Wildlands

Wildlands
Full name	Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen
place	Raadhuisplein 99 ; 7811AP Emmen
surface	22 hectares
opening	1935 ; March 25, 2016
organization
Member of	WAZA , EAZA , NVD
	The new entrance to the Wildlands
	www.wildlands.nl

f52.781944444444 6.8888888888889Coordinates: 52 ° 46 ′ 55 ″ N , 6 ° 53 ′ 20 ″ E

The Wildlands (full name: Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen ) are a zoo in the Dutch city of Emmen . The zoo opened in 2016 replaces the Dierenpark Emmen , formerly Noorder Dierenpark , which was abandoned due to a lack of expansion options. The Wildlands are divided into the three areas Serenga , Nortica and Jungola , which start from a central main square (“Compass Square”), and there is also the Animazia area (games expedition, theater, learning room).

history

Noorder Dierenpark

The Noorder Dierenpark was one of the most important zoological gardens in the Netherlands. Its older part was in the center of the city of Emmen. He was best known for his facilities with large groups of animals, which are structured according to continents, and for his distinctive didactic concept.

Noorder Dierenpark was founded in 1935 by Willem Oosting as a private company. The Oosting and Rensen families continued to run the zoo in the following decades and, especially since the 1970s, expanded it into an important, scientifically oriented facility. In 1995 Henk Hiddingh took over the scientific management of the zoo. He turned the small family business into a medium-sized company, which has now become one of the largest tourist attractions in the Netherlands. In the 1990s, those responsible in Emmen saw the expansion possibilities on the previous 13 hectare site in the city center exhausted. For this reason, an area outside the center on the Noordbargeres was bought. Since it was initially planned to set up a themed area for the marine habitat on the second site, a walk-through facility for Humboldt penguins was built there in 1998 . This expansion and the increasing number of visitors made it necessary to build a new, larger car park in 1999. At the same time the so-called “Traverse” was built, a footbridge that connects the two parts of the park.

In the following years, the Emmen Zoo bought around 40 hectares on the Noordbargeres and began to consider relocating the zoo completely to the expansion site. However, these considerations only became concrete in September 2006 at a meeting between those responsible for the zoo and the city of Emmen. Both decided to work together to build a new kind of park on the Noordbargeres.

Wildlands

On March 25, 2016 the new zoo ( Wildlands - Adventure Zoo Emmen ) was inaugurated. From a central place (compass place) in the middle, visitors explore various subject areas. These subject areas are partly based on the previous ones in the old Noorder Dierenpark, but new ones have been added. The design of the subject areas has in some cases been oriented even more strongly than before to the different geographical features of the regions of the world shown.

Investments

The three themed areas are Jungola (with butterfly park, birdy bush [e.g. Loris], Maki forest [ring-tailed lemurs], spider monkey island, gibbon island, Otterbach, elephant valley and elephant shower; one attraction is the Rimbula River boat trip; the Alligator Trail is still under construction), Serenga (with lions, prairie dogs, hippos, meerkats, zebus, zebras, robed baboons, giraffes, trample; one attraction is the Serenga Safari and a derailed train) and Nortica (with seals, penguins, polar bears).