Stuttgarter Wilhelma

Let’s be honest here. When was your last visit to the zoo? Mine dates back to the late 20th century, that was while I was still in high school on a school outing to the Taiping zoo back in Malaysia! I think my lack of interest in going to the zoo is due to the fact that I feel sort of sorry for those animals, seeing them behind bars and glasses. On a brighter note, I should be happy for some of these animals because I know they are well protected and receive good medical attention all the time from dedicated people at the zoo. At least that’s the impression I had during my visit to the Stuttgarter Wilhelma Zoo. I had a fun time and enjoyed myself hugely at the zoo even though it was a cold, cold winter day to be out all day. If you have some time to spare, it’s really worth a visit to the Wilhelma and you need to spend at least the whole day there because the compound is HUGE and my feet ached from too much walking, up and down the hills!I like the whole layout of the zoo. It is situated quite central in the city and what amazes me is the amount of land it has! I guess such large space is a must in order to house about 1000 species of animals. There are for example the aquarium, the amazonian house for sub-tropical animals, the botanical house, the insect world, the amphibian house, the butterfly farm, the bird house, the chimpanzee house and the open area for larger animals. By the way, the yellow snake above is a very poisonous snake, so don’t go anywhere near a yellow snake if you see one .I absolutely love the bird house because the birds they have are all so amazingly colorful! Their bodies were coated with bright, vivid feathers making me so very in love with them, especially that little cutie above. While all the bears in Wilhelma were kept away for hibernation throughout winter, the star of Wilhelma, the Wilbär, a baby ice bear, which was born here at the zoo, was up and about, strutting his stuff, enjoying his sole attention from the visitors.The whole place was very lively with visitors even on a bitter cold winter day, so I can imagine how pack it can be in spring and summer, when the bears wake up from their long winter sleep and the fun begins . I hope to revisit the zoo sometime in summer to see the difference between the seasons.