I went to zhengzhou as a 12 year old boy from New Zealand wanting to check out the cool and diverse... read more
I went to zhengzhou as a 12 year old boy from New Zealand wanting to check out the cool and diverse... read more
The Zhengzhou Aquarium was a pleasant surprise, as I was not expecting much. There is a decent... read more
I don't know what other reviewers are saying about the "poor conditions" for the animals, because it looked fine to me. While it looks kinda dingy on the outside, it's actually quite nice inside. There is a good selection of large and small fish from around the world, plus a sea lion show and a mermaid show. You can even bottle-feed some fish (for an extra fee).
The only downside I could see is that they really want your money. We visited this place with 8 other families on an adoption trip (the only reason I'd ever visit Zhengzhou anyway), and at this aquarium, if your child is a over a certain height, you pay, and if under, they're free. Anyways, this one child was slightly under, so they made the child stand on something to "make it taller", so the parents would have to pay. No amount of complaints changed anything.
The aquarium had a great many animals that I had never seen before...such as the arapaima which was featured on River Monsters. You could feed lettuce to sea turtles, bottles to fish, and fish to seals if you wanted to. They also had a shark petting area and a live touch tank for other animals such as horseshoe crabs. They had live animal shows which we went and watched. They were funny to watch although we had no idea what they were saying. The entry fee was around $20 for adults and less for children which they group according to height. All in all, a fun way to pass a morning.
By now no one should be supporting animals in captivity.
The dolphins they have came from Taiji ( from the movie the cove) where thousands of dolphins are slaughtered every year.
The dolphins have no freedom, and belong in the ocean.
Its time to put these places out of business.
The Good: I was living in Zhengzhou and went to the aquarium on a date. We had fun feeding cabbage to the turtles, touching the horseshoe crabs and feeding the koi. Most of it is indoors so you can escape the weather. It is a bit far from the city center, but taxi's are super cheap. There is a humongous indoor plant market across the street, which I think is a "must see" if you're in the area.
The Bad: It was expensive, like $15 or $20 USD, and I felt like they were cheating Chinese people out of their hard-earned money. The wolf exhibit was so small it was upsetting and bordered on animal cruelty. The food choices inside are slim (typical tube meat and local beverages) and I didn't notice any restaurants nearby.
BTW: I almost didn't write this review because I felt torn. On the one hand, people should go so this place has money to take care of the animals. On the other hand, I wish they would go out of business because it upset me to see the animals kept in those conditions.
Also, as with anything in Zhengzhou, don't expect the staff to much English. However, it's easy to buy tickets and whatnot. And I think Shavon and Imafoodaholic gave accurate reviews.
It is actually pretty good for ZZ, for lack of much more to do. Although it is just for kids, I did enjoy it.
Couple of neat hands-on attractions like bottle feeding koi and touching horse shoe crabs...my kids really enjoyed that . It is a bit far to get to from the center of the city . The seal show left a bit to be desired definitely not along the lines of seaworld .