2019 - Day 3: Wildlands

The summation of today is we all had fun at the zoo (and enjoyed pancakes for tea)!

Today started with a very easy 150km / 90 minute drive from Utrecht to Emmen, a town on the Netherlands / Germany border.  I don't want to talk too soon, but driving on the wrong side has gone quite smoothly so far, other than one little mishap in Utrecht on Friday, but luckily a Dutch cycle lane is just about wide enough for a Ford S-Max!

The reason for heading to Emmen was to visit Wildlands Adventure Zoo, a new attraction that opened in 2016 replacing a more traditional zoo.  Wildlands is set out with three distinct zones, Jungola, Serenga and Nortica, and despite not speaking any Dutch, it was easy to get a feel for each area by the name even if we did have to guess what some of the animals were.

Welcome to Wildlands Adventure Zoo!

The highlight of Jungola was a massive indoor tropical rainforest complete with a boat trip and the chance to see quite a few animals in realistic surroundings.  This theme was the same all across the zoo with all the animals having large enclosures with lots of enrichment.  Some didn't even have enclosures at all and at first we thought a monkey had escaped until we realised it was meant to be out!  The kids also loved walking through the open Prairie Dog area with them running around their ankles.

On the Rimbula River ride through the rainforest in Jungola.

The young explorers taking their own photos in Serenga.

The final area of the zoo was Animazia, a quite amazing indoor play zone.  For those who know the Hootz House at Pensthorpe, just imagine something four times as big and set above water and you'll be able to get a feel for what was on offer.  There were a couple of areas set aside for the little ones, so it had something for both Forrest and Paloma.

Forrest up high in Animazia.

After six hours at the zoo we wearily made our way to a local restaurant called Met Stroop Ofzo, which translates to 'with syrup or something'.  As you've probably guessed it's a place that specialises in pancakes and we all enjoyed one of their savory pancakes from the menu. 

After a night in Emmen, tomorrow we enter Germany, heading north east to port city of Hamburg.  After a few days of glorious sunshine the forecast is for thunderstorms, I'm certainly not going to complain if it freshens things up a little bit.

Blogged by Matt.