The Veszprém Zoo spent a billion HUF to build a rhino habitat, an Elephant Park and a water park with Africa penguins and harbor seals, who are fed in public. We visited the new section and were informed about the expected births; they even revealed to us why one should stick around the savannah at sundown.
A 5000 sqm bird enclosure is still under construction: the scarlet ibis and the ducks have already arrived, but the enclosure is still of limits for visitors. This will be opened in mid-June, until then, prepare yourselves mentally for a face-to-face with a flamingo.
The rhino trio is already out on the meadow/savannah, which they share with giraffes and zebras. The 2.5-ton Pablo,has been living in Veszprém for 8 years and has grown to love snow. Two females, Rebecca and Naruna have been keeping him company for 5 years now. And here's where the soap opera begins.
The recently completed habitat covered in deep sand has a new addition, another male rhino, Rafiki. He was "called in" with a purpose: they Zoo would like to see baby rhinos and, based on the story so far, Pablo seems to be a worse father than George Clooney. The problem is: the two males cannot be allowed to meet. They would simply horn each other.
According to the caretakers, the most spectacular part of the day is when the animals are shepherded inside from the savannah near closing time. (This usually happens around 6 PM.)
One of them has to spend the day in the new, 1000 sqm habitat, while the two females and the other male rests in the savannah enclosure. The success of the baby project waits to be seen: since the gestation time for rhinos is at lest 16 months.
We saw the new Elefphant Park in the autumn; now we arrived just in time for the branches and leaves lunch of the elephant calves.
The third spectacular novelty is the water park, which was in short supply in Veszprém before. The 16 African penguins are out of their original element here: they love good weather, but cannot stand icy water, so they will spend the winter inside the heated penguin house, which is also open to the public.
They arrived to Veszprém based on the advise of an international species coordinator. Due to its numbers, the family is expected to grow with tiny penguin chicks in the future.
The other pool of th water park is home to the harbour seals. When we visited, only Pierre stopped the incessant swimming session for a little while. Two cubs arrived from Germany, one from France and one from Szeged.
The seals are hardcore gourmets: the trout from Tapolca is a strict no-no, instead they get a monthly transport of mackerel, salmon and squid from the North Sea. At 1 PM every day, you can also witness their public feeding.
With the handing over of the bird enclosure, the zoo development will stop for a while. They already have the next stage planned out, but until they manage to win a subsidy, the Zoo would not reveal details.
Until 30 September, the Veszprém Zoo is open every day from 9 AM to 6 PM. An adult ticket costs 2400 HUF, the entry for children and pensioners costs 1600 HUF, while students get to enter for 1800 HUF. For group discounts and other information, you can visit the Zoo website anytime.
