The scientist and businessman Karl Hagenbeck opened his zoo in Hamburg in 1907. With his extensive experience in keeping and training animals, he was able to move animals and birds from cramped cages to spacious aviaries. Throughout this time, six generations of the Hagenbeck family have put in a Herculean effort to create one of the most picturesque zoos in Europe.
To this day, the zoo's inhabitants enjoy the best possible conditions, giving them the feeling of being in the wild. Its rich collection and wonderful parkland make it an attraction for children and one of Hamburg's most popular attractions (each year around 1.7 million people visit the zoo).
The lack of high fences gives the feeling of being in an animal habitat, and the zoo itself is more like a large park with countless paths and trails, through which hares and roe deer scurry back and forth.
If this is your first visit to the zoo, you'll probably want to see lions, giraffes and elephants — animals your child has only seen in books. But even if you've visited the zoo many times before, Hagenbeck Zoo will still surprise you.
Rabatzz Play Center is located just 2 km from the zoo. Take the whole family there for a couple of hours.
For example, it's not often you see a large rodent with the body of a hare and the face of a capybara — and this is where the Patagonian mara (as these animals are called) feel at home.
Children especially enjoy meeting small animals: rabbits and guinea pigs. In the Contact Zoo, the young visitors can feed the goats, which not only accept treats but also invite them to play.
You can't feed the other animals, but you can watch them being fed. This happens at certain times of the day and you just have to go to the elephant enclosure, seals and pelicans. And turtles don't mind snacking at any time of the day or night. They eat slowly but thoroughly. In total, the zoo has more than 1,850 animals, both polar and tropical, some familiar and some rarely seen in zoos.
But the strangest and most bizarre creatures on our planet can be found in the Tropical Aquarium. Not just colourful fish, but insects, snakes, lizards, crocodiles, African birds — more than 300 species in all. Three times a week, the Tropen-Aquarium hosts a show with crocodiles and sharks.
You can get in touch with the animal world in unexpected ways. If you step off the path, you might come across dinosaurs. There is also an elephant slide in the playground. Children can feel like agile monkeys themselves by climbing up a suspension bridge. The bridge leads into the realm of these close relatives of humans.
Hamburg Zoo also has a Wonder Forest, through which children travel by train. Along the way, they can meet their favourite fairytale characters. There are several cafes and a restaurant on the zoo grounds where you can have lunch after the tour.
