Zoo Antwerpen

Zoo Antwerpen stands in Antwerp as Belgium’s oldest animal park, opening its gates in 1843. Its grounds combine animal enclosures, gardens and historic buildings within a protected monument. Wheelchair access makes the park easier to explore, while the Egyptian temple, Moorish temple and winter garden shape its distinctive setting.

More than seven thousand animals from about nine hundred fifty species live across areas such as Vriesland, Aquaforum and Hippotopia. You can see king, macaroni and gentoo penguins, California sea lions, Asian elephants, giraffes, okapis, gorillas and Amur leopards. The aquarium holds fish, while the reptile house contains snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs and caimans. Research and conservation work supports species including bonobos, Przewalski horses, European otters and Knysna seahorses.

The park began with a museum for Jacques Kets’s natural history collections in 1844. Its antelope building, built in 1861, now houses okapis, and the aquarium dates from 1910. Concerts once filled the gardens, while the zoology hall hosted boxing and wrestling during the 1920 Summer Olympics.