Zoo d'Amnéville — Attraction in Metz

While the zoo of Amnéville doesn't house any particularly rare species; keeps a lot of animals in solitary cages that seem too small for them; doesn't advertise any breeding, conservation or exchange programs of societal engagement; has a confusing infrastructural layout with certain parts being obviously dilapidated and numerous enclosures being refurbished or otherwise closed down; and caters only a very restricted food offering for its visitors (sausages or burgers with fries, either in or without buns), it also plenty of redeeming aspects.

For one, the park is richly decorated with plants and greenery, which not only provides some cool and shade, but also works well thematically to provide a more immersive jungle experience. Adding to this are the many faux ethnographic pieces and matching buildings, that, however, do at times make the park look a bit kitschy, if not inappropriately colonial. And while, as said, the zoo doesn't explicitly mention any breeding, conservation or exchange programs, they did have a lot of young animals, which was cute (while there were a lot of older animals too, notices informed visitors that they were receiving the proper veterinary care they needed). The zoo is, moreover, working on restructuring their enclosures to both provide their animals with more space and a more natural environment, but also have them co-inhabit with other animals they would naturally encounter in their home biotopes. Their choice to divide the park into thematic sections - such as savanna and jungle - work well towards this end, although, unfortunately, cohabitation hasn't always worked out well - as could be seen from the wolverine continually harassing the brown bear it shares its space with.

Overall, though, there's plenty to see in the zoo, and the giant playground and live animal shows certainly make this a memorable day for kids and adults alike. All the same, the park seems mostly directed towards kids, and the adult ticket price therefore seems a bit excessive for what you get from a visit to the zoo. Still, if in the area, I certainly recommend a visit, especially...

Nice zoo. Most important part is that the animal enclosures are pretty good, or about as good as any zoo can have them. Some of the enclosures are particularly impressive and better than I have seen anywhere else, e.g. the enormous orangutan enclosure with several distinct indoor and outdoor sections. The vast majority of animal enclosures had both indoor and outdoor sections that the animals could choose to go between. A great collection of some animals, e.g. an absolutely adorable pack of something like 15 arctic wolves. Some of the large bird enclosures were depressing but I've never seen a bird enclosure for flighted birds that's not depressing. I'd be happy to visit again at some point. Education and signage were good and most of it was multilingual (French, German, English), although some enclosures had "extra detail" signage which was French-only.

Minor Downside 1: Layout: Lots of backtracking and large dead-end areas, e.g. the seals are out in a corner in the middle of nowhere, the whole avian area and "extended world" area is cool but it has nothing there except during showtimes (once per day) and it's again a long walk through a dead-end zone, so you kind of have to plan your day out if you want to see events and don't want to walk across the entire medium-sized zoo back and forth.

Minor Downside 2: The food is all really bad; there are three cafeterias but they all appear to serve the same set of 3 cold sandwiches, a hot dog, fries, a Vienna sausage, or a tiny salad. Nothing vegetarian which is a bit surprising (so you're required to go hungry, eat fries and the world's smallest salad, or eat meat - and while I do eat meat, at a zoo it feels weird to at least not have a good...

We Visited Zoo d'Amneville yesterday (29/07/24) and enjoyed seeing the various animals! It is an enjoyable day out with an excellent large child friendly fun play area with various apparatus and water fountains for little ones and adults to enjoy too when in need of cooling down! There is also an option to feed the goats if you wish by purchasing a food box at the information point.

Additionally, the zoo is currently running a Balinese workshop which is reasonably priced at 3 euros per activity such as face painting or creating a memorable piece of art - our little one opted to do both activities and enjoyed it!

We must say it was an absolute pleasure to be greeted by Wasim (from the Balinese workshop team) He is fabulous and has a great energy - refreshing, enthusiastic, informative, helpful and gave exceptional customer service - a real asset to the zoo!

Easily approachable, friendly and bilingual! Spoke brilliant fluent English which made communication much easier and enhanced our experience this time around as we have visited twice previously before today - he is awesome and engaging!

The lady at the information desk opposite the ice cream and refreshment shop seemed disinterested, bored and lacked enthusiasm when we asked for information regarding the Balinese workshop - a stark contrast to the spot on high level of customer service recieved by Wasim!

A special thank you to you Wasim for providing exceptional customer service - making our visit an enjoyable engaging experience - keep...