神戸どうぶつ王国(Kobe Animal Kingdom)

4.5 ⭐️ a must visit!

This is one of the best zoos I've been to. Great value for money, in my opinion. There is an awesome selection of animals on show. I especially appreciated the original and authentic enclosures. Speaking of which, they were clean, and the animals themselves generally appeared in good health. I really liked that there were enclosures, like the spoon bill and the African wetlands, that were more open. This allowed you to get closer to the animals for a unique experience. It also allowed you to photograph/video much better. There are a lot of plants and flowers throughout the entire zoo, which added a lovely touch. There are multiple food stalls on site and plenty of seating. I'm especially fond of the fact that this zoo engages in multiple conservation projects.

Lowlights: During my visit, it appeared that the Puma cage was very small considering the size of the animals and their usual habitats. I also noticed that one of the cats themselves had an injury and looked malnourished. This may be completely under control by the zoo, but a notice on the enclosure would have been reassuring for visitors. I also noticed that many of the mamals appeared anxious, pacing back and forth in their cages. While I understand that to a certain degree, nothing can be done about this without simply not having animals at a zoo, I've just never noticed it so much during other zoo visits. I'm not sure what can be done to help this situation, but it felt a bit stressful watching the animals behave this way.