night animals are located, organize a little staring contest with the snakes, wonder if a penguin would be truly happy, try to find those damned loris and spoil myself with an ice cream. Because even when it’s only 15°C, a visit to the Antwerp Zoo deserves an ice cream. You can, of course, follow your own path and watch all the animals, the different shows and the feeding moments at your own pace. And if you book well in advance, you can even do a behind the scenes tour.
So if you want to see a little piece of Belgian history, plenty of animals or just want to spend an hour or two while waiting for your train, get yourself a ticket, walk through the ancient entry gates where the magic begins.
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Koningin Astridplein 26
2018 Antwerp
Open: everyday from 10am till 6pm (7pm on Sat & Sun)
Text and pictures by Jasper.