Top 10 Things to do in Nyiregyhaza, Northern Great Plain

Reviewed By J3385MLrebeccan

Best zoo I've ever been to. Animal enclosures are huge and extremely diverse. The animals are very active and interactive with you. I've never before been ro a zoo where you can get so close to the animals; we were so close to the polar bears we could smell their breath through the wires. The cages are surprisingly open and some enclosures only have three walled off sides; the orangutans for example have an entire area of their expansive pen which isn't walled off the only thing stopped them from escaping is water and a thin line of electric fence, which really gives you a safari feeling. What surprised me the most is that the lions are the same! One of the restaurants, which is a communist buffet with a good selection of food, has a large window looking immediately out onto the orangutans and I loved watching them socialising with one another. An elder one had a blanket that she liked to wear like a cloak while the younger ones played and the alpha patrolled. What was great was that they told us a storm was coming 10 minutes before it happened. Simultaneously they all stopped whatever they were doing and stared up at the sky, and without a sound they all decided to head indoors and shortly after it began to rain. Brilliant sharks, brilliant fish. The tropical birds are free flying in the bird house. Otters were cheeky and had dug a little gile under their fence through which they would stick their paws and beg for acorns. One of the monkeys was desperate for attention and would scream and bang at the cage every time we tried to walk away from it. This place is great for monkey lovers there are so many kinds. There is a petting zoo aspect with many free roaming poultry and small mammals such as rabbits. The zoo is so big that we didn't even have time to see the bears. Some of the enclosures are unbelievably interactive, you can climb over one of the monkey enclosures and again there is no fencing, the monkeys only can't escape because of the way that they have placed cones on the poles to the wobbly bridge towers that you walk across preventing the monkeys from reaching the top. Expect to find animals literally everywhere, there are tiny enclosures inside of wall pillars and hidden corridors. There's even fish tanks in the toilet cubicles. It's very easy to get to on the bus. As an English speaker I didnt have issues with anything but my husband and his family are Hungarian. Some people are saying that it is expensive but all zoos are expensive and this one is very good value for money. There is also an affordable hotel on site for those who have travelled a very long way or who want to stay more than one day to actually appreciate the enclosures and see all of the shows. It is very very big; you can get a little golf cart thing to take you to some locations but still expect a lot of walking with some enclosures having stairs.