The zoo estimates that the millionth visitor this year will arrive at approx. 11 -11.30 am.
Because of Africarium, opened in autumn 2014, the zoo is positively flooded - you need to queue for a time to enter the African pavillion, especially on weekends. It is the biggest paid attraction in Poland: in 2015, the zoo was visited by over 1.8 million visitors - more than the Wawel Royal Castle (approx. 1.5 million) and the Wieliczka Salt Mine (approx. 1.4 million).
Some statistics:
Month Guests in total/ attendance
- January 2016 34 806
- February 2016 64 053
- March 2016 44 908
- April 2016 101 067
- May 2016 255 360
- June 2016 210 027
- July 2016 * 266 342 TOTAL 976 563 * excluding information on the last weekend of July
Radoslaw Ratajszczak, President of Wroclaw Zoo, is aware that the effect of novelty, which was undoubtedly the opening of the Africarium, won't last forever. But he is not afraid of a loss of interest. 'We are proud that we capped the number of tickets sold in such flagship Polish attractions as Wawel Castle Wieliczka. I'm not worried about the attendance this year, although it will be lower than in the last year. This year's July is not worse than the last. Last Sunday only [July 10 - ed.] we were visited by 17 000 guests. All 10 ticket offices were open, but queues were forming anyway,' says the president of the zoo.
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Tourists not only from Poland
As calculated by the zoo employees (based on online ticket sales and surveys on site), about 15 per cent of visitors are foreign tourists, mainly from neighbouring countries, such as Germany or the Czech Republic, but also many Russians. In addition to visitors from almost all over Europe, there are also tourists from the Far East - Korea, India and China. Representatives of the zoo, however, rely mainly on tourists from those European countries that are closer to home, and promote the zoo at tourism fairs in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, the Netherlands. Lately, information on the Wroclaw Zoo was broadcast by the leading German television.
Interestingly, creating Afrykarium boosted the number of passengers flying Ryan Air airlines from Warsaw to Wroclaw. The previously nearly empty weekend flights filled with tourists flying to Wroclaw just to visit the zoo. 'Accidentally, Ryan Air got us free publicity by encouraging customers to fly in from Warsaw to visit the Africarium,' laughs Radosław Ratajszczak. In addition to the Africarium, one hugely popular attraction is called dzieciniec ("the kindergarten"), where you can pet miniature goats, sheep and ponies.
It is also important - as emphasized by the president - that the zoo constantly expands, and doesn't stop on the construction of the Africarium. New animals, pavilions and paddocks are added, and the zoo's employees take part in many international programs to rescue endangered species. They save (literally) turtles in the Philippines, India rhinos and penguins in South Africa. They talk about their work at meetings that are part of a new series "Zoo To the Rescue", in which you can financially support the rescue of a specific animal species.
At the end of last year, a multimedia pavilion was opened, dedicated to the protection of polar area - the first pavilion without animals. The last major investment was the building of a new pavilion for dragons of Komodo, opened in June this year, which is home for three females, absolute novelties in the Wroclaw zoo.
Chicken aka frog - what are the new arrivals?
Currently living in the garden are almost 14 000 animals of 1 100 species (over 11 000 animals are accounted for, and the rest is offspring, often difficult to quantify, for example small fish). Among the interesting and rare animals, which the zoo can boast recently, apart from the dragons of Komodo, are: Australian echidna, or wallaby (an animal similar to a kangaroo), or bear couscous (a loveable marsupial from Celebes). In the terrarium a notable animal is mountain chicken, which really is a species of... frog, and the exhibition of the endangered great capricorn beetle, Poland's largest beetle.
Wroclaw reindeer are also doing well - until recently, they were the only ones in the country, and so are cape penguins, which have been having more chicks recently.
Coming up: snow leopards
In the near future the zoo is expecting some renovations. Later this week, work starts on the roof of the aquarium, which is to improve the illumination of the interior. In this and next month a repair in the aviary will begin. Next comes the zoo's joinery, where feeders, fences, or information boards are built, to name a few. A project for a run for clouded and snow leopards is also planned.
