Royal Burgers' Zoo

History

At the suggestion of friends and acquaintances opened Johan Burgers 1913 Faisanterie Buitenlust in 's -Heer Mountain, today a district of Montferland, and so presented his private animal collection to the public.

The relatively remote location led in 1923 to move to Arnhem on a much larger lot. The design was inspired by his friend Carl Hagenbeck and showed already present at the opening of its first grid-free time- predator system of the Netherlands. Large open enclosures remained in the period following the program.

A severe crisis suffered the zoo during World War II, as a result of the Battle of Arnhem many animals were killed and virtually all enclosures were heavily damaged. In the postwar period, the zoo was completely new with natural enclosures.

In 1968 the first safari park was opened in continental Europe. 1971 followed the chimpanzee territory and later a wolf forest, open aviaries, a gorilla enclosure, a covered rain forest and mangrove forest.

The zoo today covers an area of ​​45 ha, although the actual zoo with 3,000 animals occupies only 18 ha. A large part of the site is occupied by the Safari Park, but can not be driven by cars or buses today. Instead, the visitors from different vantage points and bridges can get an insight into the animal world.

In a 1.5-hectare hall is a walk-in rain forest and the corresponding fauna and flora. Desert is the name of a system modeled on the North American subtropical Sonoran Desert terrain. Another attraction is the Opened in 2000, Ocean, salt water system pool with a total of eleven 8,000,000 liters, in which visitors can get a glimpse into the underwater world through a 20 × 5 × 0.35 m wide sheet of glass. In addition, there is also a mangrove hall. It was built as a prototype for Burgers' Bush. After completion, it was converted into a mangrove hall. The latest attraction is Burgers' Rimba. Here you can see tigers, sun bears, monkeys and various species of deer, as well as reticulated pythons and Bindenwarane.